Nicholas S

Just reminded me what happened with the big Grayling you hooked recently on the Test?! That rod will be perfect Tony. Really looking forward to it, weather is looking good and it will be great to meet everyone. N

Good news although I'm always a bit skeptical of long range forecasts. Looking forward to it though! N

Cheers guys! Hadn't noticed the beauty spots - lovely!

Definitely think you have come to the right decision with regards to Newbury AA vs. Wasing. In my opinion Newbury and Thatcham have much nicer waters. The price of the Wasing ticket immediately makes you think that the fishing must be superb but in actual fact it's no different to many other cheaper and more accessible stretches of the Kennet. I think you are mainly paying for the reduced fishing pressure. Looking forward to the 12th!

Interesting thread. I have had only a few experiences of big river Roach and none of them involve me catching them! First was this Summer on the Bristol Avon - I was wondering along the banks looking for shoals on Chub to try and catch on the fly. Arriving in one of my favourite spots which always has a good shoal of Chub, I peered over the high bank and sure enough the usual Chub brigade were happily holding station in the flow. However, as I looked closer I could see a similar sized fish hanging around beneath the shoal of Chub that was clearly an enormous Roach. I wouldn't like to haphazard a guess at the size but it looked easily 2lb+. Since then I've seen similar scenario's of very large individual Roach tagging along with a shoal of Chub. Absolutely fascinating but I imagine trying to single out the Roach from the Chub would be nigh on impossible! If you really want to catch a 2lb+ river Roach I think the best river in the Country has to be the Test - provided you can get access or have deep pockets! On a recent trip I was chatting to another angler who was telling me he had had 5 2lb+ Roach this Winter! Nothing complicated involved in his approach - just trotting small flakes of bread in the slower, deeper water. I can't think of any other river in the Country which can compare with that. N

After receiving the all clear from my girlfriend I set about organising a fishing weekend that I was really looking forward to. Saturday was to be spent on the Little River Avon (LRA) in search of Grayling and the icing on the cake was Sunday where I had been invited down to fish the hallowed waters of the Test. I would be trotting the main river (the last time I fished one of the carriers - see 09/09/2010) in the hope of some of the large Grayling that this stretch (and indeed the whole river) is renowned for. Saturday’s trip was slightly delayed after a few too many drinks on Friday evening and a sore head the next day! However, I was determined to get out especially as I hadn’t even wet a line for over a month. As soon as I left it was obvious from the gale force winds that despite the mild weather, the fishing was going to be especially difficult. Fly fishing in even a moderate wind is challenging but it seemed that the weather gods had handed me a cruel twist of fate spoiling the lovely mild weather with a relentless gale. Unperturbed I set up and short nymphed my way upstream avoiding the occasional branch falling overhead. After a fishless and frustrating initial 2 hours I was all but ready to give up but decided instead to move upstream to a popular section that I generally avoid – the rationale being that the inclement conditions had probably allowed it to have a rest. It turned out to be a wise choice – soon after wading in to the river I was bringing my first Grayling of the day to hand. Nothing big but thankfully I had at least caught something! In contrast to the first 2 hours, the next 2 were actually quite fruitful. I’m not sure whether it was that the grayling suddenly switched on for a short feeding spell as is often the case at this time of year, or that I had simply found the fish. Probably a bit of both. In the end I managed about 6/7 Grayling and a nice out of season WBT. I went home pleased that I had stuck with it and felt that it was a good result given the conditions. Sunday dawned very early, 5am to be precise! I don’t get many chances to fish the Test and when I do I make sure that I make the most of the day. Thankfully it seemed that the wind had died down (a little) and I embarked on the long drive down south eager and excited about the days fishing ahead of me. After driving down the long windy estate road I finally crossed the river and as all fisherman have a longing to do, got out of the car and peered down into the clear water. In the early morning light it was hard to see much but it looked perfect, slightly higher than the last time I was here and carrying a tinge of colour as was expected at this time of year. In my experience the morning is usually the least successful time of the day when it comes to winter Grayling so by showing a great deal of self restraint I resisted the urge to set up straight away and decided the time would be better spend wondering the banks and exploring. As the saying goes, time spent in reconnaissance is seldom time wasted and I as made my downstream I was noting good spots to visit later. I was also treated to the lovely sight of a Barn Owl flying low to the fields and crossing the river right in front of me. After setting up and fishing a likely run I noticed a fish rising repeatedly in a slack on the opposite bank opposite me. Thinking that at this time of year it could only be a Grayling I made my way to the other bank and slowly crept up on the fish which by now had stopped rising. It didn’t take long for the float to dip but unfortunately the culprit was not a large Grayling as I was hoping but a very large BT! Thankfully it was not in a energetic mood and thumped around heavily on the end of the line for a few minutes before I managed to net it. I don’t like catching BT out of season and try to return this as quickly as possible but I had to spend a second admiring this beauty – he was in superb condition and must have been 4lb+. It was a start of sorts! Moving back around to the other bank I made my way further downstream and fished a nice deep run close into the bank. First cast and the float just dipped. A quick strike brought my first Grayling to the net. Unfortunately the hook pulled at the last second but I was pleased to have hooked one and not too fussed that he got off seeing as it was quite a small fish. After a chat and a tip off from the chap who runs the fishing I made my way to a superb swim that had Grayling written all over it. It was downstream of a large Island and the flow around the Island had concentrated to form a deep pool with a fast tongue of water and a very large slack on the far side. I decided to initially fish a small slack behind a groyne on my bank and after letting the float mooch around for a bit a very subtle bite resulted in a nice Chub of a couple of pounds: By now the wind had picked up and although braid was helping to minimise the effects, I was still struggling to control the float. Despite trotting the inviting main tongue of water numerous times, I hadn’t had a bite. After chatting with the keeper who was out walking his dogs I decided to readdress the situation and switch over to a much heavier float. It turned out to be a good move; first cast was slightly upstream and the float was obviously anchored better in the strong flow. Surprisingly almost straight away I had an obvious bite that was clearly a good fish. After a spirited fight I netted a large Grayling which after being quickly weighed in the net went 2lb exactly – my first 2lb Grayling! Very pleased and slightly relieved that I had caught a nice Grayling I continued to trot that pool catching a few other good sized but smaller Grayling. The wind which had been a menace previously was now blowing upstream quite steadily and I discovered it was possible to use it to my advantage with some unorthodox trotting which has a lot in common with upstream nymphing. My method was to cast up and across the current and immediately lift the rod high allowing the wind to blow the line in an arc above the float like a sail. This slowed the float right down and by retrieving line with the pin I was able to keep in constant contact. Once the float drifted past me I could continue to trot downstream normally. The method proved to be very effective. As I lifted the rod the first time I tried it, the wind bowed the line and the float slowed right down to a speed that just felt right and I felt certain that a bite was surely imminent. In a wonderfully prescient moment, the float almost immediately pulled under and I was into a good fish. Keeping downstream of the fish I managed to coax him up towards the net. However, it took a number of aborted netting attempts before I eventually netted him much to my relief! This fish was clearly my largest and once weighed went 2lb06oz, I was over the moon! The rest of the day was spent exploring the rest of the venue catching a few more Grayling and Chub in lots of different swims. My penultimate fish really capped the day off. As the light was fading I decided to head back and have another go at the special pool that had resulted in my two largest Grayling. This time I crossed a bridge and fished it from the far bank along a very inviting crease. After a couple of small Grayling my float slightly dipped once again and I struck only to meet a solid resistance. Thinking that I had snagged the bottom I pulled harder with the rod in order to free it. However, it was met by an obvious heavy thump at the end of the line. My heart was racing, this was obviously significantly bigger than any of the fish I had hooked in the day. Thankfully I could play the fish out of the main current as there was a large slack bay directly in front of me. After a nerve wrecking fight where the fish mainly stayed deep I managed to coax it to the surface to see the brassy flank of a very large Chub. He was quite obliging and instead of snagging me in the near bank vegetation, slipped over my net at the first time of asking. At 5lb2oz it was by far the biggest Chub that I have caught trotting and certainly the one I am most proud of. A fitting end to a magical days fishing. Final tally was 12-14 Grayling (largest 3 - 1lb14oz,2lb,2lb06oz), 2 BT, 3 Chub to 5lb02oz and a few Parr and Minnows.

I get the impression that once you have made your mind up about something it's difficult to change it Tigger The yellow fins on your fish also suggest that it is a BT. ST tend to have very dark almost black fins generally. Any ST caught at this time of year would be in very poor condition too which your fish obviously isn't. Anyway, you can make your own mind up

Great catch again Anderoo, well done! N

Yep but on your fish the colour on the edge of the adipose is reddish (although it's not that easy to tell from the pic)! Sea Trout will have the same general pattern/markings but not a hint of red on them. Also, there is a slight yellow tinge to the belly of your fish which again suggests it's probably a BT. N

Nice fish Tigger, not a Sea Trout though - the hint of red on the edge of the adipose fin gives it away as a BT. A particularly silvery one at that! As Emma has already said, you can't distinguish between ST and BT from spot patterns. Less spots below the lateral line and on the gill plate is a useful distinction between Salmon and ST. N

Another cracking report Rusty, well done for braving the elements! The Trout looks very much like a Sea Trout to me although it could be the flash making it appear silvery? N

Duplicated post

My main qualm is with using maggot feeders for Grayling, just doesn't seem very sporting seeing as they are not the sharpest of fish and they are so much fun to catch trotting or fly fishing! Plus you have issues with deep hooking. Each to their own I guess N

I fished there on Dec 30th so not exactly recently. It was much colder than it is now and it was a relatively hard day - just posted a brief summary in my blog. It was also the busiest I had seen it and some of the more popular swims where receiving a little too much pressure in my opinion. It slightly pained me to see a couple of anglers with seat boxes and maggot feeders camped out in the same spot all day...not really the done thing in my book. Re fly fishing. I enquired about fly fishing with Lyndsey a while ago and she said it was a definite no. However, I suspect that if you were to ask Clayton (the new keeper) he would probably be fine with it. N

A sortie to the Itchen for a day’s trotting for the Grayling with three friends; Alan, Mark and Ted. The last time I was here the river was quite swollen and coloured so I was relieved to see the river still quite clear despite the recent snow melt. It was lovely to be back - it is always a special days fishing here no matter what the conditions. The fishing itself was a little harder than I expected; perhaps the cold water temperature and snow melt had put the Grayling down. I think I ended the day with around 15 or 16 Grayling and thankfully only 1 out of season Trout. Alan did well catching a mixed bag of a few Grayling, a first ever Sea Trout, a minnow, a few customary BT and a nice Chub early in the morning. Ted did well to catch his first ever Grayling (although he may have gone over to the dark arts of the maggot feeder to do so – still he waited until last thing before succumbing). Mark had a surprisingly hard day and didn't manage any Grayling but still got a bend in his rod via a few BT including a lovely small wild one. A great day out as ever, looking forward to revisiting on the AN fish-in in March.

With the deluge of rain that persistently fell throughout the week my fishing options for the weekend were pretty limited. In the end I decided to pop down to the Wylye for a day Grayling fishing. Wading isn’t allowed after Christmas so I took my trotting rod as well as my fly rod with the intention to fish for a while initially on the fly before trotting. The river was on a couple of inches up and had a tinge of colour, all in all the conditions looked excellent. I started short nymphing and quickly had three small Grayling and a Trout parr. However, without being able to wade the fly fishing was limited so I switched over to my trotting rod and landed a couple of Grayling before the Trout took over ruining the swim. This was a recurring theme throughout the day and despite trying numerous spots I couldn’t catch any Grayling with any consistency. The Trout on the other hand seemed absolutely ravenous and I felt a tad guilty disturbing these wild fish when they should be spawning. In the end I caught around 9 Grayling to about 1lb and 20BT to 1.25lb. It was an enjoyable day but the river is more suited to fly fishing and judging by my morning catch, it seemed to pick out the Grayling a little more effectively so I couldn’t help but feel that I should have stuck to the fly.

Amazing, well done!

Alan, it's not about the size, it's about how you use it... Having said that in my opinion a longer trotting rod offers more control in general. I would go for 14ft as this won't be unwieldy on a boat and is a nice compromise. N

Going fishing on Boxing Day when the thermometer is registering -10C really makes you question your sanity. That was exactly the case when Alan and I ventured off in the half light early on Boxing Day. Despite the Siberian conditions we were both very excited. A day Grayling fishing on the Test is always special and although the weather was doing its best to force us indoors, nothing was going to get in the way of us getting to the river! I must admit, when we arrived and got out of the warm car I was seriously wondering whether this was going to be a wasted trip. Fishing in these conditions is extreme and to try and catch Grayling on the fly was not going to be easy. However, we had the whole venue to ourselves and after being shown around by the keeper we eagerly started to get kitted out. The morning started remarkably well with me catching a nice Grayling of around 1lb on my second cast (I must admit this was a bit of a fluke)! It was quite unprecedented and we hoped would bode well for the remainder of the day. Unfortunately after a fishless hour or so we quickly realised that it was not going to be an easy day. However, as the hazy sunlight wore off it began to get easier to spot fish so instead of working our way blindly upstream we decided to change tactics and only cast to spotted fish. The move paid off and by lunch we had both caught a few after working our way up some lovely runs. A brief and very cold lunch ensued. I can confirm that fishing with the rod rings constantly freezing up is annoying enough but trying to eat frozen sandwiches, bananas, Christmas cake and squash is not much fun! Still, with only our enthusiasm to fuel us on we explored further upstream from our morning sortie and soon realised much to our surprise that a small hatch was beginning and fish were beginning to rise. With boyish excitement I fumbled around trying to change my nymphing outfit to a dry fly set-up but failed to connect with a single Grayling and only hooked one large stocked Trout which came off! As the rises and light began to diminish we decided to explore the rest of the un-fished small carrier on foot only fishing the prime spots. The carrier was a lot more intimate and similar to some of the small streams I tend to frequent. I couldn’t resist a few more casts in a very tempting Grayling hole and was quickly rewarded with three nice Grayling including my best of the day, probably around 1.25lb.Eventually the light thwarted us with seemingly still miles of river un-fished and left for another (hopefully warmer) day. It was a great day out and we were thrilled to both catch in such harsh conditions. I think Alan caught 2 Grayling including a new pb for him of 1lb09oz. I caught a few more (5 in total) but all of a smaller stamp. Can’t wait to go back to this venue in the autumn when the days are both warmer and longer.

Another freezing Sunday this time spent on the Hampshire (well strictly speaking the Wiltshire) Avon again in search of the Grayling. Similar to last Sunday the day was a tale of two halves...the morning was spent on the lower end of the fishery and with exceptionally low water we struggled to see let alone catch a single fish. Vince my fishing partner did well taking a couple of small ones from a pod whilst I was tangled! In the afternoon we explored the upper half which thankfully was a little deeper and slower and looked much more promising. The Grayling were tightly shoaled and after a fishless stretch we spotted a fish rising much to our surprise and excitement. It seemed we had stumbled upon a large shoal of Grayling and whilst it wasn’t exactly a fish a chuck we were finally catching with some regularity including a real beauty that Vince caught probably about 1.5lb. By the time the bites began to dry up in that spot the low winter sun was dropping rapidly. Vince headed back to the car to warm himself up with a deserved coffee whilst I decided to used the remaining light to explore a deeper spot the keeper had mentioned at the top end of the fishery. It was a good move and yielded a couple more fish with one lost. After a really hard start it had turned out to be a very enjoyable day, I think I only caught around 5 Grayling but in the conditions we had I was pretty pleased.

A lovely write up as usual Chris. Great to have you back. N

Well done Anderoo, three cracking fish! Great to hear about the old Father producing such cracking Chub. N

Yes well done Chris! Sounds like a very enjoyable day.

A very cold day on the middle Kennet trying for the Grayling on the fly. Very cold conditions combined with low and clear river made the fishing tricky and by lunch I had only had 4 small Grayling and one of season BT. After a hearty lunch I decided to adopt a more mobile approach to the morning and walk along the river/carriers until I either spotted fish or came to a particularly good looking spot. The approach allowed me to explore the remainder of the fishery (it was my first time here) and was far more successful. The afternoon yielded 10 more Grayling (mostly small) and a couple of large out of season Rainbow Trout which really fought hard in the cold water.

This may have been mentioned before but I thought I would post it to raise awareness of what seems to be an atrocious and unsustainable practise: http://www.fishfight.net/ p.s. I have also posted it in the Sea Fishing section where it is more relevant but I thought more people might see it if I posted here as well!