Lots of Grayling
Entry posted by Rusty
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River Lambourn, Saturday 13th October 2012.
One of those days when you wonder why the whole world doesn’t take up angling as a pastime, we didn’t break any records but had such an enjoyable day fishing it almost seemed unfair.
The venue was the Lambourn our local grayling river, the anglers were myself, Steve and Keith. We met Keith at Goring (his chosen place of retirement) about a year ago. He’s a Yorkshireman and likes catching bream but despite that he’s an all round good bloke and his wife makes a mean Victoria sponge cake…we like fishing with him.
Keith breaming on the Thames;
So with an agreed start time of 10:00am I was trotting at 9:45am and had quickly banked two grayling before Steve had parked up, 2-0 to me then.
His arrival heralded the inaugural wader fitting on what appeared to be the first time he had taken his waders and boots out of their boxes, preparation is not his middle name;
There were no instructions but between us we figured what went where and eventually Mr Angry resembled a committed, pro angler;
These Vision Ikon waders are very impressive. I was constantly reminded of the zipped waterproof chest pocket and D rings neither of which my basic Simms waders have, they can also be folded down to waist level with the shoulder straps becoming a belt. The lightweight Hardy boots ticked all the boxes too, a rubber cleated sole pre-fitted with studs. Ok £200 is a lot to spend on waders but if you’re going for the breathable stockingfoot type these have to be worth a look.
Of course once he got in the water Steve was keen to impress. He quickly moved into a commanding lead with ten grayling but unfortunately the high number of minnows he caught cancelled out his target species achievement, I was still 2-0 up. He also lost points for faking concentration;
This is how he normally fishes;
Keith arrived for the afternoon session and caught a grayling first trot, the last time he did that was 40 years ago! What followed was a period of hilarious banter, wading and catching fish. Without my ad-hoc rule introductions Steve was definitely the Grayling Challenge winner by the end of the day, I managed twelve and a few small brownies, Keith was closing on me fast but thankfully we ran out of time. He would’ve caught me but I distracted him by incessantly marvelling about free grayling fishing in the middle of a town. He’s still coming to terms with the variety of fishing available in this area, the Thames is on his doorstep (hopefully not ever literally) and the Kennet and Lambourn are within easy reach.
There was one final ceremony to undergo before we could bid our farewells. Breathable stockingfoot waders can feel like they’re leaking with the cold water on your legs and the squelchy feeling in the water filled boots, only when you take them off do you really know. We all breathed a sigh of relief when Steve revealed dry thermals….and then Keith and I looked away very quickly.
A perfect day out and to finish......a photo of a bug;
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