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Introduction

Fishing Techniques.

Click on the photos on this page to find out about Grayling fishing techniques. As we all aspects of angling, Grayling Fishing is adapting all of the time. These pages will assist in keeping you up to date with new ideas as well as some of the traditional methods.

Czech nymphing an Introduction by Phil Price

This technique is designed mainly for fast flowing waters with gravel bottoms, the main principal of the technique is to get the Czech Nymph's down to the fish feeding from off the bottom.
My preferred tackle
1. I use a 10 foot weight five Fly rod. I find the sage XP Ideal as the extra foot gives better reach and touch.

2. The reel is incidental but my personal choice is the Shimano Ultegra

3. I use a dry fly line weight five double taper.
4. (Optional) Roman moser fast sinking leader 5 foot. Manufactured from a 10 foot (two for the price of one! (Gary lyttles 'tip' Trout fisherman 2001)
5. Cast constructed from 10 foot of 4lbs - 6lbs uncle Jacks fluorocarbon with two 3 inch droppers.
6. My Favourite selection of home made Czech nymphs, Peeping Caddis, Hares Ear of various colours and sizes. Please See Czech Nymphs Picture Guid to tying comming soon!
7. Chest waders. A must for River fishing.
8. Polarized Sun Glasses. Lets you see into the water reduces glair also protects your eyes from fast flying hooks!

9. Using a split link swivel between the dry fly line and the lead rig makes it easy to swap from dry fly to czech nymphing rig.

First you need to locate the fish, during the summer Grayling will spread out taking advantage of the various hatches. During the colder winter months Grayling tend to lie in the deeper pools often in shoals. Although cormorant plagues do have an impact on shoals!

Tip of the year tell everyone you know how wounderful roast cormorents taste!!!

Gravel bars and gravel beds are ideal locations for the Czech nymphing technique. The water that will often appear broken with a slight dead crease, is often a promising starting point. V's in the river are also a good prospect.

To start Czech nymphing stand at the edge of the river facing directly across. Cast the rig directly upstream of you. Only 5-8 feet of dry fly line needs to protrude from the end of the rod. Yes you are virtually fishing under your own feet! Stealth is advised.
Cast your Rig up river and allow the team of Czech nympshs to sink, at the same time keep the junction of your lead-leader and Dry fly line directly on the waters surface. As the team of nymphs passes in front of you adjust your rod upwards then as the team descends downstream lower your rod to allow the team maximum time bumping along on the riverbed " you need to feel the tap tap tap of the nymphs bumping the bottom". This action keeps you in contact with the team of nymphs. If you cant feel the bottom you haven't enough weight on. If your team has too much weight the rig will not move or will frequently get stuck. Play around with your middle dropper until you have got the required weight. Consider a barbles hook for the heavy middle nymph this will reduce the amount of fatal terminal tackle snags (loss of all your flies). Most nymphs I use are 10s-14s although in really heavy water I will use a 6 - 10s but this is less frequent now with the availability of Tungsten Sheet and beads which enable you to used heavy weighted smaller nymphs. A Good tip is to use Hook snaps, which allow easy clip on change of fly's or Czech nymphs. It also saves fluorocarbon tippets and droppers, as you are not shortening them each time you change a fly.
Each time adjust your cast, fan slightly outwards giving you maximum coverage of the riverbed. Then move systematically covering the surrounding area. Don't just wade into where you feel the fish are lying fish your way too that spot. You may surprise yourself with the unlikely places fish can hold.
The take can come at any time during the team's bumpy ride along the bottom. This is why I must stress the importance of keeping in touch with your team on nymphs. Allow slack line in your rig and you will not feel the take! If the line moves or you feel the take a slight pull or take indicated by a sudden stop in the tap tap tap as the bugs grind along the bottom, Just lift your rod this is often all that is need to insure the fish is hooked. Takes often come at the end on the run as the team start to rise from the bottom to the surface. As you feel this action known as on the dangle a light stike as this happens often produces a bonus fish.
Play the fish away from the spot where you hooked it. You don't want to spook the shoal. Play the fish and land it with a net. When the fish has been safely unhooked, release it holding it in the flow until its ready to go. It may take a minute or two but you are protecting future stocks. If you take one for the pot despatch it quickly before unhooking it.

Philip Anthony Price 2001-12-20 update 6 Feb 2005

A lighter method is Grayling Bugging Please see Introduction to Grayling Bugging by Steve Cullen.

If you want to learn how to tie some of these heavy bugs nymphs read James Matthews fly tying page

home page www.graylinghunter.co.uk

STEVEN CULLENS BUGGING SET UP.
I use an 8 foot leader with an indicator, the reason for the indicator is that it allows me to fish the flies at different depths and flows without having to change flies so much.
The indicator allows me 3 feet to play with, in other words I can fish with my top dropper a foot below the surface or 4 feet below and this also dictaes the depth of the other 2 flies.

The basic method is to have about 6" to a foot of line out the top eye, flick upstream so that the flies trundle past your feet and let them come round as the flies "start" to lift strike, sometimes it pays to let the flies rise right up in the current at the end of the swing but as a rule I normally strike at the point I think the flies are "starting" to rise in the water.
You can also use this method without the indicator, but with a coloured bit braid for leader attachment at the end of the fly line, this gives you a colour contrast wich is easier to see than your normal connection, "this was shown to me by Grant Gibson" who first took me out for Grayling on the Tweed, Gibby fishes a hell of a lot of competitions and as indicators are not allowed, someone came up with the bright coloured braid.
The other good thing with the indicator is that you can fish 2 sides of a seam in the river one by normal bugging and the other by "high sticking" keeping the rod high above the river with no line touching the water.

Steve Cullen

Size is everything or "so they say!!!"

Dry Fly 'Water Craft' By Danny Bennett.

Part 1 Drag

The drag of the dry fly is possibly the most difficult for the dry fly fisher to understand. Many hours can be used up in studying the flow of the river through the many pools and glides and obviously they will change as the river rises and falls and this in turn will affect the drift of the fly in the changing currents , so in not order not to create drag the full knowledge of the river is essential

These patterns must become part of the anglers aid in combating the the movements that are associated with free flow. Look at the surface of the run for rising fish , look for bubbles, natural flies and bits of debris being carried by the current through the run and observe how they move ,this is information that is essential to the angler in his quest to get the fish to take the imitation fly, it is important to have your fly move on the current without any sign of deviation ie drag. Drag can in certain runs can be almost be impossible to avoid, the direction of the cast, the use of any wind may need to be used .I find to be in the correct position to change the line of approach is critical so you must make the best use of any drift through the run even if it is a short one, the benifits of mending the line is again one always to be aware of , The speed of the river makes a difference , the faster the river the faster the fish must rise to take the fly. A number of the pools that I have fished over many years have become easy to get a fairly long drift with no sign of deviation I believe that this is down to hours of observing the flow of water through the run, drag is simply the unwanted movement of the fly and line from its natural drift.

GRAYLING ON THE DRY FLY

The Grayling has become a good sportsfish having taken over from the Brown Trout due to the decline in the native Brownies. The Grayling is a very good fish to try fishing for as it takes the well presented dry fly with lots of power. The need for any special tackle does not arise, a good standard Trout rod is ideal for the job. choose a rod of eight to nine feet, rated at line five which will suit most situations. I prefer a double taper line as this helps in the delicate fly presentation that is needed. Heavily cast flies will soon spook any Grayling in the run, so you have to be delicate in your approach ,obviously a fine leader is the key, there is no need to go above the four pound breaking strain. Flies to use can be seen floating past you in the river, they will include cased or uncased caddis and sedge whilst some will be ariel insects so from your collection get a similar size and colour and cast away. To give some indications the flies to try should include such as the Tupps Iindispensible,Grey Duster,Olive Dun,Addams and the Klinkhammer which are all tried and tested flies. Keeping the fly floating can be difficult in fast runs but there are lots of preparations on the market today . One of the useful aids is a powder called Top Ride it is a desicant ,comes in a small plastic container and you simply place your saturated fly into the container, give the container a couple of shakes and the fly will float well. We have looked at the tackle and now for the possible lies where the Grayling are likely to be found, for this you need to amble along the stretch looking for the rises, study the best position for you to place yourself in order to get the best cast possible to cover the rising fish. In earlier papers I have mentioned the need for observation and this is when that stored up knowledge comes to your aid. Recollect the back cast is as important as the forward cast and it is only with experience that you will be able to produce wide loops and tight loops in other words to adjust your style to the surroundings. Playing and landing the Grayling should be gentle as they soon become distressed so the faster you can get them back into the river the more chance the Grayling has of recovering , place the fish facing upstream in a brisk flow and let it move off when recovery has occurred. During the colder spells in winter it is not unusual to have fish rising to flies especially through the warmer parts of the day and it is often a nice break from wet fly fishing.

klinkhammer

Upstream Nymphing an Introduction by Phil Price

It is always useful to acquire a skill that will help you catch fish on a variety of occasions when the dry fly is not quite as effective as the fish have become a little more astute. You can see the fish taking just below the surface indicated by a bulge at the surface or flash of white or silver. You have tried every dry in your box without success another method is called for?
Many purist fly fisherman dispel this method as it does to some degree mimic the course tack-tick of float trotting (The sight bob, fluorescent putty or dry fly taking the place of the float). I have used this method many times during the summer and brighter winter months when the grayling and trout have been feeding in mid water picking off the various bugs that in habit the weeded areas between the glides across the river. It also comes in valuable when even the lightest of Czech Nymphing rigs is snagging the bottom or surrounding weeds.

The tackle.

This is much the same, as you would use for the dry fly. An 8-10 foot rod weight 4-6 is ideal using a double taper fly line (DRY) with 4-6 foot of mono or fluorocarbon tippet (length dependent on the depth of water fished). If you use a weight forward line then you may need to use a tapered floating leader to help aid fly presentation.
The profile of a double taper line does not require a tapered leader.
Again the reel is a personal choice. Just use one that is balanced to your rod.

The tippet is rigged in the following way. I tend to use a large dry sedge, for the indicator. Florescent putty may be used but I find it can cause casting problems and frustration, as sometimes the fish will take the site indicator. If vision is difficult use a brightly coloured dry fly that is easy to pick out on the waters surface, but is buoyant enough to support the suspended nymphs. The one or two suspended nymphs should be equally spaced the middle fly attached via a dropper 3-4 inches long. See figure 1.

The technique is similar to casting a dry fly upstream. Locate your intended quarry or likely lie. Cast the rig upstream at least ten foot above the target area. The nymphs will need time to sink into the mid water where the fish are feeding. Watch the top fly for any sudden movement this could be a take. If it is pulled under then it's probably a take. Success to all fly-fishing is the art of mending your line so to keep in contact with the fly. Upstream Nymphing is no different! As the current brings the team of fly's back downstream the fly line needs to be gathered to allow the angler to strike at the moment the fish takes. If there is slack between you and the team then the fish will have most likely had time to eject the fly from its mouth before you have had time to set the hook. Lifting the rod at the same time allows the nymphs/spiders to rise in a natural emerging way as if ready to hatch. This method can be quite tiring work if the flow is fast. The team can also be allowed to travel past the angler downstream the angler feeding and mending the line, which he had beforehand gathered. At the end of the run downstream allow the nymphs to rise to the surface before re-casting. Its at this time many takes will come as a fish may have followed the nymphs downstream seizing them before they reach the surface to emerge!

Nymph sizes/spider patterns

I use predominantly size 10-16 nymphs the bottom nymph being heavier (gold head or lead under body) to take the team down. Smaller nymphs can be used but difficulty may be experienced getting the smaller nymphs to sink. I have seen many fly anglers using lead shot to get the right sinking weight.

(Shock horror the purists squeal)

Above fly ideal for sight bob. I have seen them constructed in various colours bright pink orange yellow.

Coming Soon

Braid Through Fishing rig by Hoppy.



*Home* *Help & advice* Photography *Organisations* *Links* *Tackle* *Forum* Where to Fish Flies & Tying Reference Pages Biology *Contact Me* *Introduction*	Fishing Techniques. Click on the photos on this page to find out about Grayling fishing techniques. As we all aspects of angling, Grayling Fishing is adapting all of the time. These pages will assist in keeping you up to date with new ideas as well as some of the traditional methods.
	Czech nymphing an Introduction by Phil Price This technique is designed mainly for fast flowing waters with gravel bottoms, the main principal of the technique is to get the Czech Nymph's down to the fish feeding from off the bottom. My preferred tackle 1. I use a 10 foot weight five Fly rod. I find the sage XP Ideal as the extra foot gives better reach and touch. 2. The reel is incidental but my personal choice is the Shimano Ultegra 3. I use a dry fly line weight five double taper. 4. (Optional) Roman moser fast sinking leader 5 foot. Manufactured from a 10 foot (two for the price of one! (Gary lyttles 'tip' Trout fisherman 2001) 5. Cast constructed from 10 foot of 4lbs - 6lbs uncle Jacks fluorocarbon with two 3 inch droppers. 6. My Favourite selection of home made Czech nymphs, Peeping Caddis, Hares Ear of various colours and sizes. Please See Czech Nymphs Picture Guid to tying comming soon! 7. Chest waders. A must for River fishing. 8. Polarized Sun Glasses. Lets you see into the water reduces glair also protects your eyes from fast flying hooks! 9. Using a split link swivel between the dry fly line and the lead rig makes it easy to swap from dry fly to czech nymphing rig. First you need to locate the fish, during the summer Grayling will spread out taking advantage of the various hatches. During the colder winter months Grayling tend to lie in the deeper pools often in shoals. Although cormorant plagues do have an impact on shoals! Tip of the year tell everyone you know how wounderful roast cormorents taste!!! Gravel bars and gravel beds are ideal locations for the Czech nymphing technique. The water that will often appear broken with a slight dead crease, is often a promising starting point. V's in the river are also a good prospect. To start Czech nymphing stand at the edge of the river facing directly across. Cast the rig directly upstream of you. Only 5-8 feet of dry fly line needs to protrude from the end of the rod. Yes you are virtually fishing under your own feet! Stealth is advised. Cast your Rig up river and allow the team of Czech nympshs to sink, at the same time keep the junction of your lead-leader and Dry fly line directly on the waters surface. As the team of nymphs passes in front of you adjust your rod upwards then as the team descends downstream lower your rod to allow the team maximum time bumping along on the riverbed " you need to feel the tap tap tap of the nymphs bumping the bottom". This action keeps you in contact with the team of nymphs. If you cant feel the bottom you haven't enough weight on. If your team has too much weight the rig will not move or will frequently get stuck. Play around with your middle dropper until you have got the required weight. Consider a barbles hook for the heavy middle nymph this will reduce the amount of fatal terminal tackle snags (loss of all your flies). Most nymphs I use are 10s-14s although in really heavy water I will use a 6 - 10s but this is less frequent now with the availability of Tungsten Sheet and beads which enable you to used heavy weighted smaller nymphs. A Good tip is to use Hook snaps, which allow easy clip on change of fly's or Czech nymphs. It also saves fluorocarbon tippets and droppers, as you are not shortening them each time you change a fly. Each time adjust your cast, fan slightly outwards giving you maximum coverage of the riverbed. Then move systematically covering the surrounding area. Don't just wade into where you feel the fish are lying fish your way too that spot. You may surprise yourself with the unlikely places fish can hold. The take can come at any time during the team's bumpy ride along the bottom. This is why I must stress the importance of keeping in touch with your team on nymphs. Allow slack line in your rig and you will not feel the take! If the line moves or you feel the take a slight pull or take indicated by a sudden stop in the tap tap tap as the bugs grind along the bottom, Just lift your rod this is often all that is need to insure the fish is hooked. Takes often come at the end on the run as the team start to rise from the bottom to the surface. As you feel this action known as on the dangle a light stike as this happens often produces a bonus fish. Play the fish away from the spot where you hooked it. You don't want to spook the shoal. Play the fish and land it with a net. When the fish has been safely unhooked, release it holding it in the flow until its ready to go. It may take a minute or two but you are protecting future stocks. If you take one for the pot despatch it quickly before unhooking it. Philip Anthony Price 2001-12-20 update 6 Feb 2005 A lighter method is Grayling Bugging Please see Introduction to Grayling Bugging by Steve Cullen. If you want to learn how to tie some of these heavy bugs nymphs read James Matthews fly tying page home page www.graylinghunter.co.uk STEVEN CULLENS BUGGING SET UP. I use an 8 foot leader with an indicator, the reason for the indicator is that it allows me to fish the flies at different depths and flows without having to change flies so much. The indicator allows me 3 feet to play with, in other words I can fish with my top dropper a foot below the surface or 4 feet below and this also dictaes the depth of the other 2 flies. The basic method is to have about 6" to a foot of line out the top eye, flick upstream so that the flies trundle past your feet and let them come round as the flies "start" to lift strike, sometimes it pays to let the flies rise right up in the current at the end of the swing but as a rule I normally strike at the point I think the flies are "starting" to rise in the water. You can also use this method without the indicator, but with a coloured bit braid for leader attachment at the end of the fly line, this gives you a colour contrast wich is easier to see than your normal connection, "this was shown to me by Grant Gibson" who first took me out for Grayling on the Tweed, Gibby fishes a hell of a lot of competitions and as indicators are not allowed, someone came up with the bright coloured braid. The other good thing with the indicator is that you can fish 2 sides of a seam in the river one by normal bugging and the other by "high sticking" keeping the rod high above the river with no line touching the water. Steve Cullen Size is everything or "so they say!!!"
	Dry Fly 'Water Craft' By Danny Bennett. Part 1 Drag The drag of the dry fly is possibly the most difficult for the dry fly fisher to understand. Many hours can be used up in studying the flow of the river through the many pools and glides and obviously they will change as the river rises and falls and this in turn will affect the drift of the fly in the changing currents , so in not order not to create drag the full knowledge of the river is essential These patterns must become part of the anglers aid in combating the the movements that are associated with free flow. Look at the surface of the run for rising fish , look for bubbles, natural flies and bits of debris being carried by the current through the run and observe how they move ,this is information that is essential to the angler in his quest to get the fish to take the imitation fly, it is important to have your fly move on the current without any sign of deviation ie drag. Drag can in certain runs can be almost be impossible to avoid, the direction of the cast, the use of any wind may need to be used .I find to be in the correct position to change the line of approach is critical so you must make the best use of any drift through the run even if it is a short one, the benifits of mending the line is again one always to be aware of , The speed of the river makes a difference , the faster the river the faster the fish must rise to take the fly. A number of the pools that I have fished over many years have become easy to get a fairly long drift with no sign of deviation I believe that this is down to hours of observing the flow of water through the run, drag is simply the unwanted movement of the fly and line from its natural drift. GRAYLING ON THE DRY FLY The Grayling has become a good sportsfish having taken over from the Brown Trout due to the decline in the native Brownies. The Grayling is a very good fish to try fishing for as it takes the well presented dry fly with lots of power. The need for any special tackle does not arise, a good standard Trout rod is ideal for the job. choose a rod of eight to nine feet, rated at line five which will suit most situations. I prefer a double taper line as this helps in the delicate fly presentation that is needed. Heavily cast flies will soon spook any Grayling in the run, so you have to be delicate in your approach ,obviously a fine leader is the key, there is no need to go above the four pound breaking strain. Flies to use can be seen floating past you in the river, they will include cased or uncased caddis and sedge whilst some will be ariel insects so from your collection get a similar size and colour and cast away. To give some indications the flies to try should include such as the Tupps Iindispensible,Grey Duster,Olive Dun,Addams and the Klinkhammer which are all tried and tested flies. Keeping the fly floating can be difficult in fast runs but there are lots of preparations on the market today . One of the useful aids is a powder called Top Ride it is a desicant ,comes in a small plastic container and you simply place your saturated fly into the container, give the container a couple of shakes and the fly will float well. We have looked at the tackle and now for the possible lies where the Grayling are likely to be found, for this you need to amble along the stretch looking for the rises, study the best position for you to place yourself in order to get the best cast possible to cover the rising fish. In earlier papers I have mentioned the need for observation and this is when that stored up knowledge comes to your aid. Recollect the back cast is as important as the forward cast and it is only with experience that you will be able to produce wide loops and tight loops in other words to adjust your style to the surroundings. Playing and landing the Grayling should be gentle as they soon become distressed so the faster you can get them back into the river the more chance the Grayling has of recovering , place the fish facing upstream in a brisk flow and let it move off when recovery has occurred. During the colder spells in winter it is not unusual to have fish rising to flies especially through the warmer parts of the day and it is often a nice break from wet fly fishing. klinkhammer Upstream Nymphing an Introduction by Phil Price It is always useful to acquire a skill that will help you catch fish on a variety of occasions when the dry fly is not quite as effective as the fish have become a little more astute. You can see the fish taking just below the surface indicated by a bulge at the surface or flash of white or silver. You have tried every dry in your box without success another method is called for? Many purist fly fisherman dispel this method as it does to some degree mimic the course tack-tick of float trotting (The sight bob, fluorescent putty or dry fly taking the place of the float). I have used this method many times during the summer and brighter winter months when the grayling and trout have been feeding in mid water picking off the various bugs that in habit the weeded areas between the glides across the river. It also comes in valuable when even the lightest of Czech Nymphing rigs is snagging the bottom or surrounding weeds. The tackle. This is much the same, as you would use for the dry fly. An 8-10 foot rod weight 4-6 is ideal using a double taper fly line (DRY) with 4-6 foot of mono or fluorocarbon tippet (length dependent on the depth of water fished). If you use a weight forward line then you may need to use a tapered floating leader to help aid fly presentation. The profile of a double taper line does not require a tapered leader. Again the reel is a personal choice. Just use one that is balanced to your rod. The tippet is rigged in the following way. I tend to use a large dry sedge, for the indicator. Florescent putty may be used but I find it can cause casting problems and frustration, as sometimes the fish will take the site indicator. If vision is difficult use a brightly coloured dry fly that is easy to pick out on the waters surface, but is buoyant enough to support the suspended nymphs. The one or two suspended nymphs should be equally spaced the middle fly attached via a dropper 3-4 inches long. See figure 1. The technique is similar to casting a dry fly upstream. Locate your intended quarry or likely lie. Cast the rig upstream at least ten foot above the target area. The nymphs will need time to sink into the mid water where the fish are feeding. Watch the top fly for any sudden movement this could be a take. If it is pulled under then it's probably a take. Success to all fly-fishing is the art of mending your line so to keep in contact with the fly. Upstream Nymphing is no different! As the current brings the team of fly's back downstream the fly line needs to be gathered to allow the angler to strike at the moment the fish takes. If there is slack between you and the team then the fish will have most likely had time to eject the fly from its mouth before you have had time to set the hook. Lifting the rod at the same time allows the nymphs/spiders to rise in a natural emerging way as if ready to hatch. This method can be quite tiring work if the flow is fast. The team can also be allowed to travel past the angler downstream the angler feeding and mending the line, which he had beforehand gathered. At the end of the run downstream allow the nymphs to rise to the surface before re-casting. Its at this time many takes will come as a fish may have followed the nymphs downstream seizing them before they reach the surface to emerge! Nymph sizes/spider patterns I use predominantly size 10-16 nymphs the bottom nymph being heavier (gold head or lead under body) to take the team down. Smaller nymphs can be used but difficulty may be experienced getting the smaller nymphs to sink. I have seen many fly anglers using lead shot to get the right sinking weight. (Shock horror the purists squeal) Above fly ideal for sight bob. I have seen them constructed in various colours bright pink orange yellow. Coming Soon Braid Through Fishing rig by Hoppy.