Wet & Windy

The Grayling fishing was slowly building up into the third week of November, and although we haven't encountered exceptional amounts of fish, we have caught some good quality fish, mainly around the 2lb mark, but also one or two bigger than that, as we did previously.

In between a couple of casting sessions with people, I had a keen Grayling angler out on the river with me for three days tuition and fishing, whilst experiencing some unbelievably warm weather for the time of year. We had a few nice fish though, until that is, the weather took a turn for the worst again. "Thought it was too good to be true". Never mind we did get some good fishing in before the river rose again.

Yes, Unfortunately, from late in the day on Tuesday 22nd, the river began to rise and it has been consistently high ever since, never settling, scuppering the chances of any decent Grayling fishing on the fly, and to add to that, the strong winds we have been plagued with over the past few days are certainly not helping matters in any way whatsoever, making conditions ever more difficult. Oh well, we will just have to hold back a little longer. "Let's see what December brings".

End of Season Deluge

A good Eden Grayling being returned

Persistent rain created the worst possible scenario to the end of the Salmon season on the river Eden. The last few days were a wash out, especially for the fly, apart from a couple of fish taken on a spinner on the last day as the water slightly cleared, but still very difficult conditions.

We are now turning our attention to the winter Grayling fishing to which we have already had some success, albeit in small numbers, but some quality fish up to 2lb, and the results have improved with further visits.

The Grayling fishing was put on hold though, with the intervention of the AAPGAI autumn assessment event for potential new instructors, as well as those instructors who were taking the next step on the ladder. The event was held, once again, in Builth Wells, in Wales, one of two biannual events held at either end of the country to allow people from all over the UK to attend, although several international instructors also attended as usual. The event also included a very successful open day which was aimed at those thinking of taking the instructor route with AAPGAI, or those who simply came along to enjoy the many and varied demonstrations delivered by professional AAPGAI instructors, as well as the one to one tuition that followed. You can read more about these events on the AAPGAI website or Blog.

One of the Demo's by AAPGAI instructor Paul Arden

But home again now and back to thoughts of Grayling fishing on the Eden, but I don't have to think about it too long, as I will be out on the river again tomorrow to put it into practice, especially whilst this period of good weather persists, although I do have a sneaky feeling that when the temperatures do begin to fall significantly we will see some good shoaling up of these magnificent fish in the deeper slower moving areas of the river. "Give it a try".