Monday 7 October 2013

Road Trip

With the trout season in Scotland not finishing until October 6th this allowed for a few more days of the season than in England, but that wasn't the target this trip around.
 I was planning on an early session after the fighting fit Grayling of the River Clyde, so combined with some family business we had to attend to, the wife pointed the car in the direction of North and off we set for the weekend leaving North Yorkshire behind in the mist.

I had been checking the weather leading up to the weekend and it didn't make good reading with heavy rain forecast for most of the week up until Friday where it was meant to clear for the weekend, this meant one thing, BIG water and difficult conditions so I opted to leave the fly gear and dust off the cane trotting rod for its first outing since the last Grayling season.

After attending to business I set off early from the mother in laws and made the hour trip back towards the headwaters of the River Clyde as this was going to be my best bet for the water dropping out of the river quickly, so swung by where I get the necessary tickets from only to see 17 other anglers from the North of Scotland with the same intentions as me, it was going to be busy in the normal spots, luckily I prefer the out of the way spots and being brought up on the Clyde as a boy I knew a few.

It wasn't long till I had my ticket and was back in the car heading off leaving the other anglers discussing where they were going to be fishing, I knew exactly where I was going, and with a quick check in the mirror I was gone.

On arrival at my chosen spot the water was indeed higher than normal but still very much fishable so it wasn't long till I was trotting my first worm down the run only to see the float dip away at the bottom and the first Clyde fish of the trip was on.




A small Clyde trout beautifully marked as most Clyde trout are.






A few more trot through's and Clyde trout number 2 arrived to the net.

 Again another small but very lovely trout still in fighting fit condition which surprised me for being this late on in the season.

I was hoping for the Grayling to show but wasn't disappointed as conditions started to deteriorate with the rain and wind picking up again.

After around 15 minutes or so the float dipped away again and I knew this was different from the jagged fight the fish was putting up, a Grayling.



 A lovely Clyde Grayling which weighed 2lbs 3oz on the Scales. Superb, I was contented now, as I had got what I came for.
 I stayed in the run hoping for more Grayling but from what I've found in the past with Grayling like this is that they tend to be solo fish and you could stay in the same spot for the remainder of the day and not catch another so I moved on and left it in peace.

It wasn't long till I was back amongst the trout again.





All as beautifully marked as the one before it.









I continued to catch trout on my walk upstream and never touched another Grayling at all so tried to find some shelter which up this far there isn't a great deal of, with purely the odd clump of rushes or high grass to try and cowrie down behind out of the wind.
Lunch was a couple of cold scotch pies on fresh rolls bought that morning, what more could a man ask for apart from a piping cup of coffee from the flask to raise the spirits again.

On heading back downstream I connected with another few trout until this guy took the worm and gave me a thrilling fight as it dashed up and down the river under the undercut banks trying everything to throw the hook.

At a fraction over the 3lbs mark on the scales a lovely fighting fit fish released to fight another day.


 As the day wore on a few more smaller trout came to the net and I was almost back to where I had left the car so decided to fish the swim where I had taken the Grayling from only to find more trout, with this one being the best of the bunch.




Probably the best looking fish of the day in the way of markings.









With the light starting to fade I moved to my last run before calling it a day and on the second trot through the float dipped away and I could feel the jagged fight of another Grayling.




Not as big as the first weighing just under the 2lbs mark, but very welcome indeed.







As I was releasing her I noticed how well marked her fins were with the different colourizations something you dont see much of in the Yorkshire Grayling I catch.


And with a flick of her tail she was off back into the peaty water of the Upper Clyde and the tally for the session was 21 trout & 2 Grayling, what could be better than finishing off the 2013 Trout season but on the river I fished as a boy with some lovely Brown Trout and  Gorgeous Grayling.

6 comments:

  1. great stuff George, smashing brownies and Grayling.

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  2. Thanks Brian, Always good to get back up for a session or two.

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  3. Amazing angling as Usual George ! Those trout look like tropical fish they're so well marked. I'd get those scales checked n'all, that first grayling looks heavier than 2lb 3 ounce...unless of course your using your fancy photographic skills ! :)

    cheers
    Ian.

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    Replies
    1. All grayling look larger than they actually are Ian that's why I always weigh them as too many anglers try to guess the weights and it's always more than it actually is, if you weigh them then there is no doubt and your not cheating yourself then.

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  4. Looks like you had a fab days fishing George, very envious.

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  5. Thanks Ben, was quite shocked at the amount of trout that came to the net, I actually expected more Grayling than there was but we cant have it all our own way, a cracking finish to my trout season.

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