Grayling Bash, Timsbury 2006

[medwaygreen]

Is the Grayling winning?

 

PS, Do you all thing that it is outrageous for Andrew to handle a Graying whilst wearing a wristwatch.No feedback required.LOL

Edited November 6, 2006 by medwaygreen

[KAYC]

And vidar with what I at first thought was a carrier bag he was casting.

 

A couple of my trout.

 

[medwaygreen]

Why is that trout on top a funny colour of green and blue?

[Elton]

It was a great day and, for once, the weather was fantastic. In fact, it was unbelievably mild. I couldn't believe that I got hassled by a wasp at one point in November!!!

 

I had a few trout, grayling salmon parr and the world's supply of minnows. Nothing big, but definitely better than sitting on my backside at home.

 

Thanks to everyone involved.

[Anderoo]

Vidar was hurling some objects around which could only be described as madness condensed into plastic! I think the idea is to flip the pike out of the river

 

Thanks again to Tony and KAYC for organising the trip It was as idyllic as I expected it to be, especially the fast carrier and the shallows on the main river, where you can see the gravel and weed easily through the far-too-clear, shallow water - and the trout and grayling holding station in the flow waiting for the next pouchful of maggots. The slow carrier was much shallower than I was expecting (even so, you could see the carp drifting around in about a foot of gin-clear water!) - if it was carrying some more water and colour I'd have sat it out for a monster roach, but as it was I spent most of my time on the main river trotting over the shallows catching grayling and trout. A few of the grayling were around the pound mark with the biggest going 1lb 4oz, which may be a pb (it's the biggest one I've weighed accurately anyway!) and the trout (all brownies) were all about 2-3lb and went nuts in the fast water, completely unlike the grayling which twisted and rolled in the current. Most of the fish were taken on maggot but a few of the better grayling were on breadflake.

 

In late afternoon I moved up to the deeper water and fished flake and crust with mashed bread in a feeder, but all I could get were the crazy trout.

 

It was a very enjoyable day, and it was good to meet some new people and renew some acquaintences. I have some photos which I'll try to sort out and post.

[Jigotai]

Firstly I’d like to thank Tony and Kayc for organizing another fantastic AN fish-in.

 

After a 2 hour drive I arrived at Timsbury nice and early so I could have a quick chat before the 8.00 am start.

I had decided beforehand to fish the main river for grayling and after we were given the ok to start, I set off . On the way over I had to cross over the slow and fast carriers, these were lovely looking stretches of water and I had to force myself to carry on to the main river, saying to myself that I’ll have a go there later.

I found a likely looking swim and set up my float rod and center pin and settled down. Anderoo and Maranman arrived and gave me a running commentary on my first fish as the water was so clear they could see everything. After a nice fight I netted my first brown trout of the day.

Not long after I had another bite, this time on sweetcorn, and I landed my first ever Grayling. It was a beautiful looking fish of about pound so I thought it would be a perfect photo opportunity, only to find out the batteries were dead in my camera. Doh .

I caught one more grayling about the same size in that swim and another brownie, bigger this time, giving a good account for itself on the light setup I had.

It all went quiet and I decided to make a move and only got as far as the next swim close to where Anderoo had been fishing. This swim was a lot shallower and fish were clearly visible but seemed very reluctant to take baits, although quite happy to take freebies. After fiddling with presentation and baits I finally started getting bites only to find I couldn’t keep them on the hook and lost 4 of what felt like nice size grayling then being snapped up by a trout which until then had ignored every bait that had come near him.

Although very frustrating I couldn’t pull myself away from that swim and I was rewarded with an acrobatic brownie that went airborne and a nice grayling which I managed to get pictured with (thanks goosequill). Pic to follow.

The carrier streams will have to wait till another day.

 

It was a fantastic day amongst great company and I can’t wait for the next AN fish in.

[Anderoo]

Jigotai, that first trout was so exciting! Wait...wait!...strike! I glad you got your photo in the end

 

Wasn't it interesting watching the trout (and to a lesser extent grayling) inspecting hookbaits in the clear water? Very often they'd drift down alongside the bait and circle it, looking at it very carefully, and then usually slowly swim back to their favourite spot. Bites only came when it ran through perfectly at the right speed and it wasn't caught by random current changes which gave away the fact it was tethered to something. Shots near the hook were a big no-no as well.

 

To get bites in the first place I had to go down to an 18 hook and single maggot, and later on in the sunshine a 2lb bottom. Fishing bread was better because I could go up to a 14. What a luxury!

[Jigotai]

Jigotai, that first trout was so exciting! Wait...wait!...strike! I glad you got your photo in the end

 

Wasn't it interesting watching the trout (and to a lesser extent grayling) inspecting hookbaits in the clear water? Very often they'd drift down alongside the bait and circle it, looking at it very carefully, and then usually slowly swim back to their favourite spot. Bites only came when it ran through perfectly at the right speed and it wasn't caught by random current changes which gave away the fact it was tethered to something. Shots near the hook were a big no-no as well.

 

To get bites in the first place I had to go down to an 18 hook and single maggot, and later on in the sunshine a 2lb bottom. Fishing bread was better because I could go up to a 14. What a luxury!

 

 

I lost count of the amount of fish that swam up to my bait only to leave it alone and swim away. It was great fun sussing out how to outwit them though.

I was also surprised to see them swim back to exactly the same spot time and time again, even after being spooked.

[Elton]

I lost count of the amount of fish that swam up to my bait only to leave it alone and swim away. It was great fun sussing out how to outwit them though.

I was also surprised to see them swim back to exactly the same spot time and time again, even after being spooked.

 

Trout aren't exactly what you'd call 'bright' fish

[Chris Goddard]

Trout aren't exactly what you'd call 'bright' fish

 

That why you caught LOADS Elton???