November Update: Roach and Grayling

Stunning Little Redfin

One particular trip which was thoroughly enjoyable from these past couple of months was an afternoon spent with fellow river enthusiast, Harry Redsull, on the banks of an intimate Southern Chalkstream. Having briefly chatted the day before, I decided to take a feeder rod as my attack for some of the elusive roach we had talked about, whilst Harry opted for some trotting gear. Within minutes, we had located a few shoals and armed with some fluffy white bread, I crumpled up some crusts and watched their reaction... They were up for a feed! It was great to spend an afternoon with someone who had the same level of enthusiasm for this quarry and it was a bonus to land some lovely fish between us to just over the pound mark. I look forward to catching up for another trip soon!

A pretty roach which enjoyed a 'pinch' of bread in the clear water!

It took me weeks after this to get out again, but after receiving a kind invite from Duncan Charman to fish another scenic Southern Chalkstream, I decided to have a rest from my essays. The target this time was the lady of the stream. Although this day was tough, we managed quite a few fish between us, with Duncan's 2lb grayling and 8lb 2oz trout being the best fish of the day. It was nice to be able to dust off the centrepin and the float rod for the first time in a while and land a few hard fighting grayling to top off the idyllic surroundings.

Tight Lines,

Tom

8lb 2oz Trout and 2lb 3oz Grayling!

Plan B: A Change of Plan - Another search for the Lady of the Stream

The plan originally, was to meet up with my friend Mark and go in search of chub, but it was evident that yesterday's overnight rain had quashed our plan. With money also being tight at the moment, I thought the best call for action was to just grab a few hours on the local river. It was, as expected, up and carrying colour. After feeding a swim with a few grains of sweetcorn, I managed to hook the first of the day. This was a nice conditioned young grayling and a very encouraging sign for the future. Another very light sprinkle of grains and the float was moving beautifully through the swim. As I held the float back slightly and let it go down the current, the float buried. I struck and a good fish was on. After lots of digging, I first assumed that it was a trout, but then the telltale dorsal graced the surface. I made my way slightly downstream and landed the fish in a patch with slacker water. It was a very healthy looking grayling and I warily took a quick shot, as there were a few individuals around who quite frankly, I would rather avoid.

Feisty Lady of the Stream (1-9)

I wandered elsewhere to somewhere a lot quieter. Arriving at a nice deeper pool, with a sweeping flow down the middle, and both sides consisting of slacker water. After feeding a few grains of corn, I was soon letting the float whirl towards the slacker water before it buried. I was into a lovely looking grayling straight away. I gave it a good half an hour or so, and it was soon evident that the grayling were there queuing up (the biggest from this spot being on the title image). I also managed a few out of season trout which dived in for the corn on a few occasions. After fishing my way down and picking up the odd fish, I decided it was time to quit whilst I was ahead.

Certainly chose a nice day for it...

My last write-up talked about the problem with 'Joining' or following this blog. There is a simple solution and to those who have read the last write up I would like to reiterate the simplicity. There are two interlinking squares on the side of the 'Join this site' panel. If you click on those it will allow you to follow the blogs in whichever way you choose...

Tight Lines,

Tom

After College Grayling

Lovely section of River

With a frost on the ground and my gear on standby, I decided to head out to the local river after college. Choosing a different section to the one I fished with James on the Saturday, I had a few swims in mind where I was sure a few bites would be on the agenda. The first swim was a dead loss, especially when an otter topped just upstream of me... I walked upstream and knew of where the river narrowed and had a bit of pace. Very inviting to the likes of grayling and a nice crease on the far side where one would expect roach and patrolling perch on the prowl after minnows. After steadily trickling in some grains of corn, on my 5th or so run down, I hooked a good fish. Although it is always hard to tell how big grayling are when first hooked, I was disappointed when it bumped off. After bumping another on the next trot, a few more runs through and I managed to induce another take. I struck more positively this time and a nice grayling was on the end. After the typical fight from a grayling, twisting and turning in the current and gyrating, I slowly guided the stunning fish into the net. It was certainly a good pound at least. I gave the fish a good rest in the net, and carried on running through. It was not long until I managed another couple more stunners in that sort of stamp. I took a quick shot of the trio before a prompt release.

A fine trio of ladies - same setup doing the business...

Giving the time for less hardy fish like grayling to revive is something I have done in recent years and in a net with depth, allows the fish to properly revive and go back more resiliently. Some people release them without any form of revival, which can mean they go belly up and get disorientated - this does not do them any favours. I continued on running through and managed quite a few fish of the same sort of stamp with bites being, at points, very regular. Even though nothing larger came of the day, these fish certainly give great accounts of themselves. An out of season sea trout did turn up as well which did certainly give me a good run around on light tackle. All in all an enjoyable afternoon after college...

Tight Lines,

Tom

Pleased with this shot - two fine looking ladies of the stream going back...

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

2016 - Not too bad a Start!

Loads of small grayling about when we were trotting for the roach!

Mark Lindsay and I pencilled in another trip after some roach and given the current conditions, we opted to fish my local river. What was on our minds from the beginning was going after the big, skitty roach that live on a slow moving section on my local river and opting to target them first of all on the feeder. Mark brought a couple of feeder rods and I brought the one, using a mix of maggots, caster, hemp and good old faithful bread. After balling up some liquidised bread and throwing it in the swim prior to fishing, Mark opted to fish maggots and casters, whilst I gave it a good go on the bread. Mark was getting instant responses on his maggots and casters managing some grayling and trout almost instantly, a roach angler's nightmare. This is the problem with chalk streams as they contain quite a head of greedy game fish! I managed just the one bite, which was a savage take and somehow managed to crack off which I assumed to be a trout charging off. We gave it quite a few hours, but the only fish to show for our efforts were gamefish, therefore we headed elsewhere and let the bait we chucked in settle in the swim.

I think the key is to feed these off to draw in the roach!

We tried a few different swims, but all we could tempt was some more gate-crashing trout. We decided between us, as we felt enough time had passed, to fish the swim we had fished to have rested up a little. We both set up some float tackle and were soon picking up some grayling on our trotted maggot offering. I opted to fish a Avon style float with a nice size 18 spade end hook for a nice presentation when using single maggot. After some feeding near a crease, I was soon getting bites, one of which absolutely slammed my rod round - the culprit being a big old trout. A few trots later, I watched as the float edged through the swim with the centrepin spinning beautifully as I kept in tow with the float. Just as the float started to sway slightly in the current, it buried. I struck and felt a decent weight on the end. This fish was really hugging the bottom and I couldn't help but think it was a trout putting up some resistance before topping. This fish though was plodding along, even gyrating at times, which gave me a second thought that it could be a half decent grayling. As my float carried on digging away under the surface I kept the rod low and took the fish very steady. As the fish started to come up, I slowly teased the float up and saw the tell-tale sail fin as the fish dived back down in its bid for freedom. A few nerve-racking head shakes, to my terror on a size 18, and it was ready for Mark to nervously scoop her up. It was a short, but chunky fish with beautiful dark colouration and turquoisey tints to its flank. We put her on the scales, noticing she was slightly empty, and she tipped the scales to an honest 1lb 15oz, not quite a 2, but an absolute stunner nevertheless.

Although pictures do not do them justice, a fine example of the species!

After getting a few picture done, I revived the fish in the net and she was soon ready to go after taking a second to orientate itself.

Just getting orientated before she goes!

This had completely changed the tone of the day, as it was quite a frustrating morning, not being able to get away from gate-crashing trout and catching grayling on the feeder, which I, personally, do not see as cricket. Mark and I continued to have a few trots and managed a few more smaller grayling, as well as this nice looking trout Mark hooked which unfortunately trashed the swim.

At this point, we had a few options open, but the one which tempted us the most was to try one of my banker swims where we were pretty much guaranteed some roach sport. We arrived to discover it was carrying a nice tinge of colour, and after putting a ball or so of liquidised bread in, Mark was soon trotting his stick float down. Its was not long until his float bobbed, a tell-tale sign of roach about, before slowly dipping under the surface. A positive strike and Mark was into the first roach of the day, not anything massive but absolutely lovely, as all the roach are in this section. We continued, fishing in alternation, and it was not long until Mark and I were catching some lovely roach between us, all of a nice stamp.

Nice little roach, lot of them like peas in a pod

Mark's face continued to light up as we continued to bag roach, getting a bite a chuck at many points. With a steady feed of liquidised bread and hemp, we were continuing to draw the fish up from downstream and we managed plenty more roach and the odd little grayling before running out of liquidised bread!

Couple of nice redefins on the stick float

Overall, a great day out, despite the bigger roach being far from forthcoming! Big thanks goes to Mark for coming down to join me. For more updates and pictures, check out our Instagram profiles:

@hampshireanglingtv
@chapsout

Thanks for reading,
Tight Lines,
Tom

A day out for the Grayling with James Denison

James and I arranged to meet down my way to see if we could get him onto one of the elusive larger grayling which are present on my local river. The current cycle isn't how it has been on some of the prolific years I've had, but the other day I did prick some better fish - James and I agreed that we had to be in it to win it.

We started on a idyllic little stretch where I have seen some very large grayling and perch in the past and we parked ourselves in a nice run with some depth and a nice crease on the far bank. James opted to fish a mix of maggots and caster and I on the other hand, chose some good old faithful sweetcorn to trot down the near bank of the swim. It was not long until James was landing some nice grayling gradually getting larger and I was starting to get onto a few myself. What I have found in cases is that on maggots you will get more bites, but in swims with smaller grayling this can be less selective.

Lovely looking grayling

I managed to get bites at a quicker pace after introducing grains of corn little and often and fishing midstream and on the near bank, which resulted in some lovely looking grayling and a few nuisance trout (which threw themselves readily at both our baits). We also managed to bounce a few better grayling, James bumping one certainly round the 2lb mark which was a shame. Not feeling disheartened by this we wandered off downstream and I hoped some other swims I knew would hopefully throw up something better for James.

Feisty little grayling!

There was a nice pool swim I have found to be prolific over the years and absolutely screams grayling of all sizes. James trotted through the swim a few times and managed a few bites bumping a couple of grayling, one of which was again of very good stamp, really hanging in the current. After a few more trots rotating baits, James had a well earned grayling of a pound or so. The next spot I showed James was where I bumped a good a good grayling on the Friday. After a few trots down James was managing some nice grayling including this beauty at 1-8.

James's best of the day...

All in all, it was a great day meeting James and tackling my local stretches, and at dusk we even managed to sneak in some trotting for roach. It was nice to see the shoals were still about with James managing some stunners to just over a pound at 1-3. Overall a very nice day and look forward to having you down again mate...

Tight Lines,

Tom

Nice way to finish the session...