R
Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)
Guest
I've caught many many grayling in my life, mainly from Yorkshire and Derbyshire rivers. In my younger days I used to catch grayling from certain stretches of the Wiltshire Wylye on condition that all fish caught were killed.
Of course I discovered that grayling make fine eating.
The Derbyshire Derwent in parts is stuffed with grayling. In fact on some tickets it allows you to take two fish for the table per day.
I get the idea that if grayling were truly recognised as a game fish in England, angling on ,many waters for them would be limited to fly only. Actually this would be no bad thing as where graying are numerous, they can be ridiculously easy to catch on bait, especially maggot feeder or legered sweetcorn.
Grayling are suckers for sweetcorn did you know?
As Mark says, grayling when caught on the leger tend to swallow the hook and can be a devil to unhook if your hook has a barb.
The last thing you should ever do if you catch a big grayling is go through the normal spezzy hunter rigmarole of weighing in a sling, holding the fish for a trophy shot etc. They will not survive, especially during warm weather.
If you want to weigh the fish, get one of those nets with a built-in spring balance. I have one I use for trout and I've had fish and weighed them too to 7 1/4 lbs. If you want a picture, lay the fish on a bit of wet grass in your net and take one quickly.
If you hook a fish and it is bleeding, it won't live at all. Don't waste it however by trying to return it.
Knock it one the head, take it home and eat it.
Of course I discovered that grayling make fine eating.
The Derbyshire Derwent in parts is stuffed with grayling. In fact on some tickets it allows you to take two fish for the table per day.
I get the idea that if grayling were truly recognised as a game fish in England, angling on ,many waters for them would be limited to fly only. Actually this would be no bad thing as where graying are numerous, they can be ridiculously easy to catch on bait, especially maggot feeder or legered sweetcorn.
Grayling are suckers for sweetcorn did you know?
As Mark says, grayling when caught on the leger tend to swallow the hook and can be a devil to unhook if your hook has a barb.
The last thing you should ever do if you catch a big grayling is go through the normal spezzy hunter rigmarole of weighing in a sling, holding the fish for a trophy shot etc. They will not survive, especially during warm weather.
If you want to weigh the fish, get one of those nets with a built-in spring balance. I have one I use for trout and I've had fish and weighed them too to 7 1/4 lbs. If you want a picture, lay the fish on a bit of wet grass in your net and take one quickly.
If you hook a fish and it is bleeding, it won't live at all. Don't waste it however by trying to return it.
Knock it one the head, take it home and eat it.