Happy New Year to you all. I spent New Years Days fishing at Wherwell on a trip organised by the club. As I have a freezer full of trout, I decided that I didn?t want any more and so I opted to fish the river for Grayling. The River Test.
This was the first time that I fished a proper river. I have fished the Tillingbourne at Albury but this is more like a stream. The Test is a chalk river which was crystal clear, looking like tap water.
I asked the gillie what flies he recommended (Ernie had lent me one of his boxes). He suggested one of the tiny Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear, the rougher looking the better.
You could see the fish flitting away when they spotted you making them difficult to approach. If you approached from downstream they were less likely to be spooked.
I hooked one and got very excited but as I drew it in, it managed to get off. I decided to move on as I thought that the disturbance would have frightened off other fish. I picked another spot and cast at another fish but it did not seem to have any interest. I did I cast again and this time allowed to line to drift down past me. As I started to draw in I hooked another. This fish was not on the line as long as the first, just a second or two. The third fish I hooked, I nearly got to the bank and clearly saw it was a grayling but just as I started to prepare to land it, off it went. I had one tug and it happened a couple more times at different; I was quite frustrated but decided to go back the Clubhouse for lunch.
After lunch I decided to go downstream and as I crossed the bridge, I spotted three or four grayling just in front of it. I carefully crossed to the other bank and started casting. Several times I saw a fish move but my fly was so small I could not see whether that was what it moved to look at. Then all of a sudden a fish was hooked I concentrated on moving upstream a bit and out of the current. The next thing was it was in the net. My first ever Grayling!
I walked on downstream and cast several times and had a couple more tugs. Then I let the line drift downstream and another fish took the fly. I had it on for a few seconds and it jumped out the water. It was a lot lager than the one I had caught and then it was off. I moved down further casting as I went. I then check the line as it seemed to be twisted up a bit, only to find that the fly had come off. No wonder I lost the bigger fish.
I tied on another fly and tried further down stream and got one more tug but nothing else. I wondered back to the car as it was turning to dusk. I found only the gillie and one other, both were interested in my photos I had taken.
All I can say is I had a very good day. I also have to say that I had treated myself to some battery operated boot warmers and I was very pleased with their first time performance. They lasted all day and my feet were only starting to get a little chilly as I decided that it was time to pack up.
