2015 starts with a Grayling

On Saturday i had my first trip out of this New year. We went to the spot Brian had been doing so well in over the previous few weeks. Before we even took the rods from the car we fist stopped of at the  service station for a full English and a latte. Set up for the day we walked downstream a wee distance, it was a misty start , very cold with still plenty snow on the ground.

Once we were trotting things started pretty slow then Brian lost a fish, after that he decided to try downstream and as he went i hooked up , the fish fought really well ,but eventually i managed to slip him in the net.

Eventually the sun managed to cut through the mist , and Brians pool came to life , with him losing one at the net , pricking another and then landing one.

 sadly the was the last action of the day , but it was nice just to get out fishing again  .

snow, ice & grayling

The little snow that fell here last week has all but disappeared but driving down to the river yesterday there was increasing amounts of the white stuff still lying about, a good few inches by the time i arrived at the river. Still it was a fine sunny day with the river running clear and at a nice height.

  
I concentrated my efforts in some streamy water and it didn't take long for the float to register the first Grayling of the day. One of my very favorite sights in fishing is that first glimpse of the grayling's lovely dorsal breaking the surface.

  sport was quite good for a wee while with a good few grayling and the odd trout before it tailed of a bit in the afternoon.

i ran into a few difficulties when i lost one of the wee screws  from the reel mount of  my centre pin, but i managed to cobble it together enough to keep me fishing, to be fair the reel gets a tough time of it, and considering it was only about £30 on ebay i think its been a brilliant buy.

I'm hoping that there isn't a sudden thaw before next weekend as the river is at such a nice height just now, just have to wait and see.

Shades of Grayling

Seems like an age since the last time I was out fishing, so today I finally got my act together for the first trip of the new year on one of my favourite rivers. Not the nicest of days being dull, damp, windy and cold. The river high with snow melt, January weather I suppose.

the strong down and across wind was proving to be a real nuisance, it was difficult to get a good trot of any distance before the float was veering off course so working shorter distances seemed best. I was expecting to find graying holed up in deeper parts of the pool, but surprisingly i didn't have any luck there except for a couple of trout. The streamier water further upstream proved to be a better choice and here i found a few small grayling to keep me happy.

 i did hook into a real biggie, one of those ones where you think its the bottom and then it moves but alas we parted company early which i was suitably annoyed about! total for the day was six grayling and a few trout, good to get out fishing again.

weekly trotting fix

I was looking forward to another day on the river trotting for the Grayling, arrived at at the back of eight where i found the river maybe slightly lower than last weekend and although it wasn't frosty it certainly was feeling a lot colder.

It was really slow to get going, a couple of out of season trout was all i had to show for my efforts for the first hour or two, by this time my feet were feeling like ice blocks so time for a much needed coffee and a walk along the bank to warm up a bit before trying again. In for round two and pleasingly this time the float went under where i usually expect the Grayling to be lying, not a monster but i was pleased to get of the mark.

I was hoping this would be the start of the swim coming to life but apart from dropping another fish it just wasn't happening, i decided on a move to some streamier water upstream and this proved to be a good idea, after a few trots down i was into a nice Grayling which turned out to be the biggest of the day at 2lb 4oz

a few more followed throughout the day

  nothing massive but all welcome

ended the day with ten hard won Grayling, really enjoyed it apart from feeling a bit cold, extra pair of socks on next time i think.

Graylings in the Mist

It was a Misty start on Sunday when me and Bri had a go for the grayling . We went to the spot he had done so well at last weekend , i was really looking forward to a bit trotting , but first with bellies rumbling we stopped off for a bit breakfast. After a sausage and egg roll and a latte , we were ready to go.

It didn't take long for the mist to lift and with it Brian  hooked the first of the day a fine fish that went a couple of pound .

I then lost a grayling  before hooking into something that just held out in the current , actually thought i might have snagged, up on a old sack or something , till it started to swim upstream then jump about, and eventually a nice big  grayling came to the net  .

a few wee fellaes followed , then it went quiet.

Though Brian managed to find a few nice fishlittle upstream in the afternoon. I gave the fly rod a go but , no luck on that front , must get on the vice and tie up some more bugs.

The mist returned as it began and the cold started to set in and darkness slowly began creep in so we called it a day.

Great fun , looking forward to next time!

November Grayling

Out today for my first trip of the Grayling season,  with all the rain of late I knew I would have to travel to the upper reaches of the river to find some clear water.After an hour or so drive I parked up at my spot and got my first proper look at the river, aye it was carrying a bit of extra water right enough but running clear, I had packed the fly rod as well as my trotting gear but in truth i fancied a bit of relaxed trotting so decided to leave the fly rod in the car.
George from the http://traditionalfloats.blogspot.co.uk/ made me some lovely floats last winter with this river in mind,  I've been so looking forward to fishing with them and today I would finally get the chance to put them to good use, one of them anyway!

 I headed down to a pool that gave me a few nice grayling last year and after two or three trots down and I was into a fish, not what I was looking for though, a little trout which was followed by one or two more of his pals before I found myself connected to the first Grayling of the day.

only a little one but i was pleased to land my first of the winter

the next Grayling was a different creature all together, what i call a line whistler, nervous moments as i drew him ever closer to the net, he went 2lb 4oz in the mclean.

if that was to be my last grayling of the day i would have went home delighted, but i seemed to have found a shoal of good fish, to cut a long story short i ended up with eight Grayling for the day with five of them between 2lb 4oz and 2lb 8oz, happy days!

some pictures in no particular order, a memory card full of grayling pictures gets a bit confusing as they all look the same!  

in truth i probably could have stuck it out a little while longer but with some prolonged heavy showers late afternoon i decided to call it a day around four, a great day and a big thank you to George for making me those lovely floats.  

        

It's Turbo Time

Myself and Brian  couldn't think what to do yesterday, the weather forecast wasn't great , strong winds and heavy showers in most spots apart from the southeast of Scotland looked dry , so we opted for a bit flattie fishing on a south east beach, a beach that has a reputation for producing the odd Turbot. The night before had us making up a few rigs , and made an attempt get hold of some fresh mackerel for bait but the supermarkets couldn't help. Fortunately I had about 6 freezer burnt fillets that had been in my freezer for well over a year , and still thought we had better try get some fresh bait  incase the quality of the bait had diminished, but we failed to track down anything the following morning ,  so had to make do .

Despite being really windy the sea wasn't to bad as it was blowing straight of shore , I was really looking forward to getting a bait in the water. Brian was having one of those days almost walking out to the mark only to discover he had left his tripod in the car, and his leads at home. Before long we were both fishing . It didn't take long to get of the mark with some small flounders, including a few double shots. Nothing big, in fact compared with it's normal stamp they were quite small. 

double shots galore

It was a bonus to get a turbot, lovely to see , and one of these days it will produce one worthy of the frying pan .

Turbo power

Later in the afternoon I managed another double shot of turbot and flounder, this one a bit of a mutant , with its camouflage covering much of its underside as well as its back. 

It was great  fun while the fish were biting , a pity the bigger flatties didn't show , but it was good sport nonetheless  , one day we should get lucky as long as we keep trying.  Next time hope theres a slightly bigger sea to fish think that will get the bigger flounder feeding.