Grayling help

[denzinho]

Hi guys,


I'm after a Grayling! they are indeed the best looking fish I have seen in pictures and video, but I need to get through the Roach and Dace. What examples of areas would they be holding up in. Also the river I am fishing is very slow moving....You could walk a lot faster.

They are there though, fly fishing tactics as tips would be good to as I fly fish through the course close season.

Many thanks

Steve

 

[greenie62]

Hi Steve,
Winter Grayling on the fly - I've had success with a Red Hopper, fished just in the surface film in slower runs - following well-oxygenating riffles - might still get the dace though the chunkier size of the hopper might stop them.
A gold-head GRHE can be fished a bit deeper in the slower water. It can sometimes be worth painting over the gold-head with bright pink or dayglo nail varnish in lower light levels so it stands out a bit in the murk.
Similarly have had some success trotting a piece of sweetcorn in the fastest water you can find - it stands out well in the water in the winter and has a scent - though might attract the roach. Don't overfeed - about 3-5 pieces every 3-5 casts at most.
Let us know how you get on!
Tight Lines!

 

[sam vimes]

Much as I'd love to help, I've never caught a grayling in a river like that, I've never encountered roach when fishing for grayling and I don't fly fish for them. Good luck, hope you get the help you need and get amongst them.

 

[keora]

A typical grayling swim might be from 2ft to 6ft deep, with a flow rate varying from medium slow to fast. If there's lots of roach and dace in the water you're fishing, the habitat might not be right for grayling.

As for fly fishing, I'd pick a fast run about 3ft deep and use wet fly.

Unless you regularly hear of grayling being caught in the stretch of water you are fishing, then it may not be worth trying for them.

 

[greenie62]

... I've never caught a grayling in a river like that, I've never encountered roach when fishing for grayling ...

Agree with you Sam - it's fairly unusual to get roach and grayling in the same stretch. I used to fish a tributary of the Severn in mid-Wales where there was a 300m stretch of slow, deep, tree-lined water between 2 gravel / rocky runs, the upper run was exclusively trout and v. small dace, the lower run had trout, dace, chub and grayling - but the middle run had those species plus roach and perch - which didn't show anywhere else on the river! It was like the middle, slow, run was a totally different river with steep undercut banks - a real contrast to the gravel 'cattle-drinks' on the rest of the river! The bigger grayling were in the middle stretch - fewer of them - but were twice the size of those in the faster stretches!
There are also stretches of the Dee where it teases England which have patches with a mixture of grayling, chub, dace and roach, the ladies only showing themselves on the fly when it suits them!

 

[denzinho]

Thanks for the replies guys,

So I need to look for fast flowing-ish water thats not overly deep. I think my local club river has some fast gravel glides at the very end of there land rights. I think I need to just get in the car and go looking for the right conditions.

Thanks guys will let you know what I find on my travels.


Steve

 

[sam vimes]

European river zonation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I know that there's often lots of overlap between the zones, and some rivers don't really conform that well at all, but if you are getting hammered by roach, you are probably a bit too far downstream on the river concerned. The biggest saving grace in your quest is that grayling do have a propensity to migrate downstream to slower, deeper stretches than they would favour in the rest of the year.

The rivers I know that don't conform well to the model are the southern chalk streams and the token northern one, Driffield Beck.

It might be worth saying which river(s) you are talking about. Someone may be able to give quite targeted advice.

In the mean time, here's a couple of links that may be of interest.
GRT Home
The Grayling Society | Angling | Conservation | Research
Graylinghunter Home

 

[denzinho]

It doesn't look like I'm going to get out fishing on the River chew before Christmas due to rainfall not letting up.

Bit of shame

 

[floatfish]

Thanks for the replies guys,

So I need to look for fast flowing-ish water thats not overly deep. I think my local club river has some fast gravel glides at the very end of there land rights. I think I need to just get in the car and go looking for the right conditions.

Thanks guys will let you know what I find on my travels.


Steve

If you find those conditions and can Fly fish,(team of three) wet fly down and across will probably bring best results. Fly's as suggested including something silvery on the point. Grayling will go for that , probably nothing huge in the way of fish, but worth a try.

 

[keora]

A friend of mine once asked some members of a fishing club to keep a record of the number of grayling caught each month during the year. It wasn't a survey of all members, there were about a dozen members who supplied catch returns.

Catches were fairly low in summer, they reached a peak in late autumn/ early winter, and declined from January until the end of the season in March.

You might find it harder to catch grayling at this time of the. River levels also may not be low enough if you want to fly fish for grayling - for example, today on a local river, the level has shot up by 2 metres in just 24 hours.

 

[denzinho]

Wow 2 meters!

Here's mine

It's not to bad I guess

 

[denzinho]

I caught one today!, just about to take a picture and he jumped out of my hand.

Trotting tactics with maggot

 

[keora]

Pleased to hear you caught one.

 

[denzinho]

Another question,

I bumped quite a few fish off (Around 5), 1 of which felt really good and I was pretty ****** off. I was using a size 16 super specialist, is there any specific hooks that people use for trotting with double/single maggot?

 

[andygrey]

For fishing on the fly I'd suggest a Klink and Dink set up (small weighted nymph tied on a dropper off the hook bend of a Klink Hammer dry fly). Adjust the dropper length to suit river depth and concentrate on the shallower streamier sections. Dropper length should be anywhere between 12" and 24"
Don't be afraid to go right down in size for the nymph, as low as S20 tungsten heads will pick up fish if they are being picky. Also something with a red tag or pinky body. Search the water and make several runs through each stretch and tighten up to any dip or movement of the Klink, grayling can bite very tentatively and eject the fly very quickly.

Cheers

Andy

 

[sam vimes]

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it before, but my current favourite is the Drennan Wide Gape Match. Size 16 is my standard, but I'll go down to an 18 if they get picky. If I get really desperate I'll occasionally try a 20. If they are really having it, I may give double or treble maggot on a size 14 a go.

Chances are that you'll still lose the odd one, it's the nature of the beast.

 

[andygrey]

Another one to try 'on the fly' would be Czech nymphing. Longish fly rod and heavy point fly with a smaller nymph on a dropper. You fish it 'high stick' lobbing the flies up stream (you don't do a standard type overhead fly cast) and lead the flies through the water virtually under the rod tip. You can fish at all depths simply by extending or decreasing the amount of line outside the rod tip.

Cheers

Andy

 

[keora]

Another question,

I bumped quite a few fish off (Around 5), 1 of which felt really good and I was pretty ****** off. I was using a size 16 super specialist, is there any specific hooks that people use for trotting with double/single maggot?

A super specialist hook is too heavy when fishing for a species that averages less than a pound in weight. Try these in a size 18:

Spade End - Barbed To Nylon - Drennan International

 

[Jon Leckie]

so some thoughts based upon Chalk stream experience. for bait fishing you will bounce off some fish - especially small ones I cant say that I find any particular hook better than any others but I tend to use hooks to nylon with a 6 inch hooklink tied to a small swivel.

for fly fishing dry black gnats, dry small olives and anything dark and small on the surface seems to work for me. GRHE with or without a gold head work and so do shrimp patterns in may sizes - very large ones seem to be successful. sometimes the nymphs need to be really deep and I occasionally pinch a couple of split shot onto the cast. they are a ****** to cast but get the nymph down deep quickly.

hope this helps tight lines