The Good, the Bad and the Grayling

Thursday 31st January

Courtesy of needing to use my "Christmas Shopping Day" by the end of January (rather than losing my entitlement to it), for the third occassion inside of a fortnight I found myself once more bound for the River Itchen.

It was my wife's idea - when I told her I was taking my Christmas Shopping Day her response was "Oh, I suppose you'll be going fishing." Genuinely, up to that point, I was going to suggest a day spent together - but I must admit I was quick to confirm that I would be fishing, as the beat closes from 1st February until the trout season opens it once more.

As I drove through the forest anticipating a better day weather-wise than the forecasters had mooted at the start of the week, I reflected on my 2012/ 13 grayling season, much of which has been recorded in this blog. Having fished for grayling four times in January is unprecedented, although owing to a brief illness interrupting me I only fished twice in December.

It has been an interesting three months. I consider this my first "proper" grayling season. Previous investment of time, money and effort in tuition, venues, flies, tackle set up etc., not to mention "stakeholder relationship management" with my wife, have paid off, I feel, to a satisfactory extent. I've also enjoyed blogging about all of this, remembering all the while that one never stops learning. The phrase "every day is a school day" springs to mind.....

I'm also getting in the mood for a bit of variety in my fishing. Both in terms of other venues to fish for grayling between now and 15th March and maybe to get out to a stillwater or two - Holbury Lane Lakes and/ or Manningford spring to mind. We have a trip to Scotland planned around Easter, to visit my mother and father-in-law, and I aim to fit in some Loch fishing whilst north of the border. Not forgetting, of course, the obliging little wild browns in Ted and Judy's burn.

At the moment, I'm not sure whether I will fish for grayling again before the 15th March, or whether this will have been my last outing. We'll have to see.

Anyway, back to the day. As I said earlier, things were looking promising in terms of the weather. There was a bit of wind as I tackled up with a fairly standard duo rig - Klinkhammer and RNPTN. I persevered with this for half an hour or so, as the wind was gusting ever more strongly. This, combined with the water being even higher and more coloured than on my previous visit, convinced me that a change of tactics was needed. I wasn't happy with my control or presentation, so decided to switch to a mymphing rig for some short-line tactics.

I've been experimenting with one of these, which is quite "hi viz" in its own right, to which I have attached one of these, which is even more so. I tied on a few feet of tippet, added a dropper, this went on the point and this on the dropper.

I also moved upstream to a more sheltered stretch of water. Yes, you've guessed it - back to the hatch pool and just above it. The Olive Quill went down well in the hatch pool and this was the best grayling taken from there.

The point fly accounted for a couple of brown trout - stocked fish, judging by the size/ colouration - so I moved on. I had been very comfortable, short-line nymphing practically under the rod-tip from the bank. However, now I needed to enter the water in order to fish what I thought would be the productive areas. This was a more exposed position, with the wind again gusting and degrading control/ presentation. So on went a no. 4 split shot and that seemed to give the "oomph" needed to counteract the wind.

I find this sort of nymphing quite rythmical and a relaxing way to fish. Even with all the hi-viz  on my leader, at times I was struggling with the bright sunlight and glare on the water to see what was occurring. The wind was gusting ever more strongly but I was reticent to add more shot so persevered.

Fishing from the same spot where Nicholas extracted a lunker the previous Saturday, and employing a heady cocktail of deliberate/ inadvertent induced takes, I manged to winkle out a couple more. This time, to the point fly.

Looking at the pictures one would think this was the most pleasant day of the "trilogy" to be by the water. It was not. In fact, it was quite hard work with the light, the high water and strong, chilly wind. A brief sortie in the hatch pool punctuated my return to the car. I had promised to be home early as more fun and frivolity was planned for the evening. Stop it, you lot - we'd prebooked to go and see "Les Miserables" at Odeon Leisureworld in Southampton.

Tony's Top Tip for Today: if you haven't seen "Les Mis" yet, then cut along and do so. Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman are fantastic but....Sacha Baron Cohen steals the show. In the words of that great philosopher Nike - "Just do it"!

Now, where did I leave my mule????????