Grayling

The Eden flows purposely north within the county of Cumbria; it is a game fishing river through and through; with countless tributaries draining a large watershed that feeds the main stem. Along with its valley of stunning scenery and varied interesting pools, it is unusual in the fact that you can locate grayling as low down the river system as to within one mile of the estuary. As long as there is gravel and stones for riverbed they will be found there. But come mid-December, then until the end of February just about every mature fish seems to disappear from the first five miles of the lower river. This scarlet pimpernel behaviour had perplexed me for a great number of years, and the only conclusion that seemed viable was that they migrated upstream during the spawning time of the salmon. For grayling that are to spawn during March, feeding on the loose eggs from the salmon redds would be easy pickings especially at that time of year and would certainly build up their reserves for the arduous task ahead.
In early spring this season; after we have had quite a mild winter and higher water temperatures than normal, the grayling have inhabited the places that you would expect to find them in the summer. Normally fishing the deep steady glides would be the place to start, this spring we have found more grayling in the faster broken water.

I do not look at grayling fishing as something to do or to carry me over the winter period from October until the trout season starts again in March. Grayling can be very easy to tempt or just plain impossible some days, I find their behaviour totally fascinating and sometimes unpredictable. Local knowledge of any river and indeed each pool can be invaluable and save a lot of blank days. Getting to know a section of river can take a very long period of time, it is a lengthy apprenticeship that requires fishing a lot of days with an open mind in different conditions and throughout the whole season. Just when you think that you have things sewn up, where the fish should be at a certain height at a certain time of day and season, the river floods. Then there are great movements of gravel, the pool you once knew so well changes in appearance and it is all to learn once more.
Recently I have been more interested in what can make for an unproductive and fruitless day on the river fly fishing for grayling rather than what can make a good day, and when and when not to put the fishing effort in having experienced far too many hard days in the early years.
There are a host of things I have noticed with great regularity that can contribute to a poor or a blank day fishing for grayling, and I think even before any outing is made there maybe a few factors to consider.

The time of year is important, as discussed grayling can and do move great distances in early spring and some of the pools on the lower river can be devoid of them. Looking to the high lower and middle reaches of the river can be more productive early on in winter with the middle part of the daylight hours best. By the middle of March and the grayling season ended, the lower end of the Eden is again crawling with grayling and with some big fish between two to three pounds plus amongst the average pound to pound and a half. There they will spawn and remain resident until mid-December.

The temperature of the water can be critical as to where in a pool and how deep the grayling shoal will be found, and to what method fished they will accept. Some days the depth and the manner flies are fished can be the difference between success and failure.

The weather pattern over the previous few days can be very decisive to whether grayling are going to feed or not. For instance, a sudden cold snap like a heavy frost overnight will certainly put them off the feed the next day, if the frost continues for a couple more days and the temperature remains stable no matter how low, they will acclimatise and want to play ball. A rise in water levels and change of colour along with the lower water temperature that usually accompanies the rise will also put them down and render them reluctant to feed, as the level, temperature and/or colour stabilises things improve once more. The initial flood after a long dry spell is not always good especially early on in the year. Road washings that enter the river after heavy rain can contain salt, oil and who knows what else that should not enter a river, add to that the run off from agricultural land and it does not make for a very nice cocktail. Given two or three floods in quick succession over a week or two and the water runs high but pretty clean and clear.
I have seen on many occasions the wind direction change and immediately kill any sport that was being had, not just to an easterly either. Easterly and northerly winds can be the kiss of death, even in the warmer months of the summer.
The barometric pressure is absolutely vital; a falling glass can wreak havoc, as it can with most fish, more so with grayling, it just is not worth putting too much effort in when the barometer is dropping like a stone. We know what invertebrate life is about at a given time of year and what should be on the river bed or emerging at a particular time of day, if the pressure is plummeting the nymph activity seems to stop, and so do the fish.

If there is a saw bill problem on the river, on clear water days on certain pools these birds can do a lot of damage to and disturb grayling shoals. This may make them nervous and they may seek the more broken and deeper water or even vacate the pool completely.

Grayling like some people crave stability, they will feed at high water, low water, warm water, extremely low temperatures, near freezing, unlike other fish, if they have time to acclimatise. They can be extremely aggressive, they have a very catholic diet and will take most food items from tiny larvae to fish; but it is sometimes crucial to give them what they expect to see. Once a shoal is located it is fairly easy to keep the interest of the fish for a while whether you are bugging, nymphing or fishing the dry. They do not tend to move far unless disturbed usually by clumsy wading, but very often a shoal that has been keen to feed may suddenly cease like someone has flicked the light switch off. The first thought that comes to mind is that they have moved, possibly the might have, more than likely not.
The main culprit I have witnessed is that after releasing a few fish back into the water, the takes dry up, and probably the released grayling are going back to the shoal and giving certain signals either chemical or physical to the rest. It would seem now with the flies that worked so well earlier do not have the desired effect anymore.
The first move that I tend to make is to simply change not the pattern, weight or the way the fly or flies are presented and fished, but the colour, sometimes a change from a fly with a hint of green changed to one with a touch of red can cause an instant reaction. This maybe the order of the day chopping and changing colours to keep the interest of the shoal going.  Failing that the next step is to change the depth those flies are presented, this can be achieved in a number of ways. Casting to a greater angle upstream and creating more dead drift and thus a deeper presentation, or adding a heavier fly or flies to the cast can work. Sometimes to save changing flies the use of a shot or two pinched just above one of the droppers is effective. I have often heard comment made that this is akin to coarse fishing tactics by the same people that are quite happy to use a bite indicator. Nothing wrong with indicators or using a dry with a nymph hanging below they are great searching methods. I personally never use them; I think by relying on indicators you lose the ability to read the behaviour of the fly line for takes which are often very subtle. In the case of fishing the dry fly, a change from a small Dun imitation when the takes go off the boil to something like a large Klinkhammer will give some very surprising results, and usually a better stamp of fish.