Wind Of Change

I have noticed within the last couple of weeks that there is a significant swing in favour of Grayling in my catches. Generally most of the water I fish has a good head of Grayling in them but early to mid season catches have always been dominated by Brown Trout.



Last weekends four fishing outings (long weekend!) on both the Wye and Lugg are a prime example with the Grayling out-numbering the Trout by roughly 2 to 1. That included two trips with catches in excess of 20 fish.

The reason is obviously down to the amount of Grayling in the water to start with, combined with the fact that August is notoriously a difficult month to catch Trout with very little fly life coming off the water the trout are quite content to sit back a rest a little after their over indulgent gorging on the prolific early summer fly hatches.

The other notable thing is the quality of the fish I've caught recently, with many Grayling over the 14" mark...particularly on the river Lugg.

Its hard to believe that this beautiful fish was persecuted on some waters in the past in order to try and maintain a 'trout only' fishery when the Grayling offers (in my opinion) an equal if not sometimes more enjoyable quarry as the Brown Trout.

The other big bonus is that this hard fighting fish allows the more hardy of us to fly fish through the winter months on rivers where they are present increasing our season to a full 12 months...All hail the mighty Thymallus thymallus!!!