Sandbagged!

Sandbagged!
Photograph by Steve Barnett

Thursday 7 October 2010

Seasonal Endings...

... and Beginnings

Today was golden.  See the picture for proof!  Watching the rises it was easy to select the grayling although I did succumb to temptation thrice and deliberately cast to trout today as they were large fish and each one was rising in in its own particularly difficult place for the dry fly angler to cast to.  Two flies were sacrificed to the tree Gods, but this is a small price to pay for attempting the theoretically "impossible".

If you want to carry on with the dry fly, now the trout are off the agenda, you need to get used to spotting grayling rises (or else go after chub if you are lucky enough to have them in your rivers).  Grayling rise from the bottom of the river.  This means they are coming to the flies almost vertically.  When they turn down with a fly, their mouths, being underslung like barbel, have to be opened from underneath.  This is coupled with a roll as the grayling turns itself the right way up again.  These actions combine together usually (but not always) to make a bubble appear in the ring of the rise.  This bubble in the rise form is the signal for you to watch closely and confirm or otherwise that the fish is indeed a grayling.  If it is, you can then cast with confidence knowing that you are going to catch a grayling and NOT a trout!

Regular Rod

1 comment:

  1. Don't feel bad, I loose flies to the tree gods all the time. Sometimes on the way to the stream, before they even get wet. =_)

    The Average Joe Fisherman
    http://averagejoefisherman.blogspot.com/

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