A great day out spent on the Little River Avon in Gloustershire with friend and guest Vince. This was the first time either of us had fished the river and I had been looking forward to this day all week after hearing and reading plenty of good reports on the quality of game and coarse fishing on the river. We arrived at the upstream end of the syndicate’s stretch of river, supposedly the most productive but also the most popular. The river here flows through beautiful mature deciduous woodland is a mixture of fast shallows and riffles interspersed with some slow deep sections. I was surprised initially that the clarity wasn’t too great but have since found out that it tends to go tea coloured when it needs a good wash out. There were very few fish rising when we started so we decided to both fish nymphs. After making our way steadily upstream taking turns to cast I was the first to catch after switching to a Mayfly nymph. The culprit was a sprightly 5inch Brown Trout, a nice start. My luck continued as not long after I was into my first Grayling which was pleasing as I was looking forward to trotting the river for them in the Winter. There are apparently some very large specimens there which always adds to the excitement. This time however the Grayling was rather more Dace sized but still very welcome. We went on to catch a number of Grayling and only a couple more Trout, one of which I managed to somehow lasso around its fin! Strangely the majority of the Grayling came out of the deep sluggish sections, not what I would have thought of as typical Grayling water but something that I will bear in mind in the future when specifically targeting them. Unfortunately some rather unexpected heavy showers put an early end to the day and we didn’t stay to experience the anticipated evening rise. Still it was a great day out and I’m really looking forward to getting to know the river better soon hopefully.