Commemorative Rod & Grayling

Today was the first time I had the new rod on the river and I was hoping for a nice grayling to christen it so headed back to a place I know were I managed to get a couple of Grayling on the dry fly a few weeks back and was hoping to repeat the process.

I tackled up and sat for almost 40 minutes in the cover of the wood staying out the drizzle rain which had now started before I finally seen a few tell tale fish rings on the surface & I knew these were Grayling, as I had my heart set on it being a Grayling that would christen the new rod I wasn't going to rush things and its quite amazing what you see when you sit still at the river's edge.



Not 10 metres away from me on the edge of a small waterfall a pair of dippers were hunting, dipping under the water in the search of insects & larvae letting the water rush over them as they made there way along the top of the waterfall, a very nice sight to see.

I got my first fish after about 10 minutes of fishing but it wasn't quite the rod bender I was looking for but nevertheless it was the right species.

I had wanted a Grayling and that's exactly what I got a Grayling maybe small in size but definitely a fish for the future.

The 2nd fish of the day made up for it though and what made it even sweeter was it took the dry fly and again it was like watching it come up in slow motion to take the fly before turning and me setting the hook, a nice Grayling of just under 1.5lbs






The fish were starting to come more frequent now as the drizzle rain went off and I hooked and lost another 3 good Grayling before finally connecting with this solitary trout I had seen rising further across the run.

After a few other small par being landed which made me wonder how they had managed to get my size 16 hook in their mouth they were so small I hooked into another substantial Grayling of 1.9lbs again on the dry fly.

The rod handled all the fish beautifully especially the 2 larger Grayling and I have nothing but praise for Gary Marshall as the rod he has made is not only a work of art but also a beautiful rod to cast with and use, & it will be cherished for many years to come.

As always. 

Anyone interested in Gary's work please have a look at his website.

http://www.finecanerods.com/