Trout still like meat

Hi guys,
 
Keep your eyes on this space.  New trip report to follow.  Fished the Test on Saturday for grayling, but there are plenty of browns there as 'incidental' catches.
 
We did well...
 
Pics to follow.

Thanks,
Rick

yes

Hi All,

Enough teasing (actually I just got back home from a business trip to upload the pictures). Rachel and I fished the River Test on Saturday for grayling. This was the same stretch that we fished last October and did really well, but didn't have any pictures of fish (only one picture of Rachel and I taken by her boss). The weather was pretty good as you can see from the pictures. It was about 55-60 and sunny with a bit of wind here and there through the day. Early in the morning it was chilly, 40 or so, but once the sun popped up it warmed the air.

When we got to the stream we decided that Rachel and I should go up and fish the upper end of the beat (about 400 yards long) and the other 3 guys would start walking down. We went halfway up the beat where I spotted some fish, and I sat on the bench to rig up. I had rigged Rachel at the car so she had first crack at the fish. It took a while for her to get back into a rhythm of casting (me too for that matter) and was tangled a time or two before I was rigged and ready. While we were waiting, the resident swan population decided to start swimming downstream and dispersing.



Not a bad thing, since swans feed on the bottom eating weeds from the roots up. In the process they dislodge all of the bugs that are clinging onto the weeds and in the sediment which works kinda like a chum line for the fish. Rachel and I caught a few fish below the swans before they started moving off upstream about 100 yards. Next thing we know, it sounds like a cluster of B-52 bombers coming down the stream. Rachel grabbed the camera and got one picture off. I think it was a dandy. It looks good in b/w and sepia (my favorite) too.





We fished the morning picking fish here and there. I got 8 in the morning and she got 5. I did a lot of watching (both her and the fish) and I wasn't in any hurry to bank many fish. Towards the upper end of the beat there was a nice gravel patch with 6 trout all over 20". Trout are out of season so you're not supposed to fish for them, but grayling hang around the trout (like trout behind salmon) so casting to and near trout is a good idea. I got a fish or two that way, but none of the big trout. Rachel on the other hand was learning the lessons of good casting skills. The fish were in a definite lane which was just on the edge of her casting range. A good cast that rolled over put her on the lane and into fish. These two were on back to back casts for her:





We fished through until lunch and met back up with the rest of the guys. One guy had yet to catch a grayling (on 4 trips) and was fairly new to fly fishing in general. We decided to give him a hand after lunch. Note to new fly fishers: 2X is not the same as 2lb. He had been advised to bring some 2 lb tippet, but being new he bought a 2X leader. That wasn't getting it done, so I tied on a piece of 4X and then a piece of 6X fluoro before his fly. We moved his indicator from the end of his fly line down to about 2' above the fly and showed him how to mend line to prevent drag. That was enough to get him his first grayling and a brownie on the side.

After the tutoring session, Rachel and I moved downstream. I again instilled the importance of accurate casting. I spotted a small group of fish on the edge of a gravel spot. There was a big weed flat just above them and you had to cast on the weeds and let the current wash the fly past as it sank. I pointed out the spot she needed to hit, but she gave up after more than a dozen drifts through. She couldn't see the fish and thought that she was covering the right spots. She was covering them, but the fly wasn't getting deep enough and in front of the fish. My first cast through yielded this one:



We fished our way down the river some more and on the way down I spotted a pair of BIG grayling in the same spot Rachel got her 19" fish last year. Coming back up the stream it took two casts to get the right drift. This one measured out at 19" and just under two pounds (weight on a scale). The other disappeared so we fished on. I'm disappointed that the picture had my hand in front of the back of the fish. He was squirming around a bit so it doesn't look as big in the picture as it actually was. The dorsal fin is beautiful though. They all have the same look and colors, but this fish was gracious enough to hold his up for the picture.





We kept fishing upstream picking fish here and there. Basically if you spotted a grayling and could put the right fly in front of it, the fish would take. Unfortunately, the 'right' fly was in short order. I didn't tie any extra before the trip because I had a dozen in the box. Rachel lost half of them casting, two broke off on the hook bend when I was pinching the barbs, I lost two on fish at the net when my net (wo)man snagged the top fly with the net (but not the fish), and I gave one away. The last one was tied on rachel's rod so I was fishing some other bugs on the way back up. On one particular retrieve, I hooked a long skinny leaf which twisted and turned in the water. There was a big bow wave that came up behind it and I knew it wasn't a grayling. A quick swap to an olive zonker put two brownies on the bank. Both were a touch over 20" and the heavier one was right on 3#.









Rachel was ready to go before the last fish, so when I got the second brown I nipped my fly off and called it a day on a good note. Final tally was 17 fish (3 browns, all over 20") for me and 8 or 9 for Rachel. It was a nice relaxing day out with great weather and plenty of cooperative fish.

Thanks,
Rick

skip i thought you were going to camp when did you find out you had pneumonia that sure sucks

Your pics show why fly fishing isn't only about the fish. Well, not entirely, I mean.
 
That your lucky cap? But a brown bit anyway, huh?:-)

anchke,
 
It is my fishing hat now.  I used to wear a tan gander mountain hat for a long while.  It was a bit chewed in the front and had two flies permanently hanging from it.  Turns out the dog chewed the strap in the back some time ago so it is non functional now.  I have another, but it won't be the same so I can't wear it.  This steelers cap has always been my favorite so it has the nod now.
 
Yes, its funny how those browns happen to be right where the grayling are.  You're not suposed to target the browns (it is legal, just discouraged) since they are technically out of season.  A lot of it stems from the fact that many trout fishermen (fly especially) are catch and keep and when you buy a day ticket for trout you are required to keep fish in a lot of places.  But, they do happen as incidental catches.
 
 
Beerman,
 
lots of good beer.  We went to the london beer fest about a month ago or so.  Most of the beers were traditional ales from around the country.  There were a ton of ciders from all over the UK as well.  Additionally, there were some other international beers especially some from Belgium.  We drank a lot of beer over the 8 hours we were there.  There were two that stuck out.  One was Rodenback Grand CRU.  It is like a champagne style beer.  You can get it in a champagne bottle (750 ml) and two of us split one of those bottles.
 
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/216/673/
 
The other was a trapist ale, Rochefort Trappistes 8.  It was a very strong beer at nearly 10% but was very drinkable unlike light colored beers at that high alcohol.  It was a dark beer with a very strong ruby/molasses type color.
 
http://www.ratebeer.com/Ratings/Beer/Beer-Ratings.asp?BeerID=5400
 
Neither of them were cheap (both about £3/bottle) but compared to any other beer that you'd order out it was a steal since we were at the show.  Both are very well worth trying.
 
Thanks,
Rick

Thanks Rick  I hope to have a few Pics from our little heaven to post when I get back Sunday night

jeb,

yes, they are a bit different, though pretty similar in most respects. There are basically two types of grayling in the world. There is the arctic grayling like you'd find in alaska and the european grayling that we get here in the UK and on the mainland. Grayling are found in cold, clean streams from about 50 degrees north latitude to the north pole. Over here, the UK, France, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, and many other places have them.

Thanks
Rick

That looks tough to fish.

50' - jesus, with having trees behind you, ever consider a spey?

jeremy,
 
That was why I considered taking the switch rod.  It is an 11'9" 6/7 wt that will roll cast a mile.  However, most of the time I'm not casting to the far bank.  You can catch as many fish as you want by fishing < 30'.  The stream does go wider though, over 100' towards the bottom of the beat.  In that section is is a bit shallower with more weeds.  The widest portion that I like to fish is about 70' wide.  With the 10' rod I can shoot a roll cast to most of the stream that I want to fish.  If I need to really fling line I'll either (a) give it a whirl with some high back casts or (b) go somewhere else.  Sometimes I'll see a nice looking gravel patch and just HAVE to fish it.  After I loose 2-3 flies in the trees behind me from trying to reach back to far, I'll give up and move along.  For the most part though, I'm out after a relaxing day and enjoying myself.  That means nice easy casting and catching fish close in.  Every now and then I'll get the urge to punch one out (like I did for the last brownie in the picture), but why struggle when you can just move down for a different fish.

Thanks,
Rick