Cornish ladies..

[Wandle1]

It's been a long held ambition to catch a westcountry grayling,particularly a Cornish lady...they do exist but very hard to line up to my mini adventure that I had in mind..

You see I wanted to wild camp and fish,anyway after much looking and searching on the webinter,I found and booked such a stretch, this area of river,also had sea trout and brownies available as well as the odd grayling..

I eventually found this area of river,which was set in the steepest valley you could imagine,at the bottom was one solitary cottage and the river at the bottom of the garden,it all looked amazing..

I pitched the Banshee tent,got out one of my trangia ,and savoured the moment..

I decided to spin and try various other methods,involving Maggots,Worms and light lures..

After a biteless couple of hours,I dug out a small perch bobber,my good friend Mark,or MGs had given to me and I decided to trot this float until I couldn't see it in the dark then I planned to link ledger in this pool nearby..

Soon as I'd cast out a lovely brown trout came to float fished Maggots, I think I had about 13 of them and a 2lb sea trout.

I carried on fishing into the dark,but no grayling..

In the morning,in my tent I awoke to the cottage owner leaving me some nice tomatoes to cook up, with my farm shop sausages..I was very grateful,as in my mind this was a perfect boys own adventure..

I planned one hr of fishing before I had to leave,after a few trots,using small Worms, Mgs'float went under,and it was indeed my first Cornish lady..about 2lbs,I was very happy..

Of all the trips I have done,this one small river trip will stay in my mind til I pass,

This was a couple of years ago,and I found out that the new owners of the mill have stopped the fishing..

[Wanderer]

That does sound good, Wandle 1.
Camping, cooking , fishing and successfully catching a Grayling.
Time well spent in my book.

All the best.

Ps, do you just have a Trangia burner or a complete cook set ?

[Wandle1]

Hi Wanderer, I have a mini 28t and a much loved 27ul with my third or fourth non stick frypan...

I'm very much into my Trangia cooking,I do three component steaks,Mably Wagyus,all sorts when I'm out fishing,

My 28 is for quiet places,bike or walking,wildcamping,and 27ul is for 24hr sessions on a lake..

Love my Trangias,there's about four,five of us called TAS,..Trangia appreciation society...Kernow chapter..

Ha,ha,

Atb Adam

[Wanderer]

Interesting stuff, Wandle 1.
I have 3 or 4 Trangia burners that I use with various pots and mess tins and I have a couple of Swedish army mess sets ( complete with the larger Trangia / Svea meths burners)

I also have Gas, twig, petrol and Hexamine stoves.

Is this "normal" or is there something wrong ?

[Wandle1]

Yes Wanderer,this is perfectly normal,at least in my house..

We are known as Stovies,an even worse affliction to be addicted to water,and angling..

I'm not ashamed to be a 'meths head'in fact when I tell others I'm into methylation, I get the strangest looks,no idea why though!

I have a uco mini grill ,fire pit this is awesome,and a lixada stick stove..

Oh and some bad weather suitcase stoves in case we get cut off in winter storms..

I like stoves...check out Richard outdoors and his double meths burner on YouTube..

[MGs]

Nice fishing, sounds like an ideal fishing spot

[Catfish.017]

Graeme Pullen has some interesting camping, cooking and fishing videos on his U tube channel "Totally Awesome Fishing. In one he uses a Swedish log stove, a big chunk of Birch trunk split into about six pieces then wired together splayed out to support a pan before being set alight. Quite ingenious.

[Wandle1]

I have used one of those Catfish,they are really good actually,I make sure that any pan I use has a long handle,my go to pan is a MSR,Seagull 775..done lots of cooking on that ,

I have to be honest,my secondary interest is bushcraft and a bit of wildcamping, but I really want to get into bikepacking and minimal fishing...off the beaten track..

[Wandle1]

Nice fishing, sounds like an ideal fishing spot

It was Mark,same river behind where you fish,on 'myplace' but 22 miles downstream,I have seen one or two grayling at night ,in the pool,..eels,etc,but its so low,almost impossible to fish unless you bow and arrow cast ,tenkara it..