The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Gents,

It's a very good time of year for Grayling. Further question however - if trotting maggots or red worms (ie not casting a fly) is there a "best time" of day. IE are Grayling like some freshwater fish that respond to low light levels etc (best concentrate on morning and evening). Or is it they respond to "fly rises" etc at any time of day so there is no magic hour?

Being a newbie, keen to pick up tips.

I do believe that grayling will rise to a surface fly from the river bed, so it may not matter too much at what level your bait comes through, but I would be tempted to try and get your bait as near to the River bed as possible. Plus I'm after my first ever grayling this coming Friday, so i'm praying the river Wharfe will be kind to me, hence I have been taking in what I can about grayling.

Thanks
BB

BB there is no special time, grayling will feed at all times day and night, bright sunshine with frost, to over cast days. If you would like a ticket for a day get in touch. Martin

I often fished a tree lined stretch on the Tees. The sun would rise behind the trees casting a shadow along the river and as the sun rose higher, the shadow moved across the river.
The Grayling would feed within the edge of the shadow until midday when they vanished completely. This happened every time I fished on a sunny day.
On a dull day they kept to the middle of the river.

Wal

I think a lot depends upon the river - chalk or hard rock. Chalk streams seldom rise and colour heavily in a day whilst hardrock can rise and colour very quickly. I have fished both the southern chalk streams and Northumbrian rocky rivers and caught grayling from both.

Grayling prefer to see their food so the more coloured the more difficult to find the bait. In the coloured water they seem to be feeding near the bed - whereas with it clear they can and do rise up in the water including taking off the surface.

Obviously the clarity affects what and how far they can see so in chalk streams they can retreat, like many fish, to hiding in the weed. Clarity and bright conditions allow us to see the the river bed - and the fish, so they can possibly see us and other shadows on the water.

Grayling happily rise for a fly, but in the winter fly hatches are very short, almost non existent, so the majority of what they feed on is below the surface, they devour caddis grubs.

By fishing with maggot just a pinch of a few at a time you can create a feeding window for them, be very careful, it is very easy to over feed them.

Grayling, particularly larger fish, love sweetcorn, but again only offer 1 or 2 free grains per trot.

When I fished the Anton a few years ago for grayling they went into a crazy feeding mode during the last hour of daylight. But that was on the fly. I think my son caught about forty fish that day, twenty of those in the last thirty minutes! It was a crazy end to a great trip.

I have caught Grayling throughout the day when fishing Southern chalk streams.As they very rarely colour up I do not know if coloured water affects them.

Martin James wrote: ↑Sun Feb 06, 2022 9:47 am BB there is no special time, grayling will feed at all times day and night, bright sunshine with frost, to over cast days. If you would like a ticket for a day get in touch. Martin

Martin - that's very kind of you. I'm very lucky as I have Grayling fishing a short walk from my farmhouse. My observation is exactly as you say so far. I found no "witching hour". For my spate river, it appears to be more about water clarity.

Ps I just got your book delivered today ref Richard W.

Olly wrote: ↑Sun Feb 06, 2022 11:54 am I think a lot depends upon the river - chalk or hard rock. Chalk streams seldom rise and colour heavily in a day whilst hardrock can rise and colour very quickly. I have fished both the southern chalk streams and Northumbrian rocky rivers and caught grayling from both.

Grayling prefer to see their food so the more coloured the more difficult to find the bait. In the coloured water they seem to be feeding near the bed - whereas with it clear they can and do rise up in the water including taking off the surface.

Obviously the clarity affects what and how far they can see so in chalk streams they can retreat, like many fish, to hiding in the weed. Clarity and bright conditions allow us to the the river bed - and the fish, so they can possibly see us and other shadows on the water.

Thanks Olly. That concours with my spate venue. If I look at the river and it's running clear, I down tools and walk over to catch a few.