Oranges are not the only fruit

[Dai]

...or so to speak.

Grayling, chaps. I fancy going after some this winter and being a complete grayling virgin I was wondering if anyone could offer advice on fishing for them in Wales: where, when, how and what tackle etc.

5/6 weight trout rod, fast intermediate?

License and permit requirements?

[phl]

The Dee is a great river for grayling. I think you can still get day tickets from the hardware shop in Llangollen, for either the Llangollen AA or the Midland Flyfishers beats (both excellent).
Your tackle should be fine. I think a general coarse fish licence is sufficient, but a trout licence certainly will be OK.
As to methods: I'm not a grayling specialist, but I always found pretty much the same tactics I use for trout work most of the time. Given reasonable weather, the Dee fish will rise well to a dry fly for the next few weeks at least.

Paul

[Dai]

Thanks for that, phl. I'm up in Manchester in a couple of weeks' time so I'll try and make a detour and get some fishing in.

Anyone know of any grayling fishing in south Wales?

[jj1]

The taff from pontypridd to cardiff, the rhymni from llanbradach down to st melons, the wye ten miles either side of builth and the ewenny from pencoed down.
jon

[Dai]

Thanks Jon. I'll give the Taff and Wye a go in the next couple of weeks.

[silverstoat]

Dai,

The best grayling fishing I've had in Wales is on the River Irfon (tributary of the Wye). You can book a few beats through the Wye Usk Foundation, and I'd recommend Cefnllysgwynne (lower to middle sections of the beat). I've caught plenty of grayling from this beat, with several around the 1.75lb mark. The wading is pretty safe and easy through most of the main glides. Most of my success has been with dries; I've never made Czech nymphs work for me here for some reason. Trotting with maggot (worm not allowed) is good as the weather turns too cold for fly fishing.

Your 5/6 weight rod will be fine. Not sure about the fast intermediate line though; I tend to stick with floating. As for flies, you can't really go wrong with Klinkhamers. Traditional grayling flies (red tag, treacle and parkin, double badger, steel blue etc) also work but are hard to see at a distance.

If you find yourself getting enthusiastic about grayling fishing you could do worse than join the Grayling Society. They arrange their membership into zones and organise fishing days on good grayling beats in your local area. Their journal is very informative as well.

SS

[mintylad]

some nice info silver stoat i will be pursuing the queen of the river myself this winter. Just wandering are they worth fishing for all winter or do they go off when it gets cold?

[silverstoat]

some nice info silver stoat i will be pursuing the queen of the river myself this winter. Just wandering are they worth fishing for all winter or do they go off when it gets cold?

Late Oct and all through November are my favourite times for grayling. That said, I've caught them in December and January when there's thick snow on the ground and I've had to smash my way through marginal ice to get into the river. When it gets that cold though you're far more likely to catch by trotting than on fly.

I've found that they're hard to catch the closer they get to spawning, i.e. from around February. They tend to be harder to find then as well as they group into large shoals in preparation for breeding. I prefer to give up fishing for them by then anyway as it doesn't feel right to target pre-spawning fish, plus it's nearly the start of the trout season anyway.

HTH

SS

[jj1]

Minty, try the taff in cardiff, very big stocks of grayling, dt from garry evans, they take well right through till march, also bonus coarse fish like chub and barbel can be encountered.

[mintylad]

thanks for replies boys be getting on it as soon as i can. Got to some jobs for her indoors to keep her sweet hardly seen her since april but she is still doing my washing so cant be that pissed with me.

Tight lines

[Dai]

Silverstoat, thanks very much for the excellent info. The Irfon beat is booked for the only days this week when I can make but hopefully I'll get there early next week. I'll give nymphs and Klinkhammers a go.

[silverstoat]

Silverstoat, thanks very much for the excellent info. The Irfon beat is booked for the only days this week when I can make but hopefully I'll get there early next week. I'll give nymphs and Klinkhammers a go.

Dai,

Strongly suspect the people booked on the Irfon this week have been washed off. The river is very quick to rise after rain, but also very quick to run off so is fishable earlier than the Wye after a flood. You can check the Irfon gauge level on the EA website (the gauge is at Cilmery, very close to Cefnllysgwynne). I would probably only make the trip when the gauge is below 0.5m on the gauge (and dropping, not rising).

Good luck for when you go. |\

SS

[Dai]

Thanks again Silverstoat, my trip has now had to be postponed until next week anyway, when the weather is looking less apocalyptic.