Mending the Flow - A Cold day's Grayling Fishing

On the previous evening, my friend Ollie Johnson dropped me down some more Clearwater floats to go down and give a go. I have been very impressed with these floats on the sessions I have used them and was very keen indeed to try some in different shapes and sizes. As mentioned in previous write-ups, the float I find the most versatile is the Wire-Stemmed Avon. The reason for this is the buoyancy is absolutely spot on and it makes float control in some of the more turbulent swims in my neck of the woods much more of a doddle. Even for holding back in shallower water and running through on some of the deeper runs is a joy.  I have also used the chubber float for my grayling fishing locally and has also performed very well for most scenarios. It has also been enjoyable using them for trotting for perch with minnow live baits. I also look forward to putting them to test when going in search of chub on methods such as trotting breadflake. My setup for the grayling locally consists of either a 4g Avon float or a Chubber with either a bulk of shot or an Olivette. Coupled with this I put a dropper or two down the hooklink for more bite sensitivity (especially when the likes of finicky river roach are present).

Great addition to the armoury!

Struggling to get out of bed in the freezing cold, I headed down the hill to purchase some corn and a spot of lunch. I met up with James Denison and his father a few minutes later and we headed upstream as the first stretch we fished was seriously lashing through and the only results to come were a few small trout. James and I chose to fish a nice pool with a nice eddy in close which meant that the concentration of feed would spread throughout the pool, hopefully enticing a resident group congregating. James's father remained just below us. James sprinkled in some maggots, whilst I sprinkled in a few grains of corn, and soon enough, we were both getting bites. We had a fair few fish between us to just over the pound mark, chopping and changing from maggot to corn.

An enjoyable morning!

After fishing a few swims in rotation, with less response, we all returned to the pool after resting it and we managed a few more lovely silvery grayling. James's father also kept working on his swim downstream and picked up a few nice fish also which was a nice result. It was nice to dust off the centrepin again. I felt on the day, I was getting more accustomed to Wallis Casting and felt also I should be using it more, as I feel that it's the one of the purest forms of trotting Small rivers, especially when grayling are present.

One of the grayling I had that was a sucker for the corn - one of the prettiest species in UK freshwater!

We roved on downstream and with James kindly letting me pinch some maggots, we fished a slower, steadier section where I managed the larger grayling of 1-15 last week. James's father and I opted to fish the pool swim at the top, whilst James checked out a nice slow, steady, run with some depth downstream. It wasn't long until we came across more pockets of grayling and catching a few. Not as regularly as upstream, but bites did come at reasonably regular intervals and with a few small trout thrown in for good measure it was very relaxing to get a bend in the rod. The bigger few grayling were all of a similar stamp, scraping a pound, but it wasn't going to be the day we were going to get through to any larger specimens.

Overall, a very enjoyable trip out and what better way to spend a cold day than trotting for a few feisty grayling? It was also very nice to have James and his father down who were great company! If you get a chance, please check out the new Clearwater website for more information on the floats...

Tight Lines,

Tom