A Night of Grayling

The weather last night was just too nice to sit indoors and I had been pottering around the garden for most of the day so all the gardening tasks were completed so I opted to go onto the river for a few hours and see if I  could tempt a late evening trout, even although the river was very low and clear I thought this would be the best opportunity to grab a fish if any were about.

I arrived on the river just before 7pm and straight away the first thing I saw was a large hatch of olives on the river which was a great sight and I thought I would be in for a good evening of sport............I sat and watched the hatch for almost an hour and the only things that were moving were small Grayling, not a single trout rise!

I decided to fish up to a spot where I knew my chances would be greatly improved for the trout, so on route why not have a go at the small Grayling.

I took 10 of these small Grayling as I fished up the river and released quite a few at range also. I sat for another hour on the top stretch and again the only thing rising were the small Grayling, where were all the trout? As I was about to head back downstream after seeing nothing worth having a go at I seen one decent fish move and knew it was a slightly better Grayling so waded in below it and cast upstream over its head and sure enough up she popped and sucked down my small dry.

It was indeed a good Grayling which I estimated to be around the 2lbs mark and in fighting fit condition and after a few moments of the typical Grayling fight we parted company as the tippet had caught around an underwater branch.

After a new  tippet was attached I made my way back down the river as darkness was starting to come in quite quickly now and I wanted to get back onto the other bank before I couldn't see where I was going as the river bed at the moment is like a skating rink with all the weed & sediment on the rocks and I didn't fancy a night time swim.

As I crossed the river I heard a good splash in the looming darkness and knew it had to be a trout, so fished the fly across the river in the general direction of the rise.

A couple of casts later into and this wee guy had taken the fly off the surface.

I fished on back down to the car with no other fish seen or heard & then to finish off I fell over the low fence I forgot was there in the darkness, luckily it was only my pride that was hurt as I lay in the long grass cursing my forgetfulness, but apart from the lack of trout it was a great night to be out with the dippers, the couple of kingfishers and the oyster-catchers to keep me company.