Bugging out
THE second year of a Covid-affected world has made for plenty of doom and gloom column inches, while a lot of the bright side has had to come from what we do for ourselves and with the people that matter to us.
It also left me with a half day to use up at the end of the year and a chance to get out fishing with my friend for the final time in 2021.
Much like the weekend ahead, the weather was looking great for getting out.
There’s been some rain but the river had dropped and cleared, so everything was in our favour. Clocking out nice and early with a spring in my step down to the river, setting up the 10ft No3 nymphing rod that’s been waiting patiently for some chilly Grayling Days.
There was nothing much going on with any sort of fly hatch as we dropped into the swim so the bugs were out. Both set up on the nymphs with beaded Perdigons and Pheasant Tails to get get down in the water. We split the river, with one fishing the shallower seam while the other followed through concentrating on the deeper side with heavier bugs dragging the bottom. The first fish came to the lighter nymph in the shallower water just on the edge of the drop off.
It’s well worth putting some extra casts through the slopes that connect different water levels as Grayling can lay deeper but come up on to the shallow water and grab at food.
We moved up the river searching all the likely looking areas, swapping over to Klink and Dink to cover slower deeper water.
There weren’t a huge number of fish holding in any particular pools, so it turned into a scouting trip trying out some pools we wouldn’t usually get to before walking back down and concentrating on the best spots.
As the afternoon went on, there was a small hatch and not long after we saw little dimpled rises popping up in the river. Just enough to tease you on to a single dry for a bit.
Problem was there were so many small grayling hitting so fast or dragging the fly under that it was hard to get to a better fish, if they were there.
The rise didn’t really come to much and after failing to connect, I changed back to the nymphs, headed to faster flowing water and fished hard on the bottom again. We hooked and lost a few more until the wind picked up, the temp dropped and the light dimmed, a good reminder to head for a food n coffees.
It was a great day out, the fishing was fun and the river looks in good health with lots of small fish from this year’s brood and a few 1lbers to keep the rods bent. I can’t wait for the next trip out on the Grayling Bug.