teejay

Unfortunately using crayfish as bait will result in you catching bigger crayfish - the big uns eat the little uns! I seem to remember Keith Arthur saying that, to beat the crayfish in the Grand Union, he ties a cat food tin to a piece of rope, punctures the tin in various places, and slings it in far enough from the part of the swim he is fishing to attract the crays away. If your local river is whipping through smartish that probably won't work though..

David, I've not fished the Wye as far up as Rhayader but have no doubt that it is a good venue for grayling. I wouldn't worry too much about the "raw" look of the river. It's not an untypical spate stream. There are plenty of Scottish rivers that are not that different to the Upper Wye in character that are also great grayling fisheries. On rivers like these you probably need to have a more mobile approach than you would on a river like the Thames. If you can travel the extra distance then the Wye around Hereford is a great winter venue for chub, dace and roach on account of the deeper, slower water there - you may find that it's a less daunting experience if you're used to fishing lowland rivers. Day tickets and advice for the river in Hereford are available from Woody's Tackle shop in the town. Sorry I can't help with the specifics of the upper river!

I'm not sure but isn't the Drennan rod only available in lengths up to 15ft?

Another possibility might be the MAP Ultra II. There's someone on ebay selling them at the moment and from looking at the completed listings they seem to go for £70-£80. I've got one of these rods and, although I have held it all day long, it certainly doesn't feel as comfortable as a 13ft rod. This could just be the nature of a 17ft rod (I've not used another 17 footer so can't really offer a comparison) but having said that I do believe the the Ultra IIs are fairly highly regarded.

Thanks for the replies everyone. It's seems as if the Tweed is all but finished as a coarse venue from what I'm hearing so far. BTW john mclaren snr, thanks for the link - that's quite a comprehensive list of Scottish coarse fishing venues. One river is not mentioned though and that's the Annan - another place I'd like to have a go at. FishAnnan mentions two beats that do cater for the coarse angler (as opposed to just seklling 'grayling' tickets) and those are Royal Four Towns and Kirkwood. Unfortunately, I think Kirkwood requires coarse anglers to stay in their cottages if they are to fish. Has anyone here fished Royal Four Towns?

I know there are several Scottish coarse anglers participating on this forum from previous threads and I'm eager to find out what the current state of the roach/dace fishing is on the Tweed. I've done some googling and it sounds like there was some fine fishing available up until about 20 or 30 years ago. I understand that the decline in this fishery was a result of the netting carried out by salmon interests (presumably the Tweed Commissioners). I'm not sure that what they did back then would be acceptable today particularly as their remit covers all freshwater fish and not just salmon and sea trout. I also understand that the coarse fishing was free on the lower river back then but I'm guessing that the protection order now in place prohibits anyone from just turning up and plonking themselves down on the bank. According to the Coldstream AA page on the FishTweed website, coarse fishing tickets are still available for the town water at Coldstream but I've not been able to contact anyone to confirm this and to find out if it's worth a go. As I live in Edinburgh the opportunities available to trot a stick float down a river (without driving 200 miles first!) are fairly limited so any info would be most appreciated. Cheers, Tony

Well, that's interesting! Would these be the same pike anglers who were wringing their hands a couple of weeks ago because Bob Nudd suggested that there may be too many pike in some rivers. If so, they're a bunch of hypocrites.. Throw Williams to the lions! He deserves it! The cult of the celebrity angler sickens me to be honest.

Interesting that the Angling Times did a feature on John Allerton a week or so ago and he still uses Mitchell reels. It actually inspired me to put some new line on my Mitchell Matches and give them a run out!

Woody's in Hereford sell a range of shouldered wire stem stick floats which would be great for holding back in big boily rivers like the Wye (for which they were, no doubt, designed) I belive these floats are distributed to the tackle trade through Premier floats. http://www.floatsonline.com/premier_running_line.html

Thanks for the replies - I've just checked a couple of other makes of rod that I have handy and it bears what you say out. Guess I shouldn't be so paranoid!!

Hi, I've just got myself a "New" Drennan DRX Ultralight waggler mkll rod off the 'bay and the blank has the trademark cross weave on the butt and middle sections but the top section doesn't have this. I'm just a little bit paranoid that I may have been sold something that's not entirely kosher. If anyone has a 13ft vesion of these rods to hand could they take a quick look at it to allay my fears!! Thanks, Tony

I'm on the south side of Edinburgh so it's not too far for me. Need to get my gear in order and buy some new line though. Have to see if I can get Bayer Perlon or Drennan Floatfish up here in salmon land!! Cheers, Tony

I came across that earlier whilst doing some online research. All trout angling clubs on the River Tay are obliged by law to sell permits for other species. Grayling, pike, perch and roach are the most common species. I suspect that this refers to the protection order that's in place for the Tay however the fact that even trout anglers have a pretty hard time on this river from salmon beat owners means that in practice access probably isn't that easy! BTW Sportsman, a day out on the Tay or Tummel sounds like a grand idea!

Very interesting! As a Scottish resident and transplanted southerner (well, Welshman actually) who mainly fly fishes these days, I'm also very interested in digging out my coarse tackle and having a go for grayling (and roach if they can be found). Are there any bait limitations whilst fishing the Tay or Tummel or can you pretty much use what you want? I'm not really looking for guidance on tackle as I've done plenty of float fishing in the past but some pointers as to the most coarse-friendly bits of the Tay or other rivers would be gratefully received. I understand that there were other Scottish rivers that held roach at one time, the Tweed being the most notable and the East Lothian Tyne being another. I believe that the giant shoals of roach that were once at Coldstream are no more due to the over-zealous nature of the "pest control" inflicted upon the river by salmon interests but is the Tweed worth fishing?