27 Feb 2005-02-28

I wasn’t expecting an easy time today. The forecast daytime temperature was just 2 deg C and the night time temperature was for -8 deg C. Add to that a stiff easterly wind and you have the right weather for thermal underwear. I even brought a hat and woollen mitts and was very glad of them by the end of the morning.

Hughie and Richard were already at the hut with a couple of South Africans keen to try grayling fishing for the first time.

It was quite sunny to begin with, but by the time I’d got my breathable waders on, the wind picked up and left a bite in its wake. A few snow flurries came and went and someone remarked that it was unlikely we would see any opportunities for fishing the dry fly today.

After a light breakfast of doorstep bacon sandwiches I headed off for a wander along beats 1 to 3 and back up the main carrier.

  Graham, Andy and Michael on Beat 11.

My  set up for the day was a #5 Sage RPL rod, #4/5 Greys Platinum Xi reel and a #5 Snowbee Prestige floating line. The line was attached to a 5ft furled leader and then to 5ft of 4lb fluorocarbon. The leader has a dropper tied 10” from the furled leader, which I tie a sight indicator or large busy dry fly. The czech nymph is tied on the point.

The day before, I had tied up some hares ear bugs with a head dubbed with synthetic peacock and tried out one of these under a floss indicator.

There were very few fish about at first, but when I did locate a small shoal, there were some very good fish up to 17” evident. They were not easy to get to though and I spent a lot of time crawling to a casting position. On one section, I came across the body and tail of an eel that had been eaten from the head. Possibly a mink or otter kill.

  Andy with a nice grayling

I was fishless for the first hour, but finally hooked a nice 10½ ” grayling in a straight stretch of water. The pools were not doing at all well this time, so I concentrated on the faster riffles. I switched to an amber and orange czech nymph and had another two small grayling of 5” and 6” and then caught a very fit brown trout of 12” before losing the nymph to a tree. I blame the wind. It was gusting hard and suddenly and caught me out several times in mid cast, occasionally sending the whole line back at me.

I decided to miss out the deep canal-like section on beat 3 and headed instead for the intersection between the two carriers. There is a deep, narrow section in the smaller carrier before it tumbles down to the larger carrier. The water here is very fast and I crept up to it and cast upstream with a size 10 brown and cream czech nymph.

It is hard work stripping back line here just to keep in contact, but on the third cast, I saw the indicator jerk down. I drew the line back with my left hand and simultaneously pulled the rod sideways. There was solid resistance and I knew there was something heavy on the line. I only had 4lb BS leader, so took it easy at first.

The fish seemed content to swim upstream slowly for a while, so I tried to get it up to the surface. It did surface after a minute of trying and I was amazed to see it was a 2.5ft salmon, albeit with fungus on the tail wrist. Just as I was admiring it, the hook pulled out. I think it must have been foul-hooked.

Making my way to the next confluence, I cast upstream and covered the water bit by bit. Eventually, I had a good take and a fish went downstream with a good head of steam, stripping line from the reel and splashing noisily on the surface. This was another brownie, again in good condition.

I was getting a bit hungry, so made my way back up the main carrier, looking out for fish on the way. I did spot a good sized shoal at one point with some decent specimens in it. Someone else was fishing 150 metres upstream, and I stopped for a chat. He had just had his first grayling and was keen to make the most of the fishing, so declined to stop for lunch.

Back at the hut, there was a gathering of the cold and the hungry. Hughie was slaving over a couple of cauldrons filled with beef stew and potatoes. We didn’t wait until the potatoes were fully cooked, it all went down just the same. My intention was to fish beat 10 or 11 in the afternoon and this meant wading, so I went back for a second helping of stew to make sure I had plenty of fuel.

Sure enough, I didn’t feel the cold after lunch and waded up the river casting upstream with another brown and cream czech nymph on a size 12 hook. Nothing doing for the first 20 minutes and then I spotted a couple of rises by a clump of reeds.

I cast beyond the reeds and let the nymph drift past the reeds. Something took the fly, but I did not tighten quickly enough and it came off. I tried again and this time hooked a nice 14” grayling.

  A decent 14" grayling

There are times when a memory is caught in a time capsule and this was one of them. Snow swirled about in the turbulent air, and for the next 15 minutes, a hatch of olives came off the water and were whisked away in the wild wind. I had several fish, from 6” grayling to a 19” brown trout. 

After another brief lull of 15 minutes, I continued wading up the river and had almost continuous sport, with more fish throwing the hook than I landed.

I took another two good brownies, all of which fought really well today, and then decided to call it a day after taking two grayling of 15” on the last two consecutive casts.

  A perfect grayling    A 14" grayling besides its 15" ugly brother.

In the 7 minutes it took for me to walk back to the fishing hut, ice crystals had formed on my waders. “At least, the waders kept the water out this time.” I remarked to Richard. How odd; after taking off the waders, my right trouser leg had two wet patches under the knee and both feet had wet patches and yet I didn’t notice. I could understand if my feet were frozen after 3 hours submerged, but they were fine.

There must be some mighty magic in Hughie’s beef stew.

The day’s total was 13 grayling and four brownies, with a load more fish getting off the hook.