Grayling.(Thymllus thymallus)
Grayling or The Lady of the stream as some people call them, are a fresh water species and a member of the Salmon family. Males have a much larger dorsal fin than females.. She used to be persecuted by anglers for her ability to stop trout colonising stretches of rivers and streams. They are largely a shoal species and therefore can out-compete the more individual trout.
Habitat.
They live in some of our rivers but not all, they are a bottom feeder and can be found in rivers with swift running water and deep currents rocks and gravel beds the presence of which is a sign of the purity of the water. They grub about picking up all sorts of food from a variety of invertebrates mainly insect larvae and falling insects settling on the water , although they are mainly a bottom feeder they will take both dry and wet flies in summer months when the water heats up.
Life cycle.
They spawn in the summer but unlike some other Salmonoids never leave the river. They tend to shoal up more in the winter months. The British record stands at 4bl 3oz captured by a Mr R S Lanigan from the river Frome, Dorset in 1989
Baits .
A favourite bait for them in the winter months is the Brandling worm trotted under a float along the river bed, personally I use a two size 14 hooks tied about two inches apart ( depending on the size of the worms) The head of the worm on the bottom hook the tail on the top, all this is weighted down with split shot smallest nearest the hooks getting bigger towards the float with a AAA just below the float to sit the float up just crimped on the line to enable the float and the AAA to be slid up or down the line to suit the depth of the water. An old Clyde trick is not to use split shot at all but plasticine As I have said earlier they are a bottom feeder and you need to get the bait down to them, no point in fishing at say 4 ft when the fish are at 6 ft they won’t come off the bottom to get to the bait. Maggots can also be used in the same manner as above but with a single hook. Also a combination of a red tag and single maggot does work as well..
Well known Grayling flies include klinkhamers Czech nymphs red tags and shuttlecocks along with other trout patterns . Flies tied to resemble small pink shrimps have also found to be useful
A hare lug and pink bug
A pink shuttlecock
