A Tale of Two Saturdays - Part One: A Fistful of Grayling

Saturday, 19th January.

Snow and ice had gripped most of the country but there was - once again - grayling fishing booked and paid for; even more so this time as I would be taking a guest. I waited patiently for Nicholas to arrive, appreciating that he had a much longer distance to travel than I did. I was eagerly anticipating - complete with fully charged hip flask - fishing for grayling in this alien Arctic landscape. I was also looking forward to fishing with Nicholas, whom I'd met once before a couple of years ago, and I know to be an accomplished grayling fisher. I think it's an excellent way to learn, fishing with others, especially those who are a few pages further along in the book.

On arrival, Nicholas was quickly layered and tackled up. Walking the beat, we spotted a couple of fish which were duly ignored as out-of-season trout and not our quarry for today. We moved on, upstream and onto the hatch pool, which we liked the look of. I watched Nicholas set about his task enthusiastically, marvelling again at the beauty of our wintry setting.

This was to prove a productive spot for heavy nymphs. The flow in this pool from over the weir is strong, a question of keeping in contact with flies and watching/ feeling for takes, which seemed to suit Nicholas' French leader set-up, complete with a very visible sighter. Of course, this was more a short-lining approach with most of the leader remaining on the reel but it was clearly very sensitive and effective.

Well-insulated and focussed - spot the sighter?

This was demonstrated in no time at all as a succession of grayling literally took the bait and our Saturday action was in full swing, on a river that was clearer and lower than on my previous visit.

First of the day

Nicholas explained that he likes the simplicity and flexibility of his leader arrangement. He felt he could do anything he needed with it, from this short-line nymphing tactic to longer leader nymphing, dry fly and so on. He was to demonstrate the reality of this throughout the day. I was particularly taken with his sighter, which was sensitive and readily visible without being garish.

Another one to hand

I also noted Nicholas's lanyard, having thought that I was travelling light with just a small chest pack slung out of the way behind me. Nicholas clearly had everything he needed on his lanyard, apart from his fly box which was tucked away in a jacket pocket. Incidentally, I was in possession of my wife's Lumix and hoping for better-quality pictures; sadly I had neglected to charge the battery and it died fairly quickly after the above were taken. Back to my camera phone........and a mental note that a long-handled net would make life easier in the hatch pool.

This was an incredibly pleasurable day, memorable not only for the weather but having spotted amorous trout cutting redds in the gravelly shallows below the hatch pool. The hip flask provided regular warming sustenance - full of Whisky Mac, which was particularly green gingery and most welcome. The hip flask itself is memorable, as it was a leaving gift from my colleagues at Lloyd's of London in 2010.

The afternoon saw us further upstream, working towards the upper limit of the beat. I filled Nicholas in as best I could on my experiences on this stretch of river to-date, confessing that there was still a significant part of it which I was yet to fish. I explained this by saying I was reticent to leave fish in order to find fish, generally speaking.

Grayling were relatively obliging and - pleasingly - we were managing to avoid out-of-season trout once we moved on from the hatch pool. Watching Nicholas fishing, and comparing his approach to mine, was an education, and I persevered with my nymphing rig - similar to the one I used on my previous visit. Whilst I bought fish to my net, I reflected on the need to perhaps be a little more dynamic in fitting the right approach to the given conditions.

Back to the crappy camera phone.....

Nicholas' approach was to mix n match short line and longer line nymphing, and deploy a dry fly to some particularly hardy rising fish. All with great success. Such a shame I hadn't checked my camera battery, but I think you get an idea of the conditions. It was actually reasonably comfortable, being well-layered and insulated, not to mention sustained by the Whisky Macs and cups of tea.

As the afternoon wore on, we moved back downstream to the hatch pool. More grayling obliged, talk of flies, other venues, and plans for the rest of the grayling season saw us through to a point where the light was failing and a long trip home was in front of Nicholas. There was, however, still time to sight fish and have a crack at a couple of lunkers on the way back to our cars.

We parted, looking forward to a return visit the following Saturday - same place, same time. But what would the weather and conditions be like?????