Slogging it out in the Borders

Fishing opportunities have been really difficult to come by off late with the atrocious weather we have been enduring  in the UK at the moment , so with river levels finally dropping, me and Brian thought we would make the most of the opportunity to wet a line on our favourite river . A fish or two would be nice but when we arrived and saw the river  our optimism was slightly jaded by the height of the river which generally doesn't fish so well when its high, but on the plus side it had good clarity .

While we tackled up we were  immediately faced with a chilling downstream breeze, three bugs and a egg fly tied to the point fly. In our first few pools due to the height of the water we could only fish off the bank but we drew a blank , then we decided to move to another pool , which was fishable and wadeable, we combed  the area thoroughly and methodically , in that time I managed to hook and lose a brace of modest fish , which was if anything encouraging  before we decided to rest the pool and return later.

We then tried an  area a few miles downstream , but again we drew a blank and our heads were starting to go down.
 After a roll and mars bar we mustered the enthusiasm to have another go. Eventually i had a take , and landed a wee grayling on my top dropper a pink beaded  wire nymph ,a small triumph and it just gave us that we bit of a boost to carry on.

Brian was next of the mark with the smallest grayling I've ever seen, again though despite it's size it gave us encouragement to carry on.

Eventually my spiral indicator straightened and i was into what felt like  a better  fish, it was confirmed when it rolled combing the surface with a big  red fringed  fin , revealing it was  a big male.

 It pulled the Mclean weigh net down to 2 1/2lb .  It put a smile on my previously tripping face .

What a sail! 

We tried hard for another as the light was starting to go, but there was no further action .It had been a tough day,  just hope the water gets a chance to drop by a foot or so for next time and perhaps the grayling will be more obliging .



 

filling up the nymph box

The last few nights Ive been stocking up my much depleted  nymph box with some simple patterns, some for the trout season ahead, but mostly bugs with Grayling in mind.

the ever reliable glister bug for our local burns

olive ribbed with chartreuse magic glass

wire nymphs with pink tungsten in various sizes, ive also tied a load of copper beaded ones for the trout season.

hares ear heavy weights to get down to where it matters

fluff on a hook, egg flies took some big grayling for us last year.

two or three wee black wire patterns for midge feeders

various forms of the pink shrimp

the weathers looking settled for a change so fingers crossed they might be put into action this weekend with any luck.  

blowing away the cobwebs

Cabin fever has well and truly set in over the Christmas holidays, we had hoped to get out for a grayling trip or two but with the constant wind and rain that's not been possible, on some days taking the dog out for a walk has been a thought to be honest, but then it is winter i guess. Anyway with the weather not looking too bad today Col and i decided on a wee coarse fishing session at Eliburn res.

 the rain still managed to put in an appearance

it took a while before our floats registered a bite, which turned out to be a lovely Roach to start of 2014

a few more Roach followed soon after the first and also an Ide

  

 after that some missed bites and long periods of inactivity before Col landed a Roach and another Ide

 so not the most productive of sessions but it was great to get out fishing again after a long month of no fishing.

something graylingy going on.

Col and I arranged to meet up with Scott from http://something-fishy-going-on.blogspot.co.uk/  on Sunday . Scott was after a grayling to add to his already impressive tally of  108 different species so far this year, quite an achievement i'm sure you'll agree, so we were keen for him  to add another species to his tally with any luck. To begin with the three of us started of trotting in the run where we had picked up fish from the week before, and it didn't take long for Scott to land the first Grayling of the day, the pressure was off!

from then on we all started to pick up a few grayling, great fun on a fine winters day

you again!

Grayling even manage to put a smile on my face!

sport slowed down a after a while so we split up for a while to try some different swims, where we had a few more grayling of various sizes and the odd out of season trout.

It was a pleasure to meet you Scott and I hope you catch some more of your target species before the years out.

  

single lady

I had Sunday afternoon free so thought I would pay the grayling burn a visit, as Col was saying in a recent post it's grayling have proved hard to find this year for some reason, maybe water quality? I don't know but recent spates have certainly cleared out a lot of the silt and on this day it was running low and as clear as I have seen it.

from the first pool I was pleased to land a nice grayling on a tan glister bug



   still some ice in the shade

my hopes were high in the next few good pools but I never got another touch, not that I was feeling too disheartened, just being on the river on a fine winter afternoon was enough for me, and ive got a feeling that the Grayling will put in an appearance again at some point. 

A Dose of the Trots.

On saturday me and Brian went west for a shot at the grayling. Despite having trotted for grayling many times , it was the first time i'd   done it  properly  with a centrepin reel, Brian on the otherhand has a good few years experience using his, so i was in good hands for any advice or help i would need.
When we arrived  just before 8am it was just light enough to see what we were doing and once tackled up we were trotting.

It didn't take long for Brian to bring the first grayling and then the second and third and the odd out of season trout  to hand, before i too got into some of the action, after a few initial teething problems i started to get the hang of it.

The sport tailed off an hour or so in , so we searched elsewhere in vain , before returning again, if anything the walk was a good opportunity to get the blood circulating again in our feet, in fact we regularly took breaks just to warm up , we were joined by a wee robin , looking for free food , he even had the brass neck to attempt to take maggots from my bait apron .

 We went on to take a few more grayling, the sport  seemed to come on in spells.

It had been a nice day on the river, and i now feel i little more competent with the centrepin, thanks Brian.

back for more

I couldn't help myself today and went back to the same spot as last sunday for another session trotting for the grayling. Not such a nice day today with a strong downstream wind and generally feeling quite dreich.

 Started of with a wee trout before connecting with a good grayling, just under the 2lb mark.

a few more trout and another good grayling followed, just over the 2lb mark this time

and that was my lot for the day, a nice way to spend a short November afternoon, next time I think I might explore a different stretch of the river.