Your First Lady
Once you catch your first Grayling, it will take you all of a microsecond before your thinking about catching your next. Grayling, (Thymallus Thymallus) tick all the correct boxes for the Game angler. They inhabit many rivers in England, Scotland and Wales and a trophy fish is anything around 3lb. The best time to target Grayling is in autumn and winter, perfectly placed between the Trout season.
Ever since the boom in Czech Nymphing in the UK, larger Grayling have start to become increasingly harder to catch on the smaller rivers as fishing pressure has increased fourfold. Larger rivers are less susceptible to pressure and so still yield a larger number of bigger fish.
Angling skill now plays a bigger part, with very long fine leaders and size 16-20 nymphs and dries required when the water is running low and clear. Too control these long leaders and small flies at distance, rods of 10' are the norm with a rating of 3 or 4. These long rods allow you to hold your fly line or tippet off the water when fishing upstream, helping to eliminate the drag the current has on your flies. Don't be put of by using a long rod, the Greys Streamflex 10' 3 & 10' 4 rods both weigh less than 100g.
As with most forms of angling, location and conditions have a massive influence on your days fishing. This is especially true for Grayling during the winter months. Grayling tend to shoal up in the deeper, slower parts of the river during the winter and this can be rich pickings for the angler. Finding the shoal may take some time, but when you do it can be fantastic sport. Like many ladies, Grayling have a sweet tooth. Not for chocolate however, but for flies with a touch of flash in them. Pink in various shades is especially effective for Grayling, especially combined in a shrimp pattern. I have to confess to having probably one too many shades of pink in my shrimp box, but I like to have plenty options depending on river height and clarity. Go brighter in dirty water, an...
