7 Year wait is over, finally another 3lbs Lady.

This morning the alarm sounded at 5am which signalled the start of a  long day ahead but a day that unbeknown to me was a day that a 7 year wait would be over.
After a 2 hour drive across the Pennines & up the M74 into Scotland, I was on the river and walking to the top of the beat ready to see if I could tempt the Ladies.

I started fishing and within 5 minutes was into a fish straight away & within 10 seconds it was off again, on the next trot down another fish and as the same as the first it was off again, not the ideal start I had hoped for.After a further 20 minutes the float dipped away again and this time we managed to persuade the first lady of the day into the net.

A nice Grayling just over the 1lbs mark and a very welcome seeing as the morning hadnt started as planned but we were off and counting.

I moved from pool to pool all of which looked perfect for Grayling but unfortunately never touched a fish for almost the rest of the morning.

After a brew and a couple of hook ties as I had been dragging the bottom and found some of the river snags, decided to move back to the pool I had hooked the Grayling in earlier in the morning.

As I got back the pool I could see another angler making his way down the river so we stopped and chatted and he had said that he had a beautiful Grayling of around 3lbs, he hadnt weighed it as he had no scales but he estimated it to be over 20"....I would be so lucky.
After a few minutes chatting I got back to the business of fishing and within 10 minutes the float dipped away and the cane rod started straining, I knew this had to be either a good Grayling or a Chub I knew the way it was reacting it wasnt a trout, I really hoped it was a Grayling and the next few minutes were tense to say the least till I saw the large dorsal finally break the surface...A Grayling

By this time the other angler came up to see what it was just as I was scooping the Grayling in the net, and what a Grayling she was, I had my feelings it might break the magical 3lbs but wasnt jumping to conclusions so I passed my scales to the other angler and asked him to do me the honours, The scales read exactly 3lbs, so again he reset them just to confirm and again they stopped at 3lbs, a quick measurement revealed her to be 20" long and a few snaps before she kicked out my hand as I released her back to where she came.

As the day went on my mind kept wandering back to that lovely fish and if I didnt have any other fish I wasnt really bothered, I bumped into the other angler again just as he was in battle with a beautiful big Brownie so this time I did the honours for him and the scales went to 4lbs 7oz a big hen fish well over 24" Long and in mint condition.
I only got one more bite after that which again I managed to loose almost straight away but I knew the 2 hour journey home was worth every mile of it just to catch a beautiful fish and break a 7 year wait since the last time a Grayling of that size had graced my net.