Winter Grayling on the River Itchen

Working in the Lloyd's of London insurance market has many benefits, not least of which is the inclusion of the apostrophe making this something which one can be proud of, and rightly so. Insurance can be something of a dull topic, but Lloyd's has a long tradition and well-deserved reputation. The spirit of Cuthbert Heath is alive and well, a fact which will be of some comfort to the inhabitants of New York, New Jersey and other states in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

As a fly fisher and member of the Lloyd's Flyfishing Society, another benefit is access to some fisheries which are a little off the beaten track. This includes two stretches on the River Itchen, which - along with the Test - is a famous chalkstream in Hampshire.

A lovely bit of countryside!

2012 has seen very poor weather for much of the year, and my first season as a member of the Society was disappointing and frustrating. Turning up at the water in monsoon conditions and retreating home without setting up or wetting a line has been a common occurrence, as has water the colour of drinking chocolate - only a marginal improvement when measured on the fly fisher's scale.

Today, I headed to the Itchen confident of some sport, ignoring the nagging desire to build a very large boat and gather two of every animal species based on the amount of rain that has fallen in the last week or two. A chilly and overcast day saw me beside a river which, whilst running higher than on two recent previous visits, was still clear enough to spot the fish.

Couldn't resist a quick snap of this fine little fellow!

With the closed season for trout upon us, my quarry today was grayling. Unfortunately, the trout seemed blissfully unaware that they were out of season, and proved eager to take my offerings. When this happened I did two things:

1) Gently unhooked and swiftly returned said trout and

2) Moved on, to try and locate the grayling.

Actually, I had a pretty good idea where the grayling might be, based on past experience of two consecutive Saturday's in November of catching the little ladies. Today, it seemed like wherever I went there were trout.

On a chilly and unwelcoming late November day, I was amazed at the number of rising fish. Most of these were trout, but the grayling were at it too. This was behaviour more akin to May or June. Again, as they are out of season, I did my best to ignore them! We are expecting a cold snap overnight, lasting for a few days, and I wonder if the trout's feeding frenzy was in preparation for these conditions.

Anyway, perseverance paid off and throughout the day I managed to bring several grayling to the net. Several more slipped the hook, including some very small fish which I must admit I encouraged by giving some slack. I really didn't want to handle and unhook such delicate creatures if I could help it. They didn't seem to mind, anyway.

That's more like it!

This beauty - not a huge fish - took my dry fly - a Parachute Adams. It really is very exciting to see a fish rising, cast to it, and have it eat your fly.

Spot the difference!

I can't honestly say how many fish I caught today. Too many were trout, but enough were grayling, and some of both were memorable.

Beautiful dorsal fin

Maybe it was my own fault for sacrificing ZERO flies to the Tree Gods. All in all, a very pleasant way to spend a day's annual leave - much better than Christmas shopping.