It’s been a properly wet few days. The rivers are up, coloured and pushing through, and most of us have spent more time looking at the water level than fishing.
Grayling don’t stop feeding just because it’s 'rained a bit'. They drop into the deeper, steadier water, tuck in behind whatever slows the flow, and carry on. The problem is that most of the flies in our boxes are built for normal levels. In a river like this those flies spend the whole drift in the top half of the water, a long way above the fish.
That’s what our Heavy Grayling Selection is for:
Our Heavy Selection: for when the river is high, in full flow, or deep.
Twenty-four flies, in sizes 10 and 12. They’re bigger and built to get down to the fish quickly, and stay there:
Grayling Bomb: 3 each of sizes 10 and 12
Copperknob: 3 each of sizes 10 and 12
CdC Red-Neck Grey Jig: 3 of size 10
CdC Red-Neck Olive Jig: 3 of size 10
CdC Duracell Jig: 3 of size 12
Hot-Head Rainbow Jig: 3 of size 12
This selection is available as flies only, or with one of our slimline silicone fly boxes. The box is thin enough for a jacket pocket, and the silicone holds jigs properly. All barbless, as always.
A Tip: How to fish a really small nymph deep
Sometimes the fish want something tiny, and the river is too deep or fast for a tiny fly to get anywhere near them. A size 16 or 18 on its own weighs next to nothing, so it drifts through the top half of the water and the grayling never see it.
Here’s the rig I use:
- Put the small nymph on the point of your leader.
- Tie a short dropper about 12" above it.
- Put a heavy fly on the dropper. A Grayling Bomb or Copperknob from the Heavy Selection is ideal.
Here’s why it works:
-
The heavy fly is the anchor. It pulls the whole rig down quickly, and the small nymph on the end goes with it. You get tiny-fly presentation at a depth the tiny fly could never reach alone.
- The small nymph isn’t weighed down. Because it’s on the point with nothing heavy attached, it moves freely on its tippet and drifts like a real insect, rather than being dragged along like it’s on a chain.
- Twelve inches keeps both flies in the same zone. The heavy fly ticks along the bottom while the small one fishes just above or at it. Grayling feed in that same strip, so either fly can get the take.
- A short dropper means fewer tangles. A long one wraps round the leader on every cast. At 12" it stays out of trouble.
Our Heavy Grayling Selection contains 3 each of the heavyweight flies listed, and shown, above (24 flies in total). As is usual, we are supplying this selection in 2 different formats - either 'flies only' or a Boxed Selection (in one of our specialist slimline silicone nymph boxes) for an additional £10.
Or
*** Go on, you know you want to ***
A word of warning before you head to the river:
High rivers make the banks soft. After this much rain, ground that looks solid can be undercut or waterlogged, and it can give way when you step on it. Be careful out there:
- Stay back from the edge. Don’t stand right on the lip of the bank, especially on outside bends where the current has been digging away underneath.
- Test your footing. If the ground feels spongy or sounds hollow, step back and find another spot.
- Think twice about wading. Fast, deep, coloured water hides holes and shifts the gravel under you. If you can’t see the bottom, don’t wade it.
- Tell someone where you’re going, and take your phone. A grayling isn’t worth a swim.
Fish the margins and the slower water you can reach safely. In a river like this, that’s where the grayling are anyway.
TIght lines.
P.S. Each of the flies contained in our Heavy Grayling Selection are available to buy individually; use the links below:
- Grayling Bomb
- Copperknob
- CdC Red-Neck Olive Jig
- CdC Red-Neck Grey Jig
- CdC Duracell Jig
- Hot-Head Rainbow Jig
P.P.S. If you’ve got a spot you can fish safely from, a Grayling Bomb on the dropper and a small nymph on the point is the first thing I’d try.
