It was a day out on the River Hodder with the Grayling society, organised by George Ashton area 7 secretary. Many Thanks for a great day George!.We met up at the Whitewell Inn and were assigned various beats of the river, the day was bitter cold with an easterly wind, prospects were slim but we headed out none the less. The stretch of river my fishing buddy and I had chosen was thankfully situated in a valley with high hillside around us. The bitter wind being kept at bay.
Wading was restricted on the river, this was to to help protect the Salmon project being undertaken. I'm all for it if we see a good head of Salmon return, not just on the Hodder but other Rivers throughout the UK. None the less I plumped for a couple of nymphs one of which I had tied myself, (Pink Tungsten bead). It didn't look much but thought I would give it a try.
We fished through some likely looking runs and riffles, the Hodder not particularly known for its numbers of Grayling but once found I was told there can be some nice size fish amongst them. A blank morning from both of us so we headed up river, the sun briefly showing through lets hope they would start to feed. A flick of the flies to the far bank and the line tightned, it was the first Grayling of the day, not a big fish but very welcome. Two small Grayling followed, all taking the pink tungsten hares ear variant. Always a great result when catching on your own patterns.
The largest Grayling is pictured not a lunker but a nice fish from this river. The day was hard going as expected and reports from the other members showed a number of blanks, and only a few caught on trotted worm.
Regardless of the size & number of fish caught it was just great to be out on the river again after the weather putting the Dee & Severn levels up. A fantastic part of the country to be in and as we left the first signs of snow started to show. Lets hope not too much and we can be out catching Grayling in Mid-Wales.
Until Next Time................Tight Lines
Hello, my name is Fernando, I am Spanish and I have just seen your blog. I have been to the UK twice, and I think it is a good place to live. I didn't know very much about Grayling Fishing because we do not have this fish in our waters, but now, reading your blog, I have learned a bit of this wonderfull fishing.
ReplyDeleteI hope you will continue with this great blog.
Greetings from Spain. Fernando.