River Dee....'The Future's Bright !' - 28/09/08

It was another day out on the Welsh Dee with my fishing buddy, various beats fished with plenty of Grayling hitting the net. Some decent fish amongst them, but this post will focus upon the number of small Grayling that are abundant in the Dee River system.

We have fished the Dee for many years now, my first outing at the age of eleven on a beat at Llangollen, it was memorable in many ways. Firstly catching my first Dee Grayling, secondly going for an impromptu swim to the horror of my buddy who thought I was on my way to Chester. Lucky for me I was grabbed out waders full and soaked to the skin, but carried on none the less in the hot summer day. It was possibly the amount of Dee water that I swallowed on that day which has fuelled my passion for this lovely river, who knows but nowadays I try and keep a steady foot hold.

I digress, but I cant recall the number of times we have fished this river and caught so many small Grayling (as above). It really was a joy to see & catch these new Generation Grayling. It bodes well for the future stocks of the River & future anglers whom wish to undertake a spot of Grayling fishing on this wonderful river. It goes to show that the river is very productive for the grayling with an abundance of food for them to grow and become specimen fish. Of which I have caught a few !!!.

Here is an interesting table indicating age and length of Grayling taken as a sample of nearly 4000 Grayling . Which goes to prove my point regarding the quality of the River Dee.

Welsh Dee Grayling Stats ...Growth Rate (Length vs Age)

Upper Dee - (yr1)12 cm (yr2) 21.3cm (yr3) 27cm (yr4) 31.6 cm (yr5) 33.4cm

Dee (Corwen) - (yr1) 12.5cm (yr2) 23.8 cm (yr4) 30.8 cm (yr5) 34.4cm

Llyn Tegid - (yr1) 12cm (yr2) 22.5cm (yr3) 29.8cm (yr4) 35.8 cm (yr5)37.9cm (yr6) 39.9cm
(Source - Woodland J.V and Jones. J.w.Studies on Grayling, Thymallus Thymallus in Llyn tegid and the upper Dee,. J.Fish Biol vol 7 1975) Appendix B Flyfishing for Grayling - John Roberts

The growth rate of the Welsh Dee Grayling is for all to see, and with so many small fish in the system the future is looking really bright!. Lets hope the magical 4lb fish is around the corner.

Tight Lines