The Winter Grayling thread

[sebn]

I agree with Worms - ie that is a nice grayling to have caught on the fly.

 

I can understand the captor wanting to know the exact weight of his personal best, and the best advice I can offer is to underestimate it a tad and call it 1lb 2 oz ( or stick to length as John Geirach does and call it a 14-incher) - that way, you are more likely to beat your "PB" in the near future, and moreover a reputation for modesty is no bad thing.

 

I rarely carry scales these days, and certainly would not if wading the stream, but a small camera or phone in the pocket will give you a picture of a nice fish in the net to remember the day by. May you have many such !

 

Thanks Vagabond,

 

I dont actually own any scales, a ball-park "about x" is enough for me. I get the joy of catching from the take of a dry fly, the dipping of a float, the twitch of a quivertip and the subsequent fight. I dont think i will ever forget this particular graying though, its huge fin and amazing colour will stick with me to my end.

 

Thanks for everyones input.

[lyn]

I would love to come, may have to get a dog sitter in but would still love a day there. Add me to the list please

 

lyn

[Chris Plumb]

2lb 6oz lady, caught yesterday in Hampshire.

 

 

C.

[Vagabond]

Nice one Chris

[Paulg]

And my 2lb 2oz fish from yesterday also.

 

 

Would have liked it to be a bit more in focus!!

 

Anyway, grayling tactics in general were discussed with CP over a pint and dinner in the pub last night, brought up an interesting question...do folks have any specific hook patterns they use when grayling fishing?

 

P.

[Tigger]

I like kamasan animals and drennan super spades when grayling fishing...but then again I use them for the majority of my trotting from barbel to dace lol.

[Worms]

Some very old Partridge long-shanked fly hooks (and sometimes, curved nymph hooks) in very fine wire, they are very light and a worm or maggot will drift down very naturally, the long shank seems to improve the hook up rate too!

[Chris Plumb]

I posed this question on my blog - but as AN blogland is still something of a sleepy backwater at times I thought I'd ask here too. Paul and I are arguing over the parentage of the fish below. Paul thinks it could be a salmon (based mainly on shape and tail). I thinks it's probably a sea trout. At 4lb 10oz it's a PB for Paul either way. What do folks on here think?

 

 

 

C.

[Worms]

A difficult one, my first thought was salmon, but, I think a nice sea trout. Upper jaw extending past the eye and, although not definitive from the picture, I'm guessing that tail's not concave when stretched out.

A nice PB either way!

[Vagabond]

A difficult one, my first thought was salmon, but, I think a nice sea trout. Upper jaw extending past the eye and, although not definitive from the picture, I'm guessing that tail's not concave when stretched out.

 

A nice PB either way!

Yes, difficult

 

Tail shape - inconclusive here, usually slightly forked in salmon, in seatrout, straight, or very slightly forked, or extremely slightly convex.

 

Shape - salmon usually slimmer than sea trout, but atypical shapes of both can occur

 

Length of upper jaw - extends beyond eye in seatrout - as it appears to do in Paul's fish

 

OTOH The tail "wrist" looks like that of a salmon

 

The spots in Paul's fish are mainly confined to above the lateral line. There can be exceptions, but that pattern is usually found in salmon

 

Size and number of scales. Salmon have fewer (and therefore bigger) scales. Between lateral line and adipose fin there are 13 to 16 rows of scales in seatrout, 10 to 13 in salmon. Blow up the pic and count for yourselves (I thought there were 12)

 

 

The anal fin has outermost ray longest in seatrout, but not in salmon (not visible in pic)

 

My opinion, FWIW, favours salmon, but as Worms says, its difficult

 

....and BTW trout-salmon hybrids are rare, but not unknown

Edited October 12, 2014 by Vagabond