Showing posts with label grayling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grayling. Show all posts

Sunday, 17 March 2013

Winter Grayling Fishing (Early February)

I originally meant to post about this trip last month, but once again a combination of mounting University work, trying to think of a dissertation proposal and general laziness set me back. Nevertheless, here I am now, and here's the lowdown...

At the start of February I popped home for my girlfriend's birthday, and having squirmed my way back into the good books I managed to cadge a lift down to the River Wharfe for a  morning chasing ladies, also providing me with a chance to test out my new Contour Roam 2 headcam. There had been a substantial amount of rain, so I opted for the age old Yorkshire tactic of trotted worm. The weather was dire and I'd been expecting to take a bit of a whipping, but to my surprise and delight I had a day of days with 11 gorgeous Grayling up to around a pound and a half. Not bad for a flying two or three hour session! Below are some photos from the day, plus some video footage I shot with the new headcam, hope you enjoy it!

New gadget: the Contour headcam. Takes a wee while to stop feeling self conscious about having it  strapped to the side of your head!

On target with one of the first ladies of the session...

... But bumping into a few of these chaps was unavoidable.

Posing for the camera...

Not all of them were so cooperative!

A decent fish  to finish.



Tight lines,
Eric

Friday, 17 August 2012

Good Morning, August 14th.

I decided to take another trip down the Wharfe on tuesday morning. River levels were good, it was warm, the wind was low and there was a moderate blanket of cloud cover - not bad conditions then!

I started by working my way downstream with a team of spiders, but to my surprise after an hour I had failed to conjure up so much as a tweak. A few fish were rising in a foam lane, so that encouraged me to take the initiative and change my setup. I tied a length of finer tippet to the end of my leader and to that attached a well ginked Klinkhamer Special. I slowly waded into a better casting position, being careful not to spook my quarry. The first cast provoked an instant response, but predictably I missed it completely. Another rise came on the second cast. This time, brief contact was made before the line went slack... much swearing and gnashing of teeth. I haven't fished the dries so often this season, and when I have my hook up rate has been rather poor, and the more fish I miss, the worse I'm taking it!

With the pool most likely spooked I crept out of the water and sat on the bank. There I lit a cigarette (stop, Eric, for god's sake), watched and waited to see if the fish would continue their feeding. Sure enough, within 15 minutes there was sipping and slurping aplenty once again, so after degreasing my leader I re-entered the fray. A few casts went unnoticed before I got my third rise of the day. No mistake this time, and after a short tussle a very welcome Grayling slid over the net.

First of the day.

After that first success, I moved downstream and picked up another lady to the dry from a difficult patch of slow water which has always been one of my sticky spots - lots of risers but painfully shy and spooky, so I was rather pleased to have tempted a fish from the spot. Another move after this brought a third Grayling along with a decent Trout which led me on a merry dance on my light leader before it finally capitulated.

Another lady...

... and a reasonable Trout!

With my first Brownie of the day slipped safely back, I moved on to some 'busier' riffles and swapped to nymphing tactics. Fishing through every inch of water on a short line, I soon got a confident take from a powerful fish which stayed deep, kicking in the fast current. Eventually a flash on the surface proved it to be yet another Grayling, and a good one at that. When it was finally in the net after a long tussle, I estimated the decidedly chunky specimen to be getting on for a pound and a half - not a fish to be sniffed at in my book! The sport picked up from there, with a number of Trout succumbing to the charms of the nymph. Usually, fast water nymphing on the Ilkley stretch produces fish in the 6 to 8 inch class, but though I had a couple of these, I was pleased to catch a string of better Trout in the 10 to 12 inch bracket, all of which fought admirably and were returned unharmed.

A good Grayling.

Normally the average stamp...

... but the river was being more generous!

I finished with 6 Brownies and 4 Grayling. My best day numbers-wise this season on the Wharfe, my best average size and my most successful day of the season on the dry fly. Suffice to say I went home a happy bunny! Shame the weather's turned again now.

Tight lines,
Eric.

Thursday, 8 December 2011

Another grayling trip: photos!

Hey up! Just thought I'd post up a few piccies I had kicking around from another grayling session I had on the Wharfe around the end of November, this time on the fly (yippee!). It was pretty damn chilly, but czech nymphing only produced out of season brownies, whilst a change to spiders fished just under the surface produced a couple of examples of the required species! Not a fantastic trip but a bit of action, and on the fly which is all the better.
I should be home for Christmas shortly, but the weather here in Cumbria is horrific. The Eamont and Lowther are both bursting their banks, and conditions in Yorkshire don't sound a lot better, so I doubt I'll be up to much fishing unless I can get on the Aire for a bash at some chub. Fingers crossed though!

Out of season brownie on a czech nymph.

And another - wrong season mate!
Possibly the smallest grayling I've ever caught?

A better one to finish.





P.S. sorry about the stupid photo formatting! Can't get it to work.. if anyone knows how to sort that out please let me know!

Saturday, 12 November 2011

Back on the Wharfe at last! - 10th November.

Looking at the Wharfe for the first time in two months - a welcome return!

So, this week is the first time since September that I’ve had any appreciable length of time back in good old Yorkshire. I’ve been stranded in Penrith studying my forestry course, and consequently I missed out on the entire last month of the Wharfe trout season, not to mention October – my favourite month of the grayling season! In fact now that I think of it, the last time I’d even so much as set eyes on the river was way back in August, so naturally when I realised I had a reading week in which to nip home, my first thoughts weren’t of the piles of paper that needed filing or assignments in urgent need of drafting (they’re all still waiting as I write!), but of reacquainting myself properly with the river, and hopefully a few of its finned inhabitants, so yesterday morning I gathered together some gear, filled a flask and headed out into an overcast November morning.

When I reached the bankside, I was taken aback by just how much the river had changed since my previous visit. The green of summer had been replaced by the reds, browns and golds of autumn, and the great swathes of Himalayan Balsam which had towered over the footpaths were now little more than a collection of withered, anaemic stems slumped on the ground. There was a tad more water around than usual, which was carrying a tinge of colour, and I was fairly confident that with a crafty application of maggots I should be able to winkle out a fish or two.

The river carrying extra water and a tiny tinge of colour - to be expected with the time of year.

Larch (Britain's only deciduous conifer) in its striking autumn finery: things had changed since the summer!

This sycamore was displaying a range of colours too..

I found a slow, deep bend, proceeded to set up with a simple block end feeder and began to fish. I opted for bait rather than fly simply because in the colder months, standing all day up to your unmentionables in ice cold water, trying to keep your eyes trained like a hawk on your leader, watching for practically imperceptible movements, is... well, frankly the mere thought of it makes my brain hurt! However, soon I was kicking myself for my decision, as a fish were rising all over the river, and were doing so all day whilst my rod tip remained motionless! Sod’s law strikes me another monumental blow to the plums. Interestingly, whilst I sat in wait, a number of large fish flopped around the pool – rogue Salmon perhaps? I saw one last October so it’s not entirely impossible, and if they are there and breeding then all the better in my opinion. It was very pleasant indeed to sit and watch nature’s goings on whilst hoping for a bite. A kingfisher flitted its way downstream past me and then back up again, and a dipper hopped about here and there, searching the far bank shallows for food. I had one sharp knock which failed to develop into a real offer, but other than that nothing was doing whatsoever, and after a fruitless couple of hours I concluded that a hot cup of tea and a move to new pastures was in order.

The first swim of the day - fish were rising and salmon were moving, but the grayling were having none of it.

Watching the wildlife is one of the great pleasures in angling, but overfed, over confident mallards can be a royal pain in the behind!

A short walk downstream brought me to an outfall pipe flowing into the river... not the most picturesque of locations you might say, but I was confident that there would be fish lying in wait in the run below the pipe, and so I switched to a stick float setup (much more aesthetically pleasing to watch a float anyway) and began to trot the swim along the fringe of the foam line being produced by the outfall. After about five minutes my float zipped away and I connected briefly to a decent fish before we parted ways and my rig went sailing gracefully into the branches of the sycamore behind me. Bugger. No matter, as after a military style retrieval operation and some tedious untangling, I threw in a few free offerings before dropping in again. After a short while my float dipped under once more – success! Well, perhaps not depending on how you look at it, as a sprightly out of season brownie began cartwheeling around the pool in front of me. It was soon subdued, and after a brief lecture about seasonal boundaries I slipped it back. Not what I was after, but good to make a catch in order to simply keep my blood pumping!

An outfall into the river - not the prettiest spot but it draws in fish.

Swapping to the stick float.

A healthy brownie - would have been very welcome in the season!

Considering the disturbance the trout had made, I thought it best to move on once again, and so following another quick cuppa I shifted downstream to where I could see a number of fish nosing the surface. Some time passed with no response, and the temperature began to drop noticeably as the sun began rapidly to dim in the sky. Hands were starting to freeze now, and my sense of optimism was dwindling, but all at once I was reawakened by a sharp bob of my float. Taken by surprise, I inevitably panicked and struck into nothing, but next run through brought the same response, which this time I was prepared for. For a few moments I was uncertain as to what I had hooked, but then to my relief a silver flank flashed below the surface – no trout this time then! After a brief but tenacious resistance I slid the net under a lovely wee grayling of around 3/4lb. Not a huge fish, but on a chilly evening at the end of a difficult day’s fishing, it was certainly a sight for sore eyes, and I returned it to the water satisfied that my reunion with the Wharfe had been worth the wait.

Success at last with a grayling in the net.

Back it goes...

Tuesday, 26 July 2011

High water on the Wharfe: Friday 22nd July

River well up and carrying colour - tricky conditions... especially when you've only brought a 6ft #3 outfit!