Best Time of Day for Grayling

[Mark99]

Grayling happily rise for a fly, but in the winter fly hatches are very short, almost non existent, so the majority of what they feed on is below the surface, they devour caddis grubs.

By fishing with maggot just a pinch of a few at a time you can create a feeding window for them, be very careful, it is very easy to over feed them.

Grayling, particularly larger fish, love sweetcorn, but again only offer 1 or 2 free grains per trot.

Yes guilty! Every time I tried to get them in a frenzy with reds, they went away. That's twice in three days someone has advised row back on the freebies!

[Olly]

Grayling are just not used to loads of grub-s/maggots!

The sweetcorn is believed to be mistaken for eggs, salmon or trout, but are thought to be partially indigestible and possibly dangerous in quantity when ingested by grayling.

[Ian]

I’m a bit late with my two bobs worth.

I find grayling to be very specific when it comes to where they may be. The runs we might expect to catch them in during the early months simply don’t work for them when the clear frosty days kick in leaving us believing that they aren’t feeding.Grayling are not as difficult to catch as they are to find during bright cold days, but presentation also plays a big part and you might never know if you have found them if the bait isn’t presented the way they want on a particular day. It’s all about constantly changing depth and speed of trot with every run through in every run.
That’s in my humble opinion.

[Moley]

Two Bob's Worth Reply

Must have missed this first time out but here are the votes from the Chalk Stream Jury:

1. Sweet Corn is effective for Grayling but not very good for them so best avoided

2. The best time of day to catch them is when you are fishing for them.

3. Ledgering results in deep hooking unless you have lightning reactions.....so don't.

4. Trotting red grubs, little but often each trot works well in Winter.

5. Centrepin loaded with 3lb line is just right....not too heavy, not too light.

6. Good old Maxima is easy to use.

7. A light rod between 11-13 ft suits Fatty. Cane is nice but heavy so good glass is the choice here.

8. Look for runs of steady water with deeper holes in them.....grayling like these.

9. Having said that just to contradict number eight, water from side streams entering the main river are top grayling spots.

10. Don't spend time working up a swim like you would in a match, a few trots will tell you if they are present and feeding. If not just move on to the next run.

11. If using the drey Fley a Klinkhamer is about as good as it gets. Hint, vary the size as this seems to be the key to success. Nymphing Czech Style is very effective but personally resulted in too many deep hooked/ foul hooked fish,
so was discarded as a method to catch them. Fatty will concede that it could be down to lack of skill here but has no problems with the Killer Bug fished Netheravon Style and has been known to catch more in a day than the bottom dredgers.

12. When the fish turn dark, the time varies from river to river, just stop fishing for them please. As to do so causes more harm than good. Don't become one of those ignorant oafs in the comics posing with their new, soon to be dead,. PB . Also try to keep the time out of water to thirty seconds or less because longer than this requires twice as long, or more, for them to recover.

Hope this answers any questions.

Fatty has caught quite a few Grayling over the years , so whilst he would never claim any great expertise, just might know a little about which he speaks.

You could do worse than follow the twelve steps.

As ever,.....

Moley

[Ian]

Two Bob's Worth Reply

Must have missed this first time out but here are the votes from the Chalk Stream Jury:

1. Sweet Corn is effective for Grayling but not very good for them so best avoided

2. The best time of day to catch them is when you are fishing for them.

3. Ledgering results in deep hooking unless you have lightning reactions.....so don't.

4. Trotting red grubs, little but often each trot works well in Winter.

5. Centrepin loaded with 3lb line is just right....not too heavy, not too light.

6. Good old Maxima is easy to use.

7. A light rod between 11-13 ft suits Fatty. Cane is nice but heavy so good glass is the choice here.

8. Look for runs of steady water with deeper holes in them.....grayling like these.

9. Having said that just to contradict number eight, water from side streams entering the main river are top grayling spots.

10. Don't spend time working up a swim like you would in a match, a few trots will tell you if they are present and feeding. If not just move on to the next run.

11. If using the drey Fley a Klinkhamer is about as good as it gets. Hint, vary the size as this seems to be the key to success. Nymphing Czech Style is very effective but personally resulted in too many deep hooked/ foul hooked fish,
so was discarded as a method to catch them. Fatty will concede that it could be down to lack of skill here but has no problems with the Killer Bug fished Netheravon Style and has been known to catch more in a day than the bottom dredgers.

12. When the fish turn dark, the time varies from river to river, just stop fishing for them please. As to do so causes more harm than good. Don't become one of those ignorant oafs in the comics posing with their new, soon to be dead,. PB . Also try to keep the time out of water to thirty seconds or less because longer than this requires twice as long, or more, for them to recover.

Hope this answers any questions.

Fatty has caught quite a few Grayling over the years , so whilst he would never claim any great expertise, just might know a little about which he speaks.

You could do worse than follow the twelve steps.

As ever,.....

Moley

You missed out unlucky number 13.

Hooks are very affective for grayling but they aren’t good for them

[Moley]

Hooks are very effective for catching all fish Ian and arguably not good for them but until a better way to catch fish with rod and line they will have to do!

Unlucky thirteen is not covered in the missive because it is sad.....Grayling are on the decline in most rivers and can say that because Fatty is old enough to remember when catches of fifty to sixty in a day were easy. Nowadays that is a good seasons worth. And whilst it can be justified perhaps to mock concerns expressed in the twelve steps outlined above it makes sense to use them in these worrying times. Or at least something like them!

Personally Grayling are a favourite fish and will miss them terribly when they are gone.

As ever,...

Moley

[Ian]

Hooks are very effective for catching all fish Ian and arguably not good for them but until a better way to catch fish with rod and line they will have to do!

Unlucky thirteen is not covered in the missive because it is sad.....Grayling are on the decline in most rivers and can say that because Fatty is old enough to remember when catches of fifty to sixty in a day were easy. Nowadays that is a good seasons worth. And whilst it can be justified perhaps to mock concerns expressed in the twelve steps outlined above it makes sense to use them in these worrying times. Or at least something like them!

Personally Grayling are a favourite fish and will miss them terribly when they are gone.

As ever,...

Moley

Naw I agree totally moley. Grayling are my favourite fish along with roach. It will be a very sad day when they are no longer in our rivers. I would fight tooth and nail to help them survive if I could. I would even stop fishing for them and that’s a fact. I too remember the glory days of big catches of grayling, infact once upon a time they were in every single run from a foot deep and fast flowing runs too deep pools. It’s really down heartbreaking nowadays and I’m luck to catch 20 in a season nowadays. I wasn’t mocking the twelve steps,I was merely hinting at another step that we may soon need to take.

Cheers moley

[JAA]

Two Bob's Worth Reply

Must have missed this first time out but here are the votes from the Chalk Stream Jury:

1. Sweet Corn is effective for Grayling but not very good for them so best avoided

2. The best time of day to catch them is when you are fishing for them.

3. Ledgering results in deep hooking unless you have lightning reactions.....so don't.

4. Trotting red grubs, little but often each trot works well in Winter.

5. Centrepin loaded with 3lb line is just right....not too heavy, not too light.

6. Good old Maxima is easy to use.

7. A light rod between 11-13 ft suits Fatty. Cane is nice but heavy so good glass is the choice here.

8. Look for runs of steady water with deeper holes in them.....grayling like these.

9. Having said that just to contradict number eight, water from side streams entering the main river are top grayling spots.

10. Don't spend time working up a swim like you would in a match, a few trots will tell you if they are present and feeding. If not just move on to the next run.

11. If using the drey Fley a Klinkhamer is about as good as it gets. Hint, vary the size as this seems to be the key to success. Nymphing Czech Style is very effective but personally resulted in too many deep hooked/ foul hooked fish,
so was discarded as a method to catch them. Fatty will concede that it could be down to lack of skill here but has no problems with the Killer Bug fished Netheravon Style and has been known to catch more in a day than the bottom dredgers.

12. When the fish turn dark, the time varies from river to river, just stop fishing for them please. As to do so causes more harm than good. Don't become one of those ignorant oafs in the comics posing with their new, soon to be dead,. PB . Also try to keep the time out of water to thirty seconds or less because longer than this requires twice as long, or more, for them to recover.

Hope this answers any questions.

Fatty has caught quite a few Grayling over the years , so whilst he would never claim any great expertise, just might know a little about which he speaks.

You could do worse than follow the twelve steps.

As ever,.....

Moley

Good steps Moley