Friday, November 22, 2013

Good waters at a premium

It seems a while since we've had a prolonged spell of decent weather. We certainly haven't had any since the trout season finished and I'd hoped to be putting in some time hunting for our 'fourth game fish'.
Good conditions for Grayling fishing have been hard to come by. Luckily, it stayed dry enough for a few clients to get their first taste of the Eden. But, for me, it's just been a few short sessions on largish waters.

Ian with his first Eden Grayling
 
The weather gods smiled on Ian for his first flyfishing outing on a river. He even got a hatch of Large Dark Olives and a few intermittent risers. He coped well with his introduction to river fishing and was soon swinging a team of North Country Spiders through the few fish that had a taste for an olive.
 
There was no sign of any Olives for Chris's first visit to the Eden. The river was carrying a touch of extra water and with a drop in temperature there was little sign of life. So the method for the day was 'Czech Nymphing' which was new to Chris, but as an experienced fisherman, he soon picked it and a few fish up. Unfortunately, the Grayling weren't playing ball but Chris did manage a good number of hungry out of season trout.

Chris about to shake off another trout
 
As I've mentioned, whenever I've had time for my own fishing, conditions have been far from ideal and most sessions have been short. On a positive note, all sessions have been productive.

 
Grayling can be fickle and frustrating creatures at times, they don't seem to like changeable conditions. They're not always that fussy about the conditions, within reason, as long as they're settled. So with all the wet weather and consistently high waters they've had plenty of time to get used to it and when the river has been accessible, they've responded well to the artificial. 
The extra water has brought a drop in temperature and lack in invertebrate activity - at least at the surface - so the fish seem to lying deep and any success has come to the heavily weighted nymph bouncing bottom. 


The Eden is still a touch on the big side at the moment, it's still settling back after heavy rain last Monday and a top-up on Wednesday. Though, with a fine spell forecast, it should fish over the coming weekend and into next week. So I'm sure I'll be trying to wet a line, or two somewhere.