Wye Grayling 'hitting a pod of ladies is so sweet'

Went to the Wye on my first visit of the 2010 and what a session it turned out to be!!

I got up around 6.30 and looked out the window to see everywhere frozen solid! Well this was not going to stop me, i was buzzing to get out and on the river chasing the Grayling.

The drive there was rough and i was all over the place but the sights going over the dales were magnificent... the sun was not up fully and there was a lovely red glow in the hills..

I had to stop a numerous times to get some pictures..

I was meeting Wesser at 8.30 on the Pumping station and we were keeping in touch on the mobiles, Wes followed his sat nav and it took him all over the place and eventually got stuck in the snow..

I arrived at the Wye with not a soul around and saw a sun rise you can only dream of, waiting for wes gave me a chance to get the Kelly on and take some pictures, i just sat by the river watching the sun rise sipping my coffee buzzing about the day ahead...

My family and mates think i am mad going fishing in these conditions but you get to see all these sights that only us anglers get..

Wezzer turned up around nine stressed to the eyeballs but a steaming coffee and a view of this holy river soon sorted his head out, Wes had never fished the Wye and he was buzzing his head off...

We soon started to fish up the section with a three fly nymph set up, a method taught to me by Tyzack and i am now starting to feel confident with this method, and its took me some hard graft to get it right...but i think i am there...

The fishing was quite slow and we did not get a touch for the first hour, only a out of season 4 0z rainbow to show..

JT had told me that the fish were packing in tight now and the key was to locate them, well this can seem quite daunting but knowing the spots i was confident we would get some action..

Wezzer took a nice Grayling below the town around one and a half pound which was great, he was loving it now and started to fish very well..

After a fish and chips in the town we strolled back down the river in hope of some proper action, i started to fish a known spot that has produced the odd fish this year and after my second cast i saw the slightest of twitches and struck to feel the solid hook up of a Grayling, after a short scrap i landed a half a pound silver to the hand..

The next cast i had a unmissable line yank and felt that great solid hook up again, this fish took my drag on a downstream run, this was a decent fish and i did not want to lose it..

I clipped my Mcleans net off my back and after a few minutes i slipped the net under a lovely Grayling, a quick pic and a weighed in my net she was off, weighing a tad over one n half pounds..

I took 4 more fish out of this pod until i hooked a small rainbow and then it was time to move on..

We met up with Jan (Haddon River Keeper) near the pumping station who was out with his dogs checking the river and anglers out, its always nice to see a Jan out on this river as it shows how well run this river is and without them we would not get the joys out of fishing we have there..

He is always willing to help you out with any advice needed or just a good crack, the only downside is that he is a Leynt Orient fan!! But my Port Vale always kick there arse!!!

Late afternoon i fished a pool that looked sweet but had never tried it, a couple of runs through i hit into a small Grayling, i was ready to pack up but on the third cast i was in again, then again, again and so on!!!

I had hit a large pod and all what i had been told about came true, i was into fish after fish, every run down the pool was either a missed bite or a fish, the strange thing was that ten foot downstream of the fish or ten foot up would produce nothing! these fish were tightly packed and i could of missed them easy...

The last fish i took was my biggest of the day and it was a tad under the magic two pound mark..

Wezzer and i could not believe how many fish i took out of this pod, it fished for nearly a hour with top sport so i lost count with the amount of fish caught..

I never thought i would like Grayling fishing but it now has a hold on me and i buzz off the solid feel when you strike into a Grayling..

Wezzer loved it and had a smile on his face all day, He was Living the Dream and as always so was i!!!

My next big trip is on the river Tweed in Scotland in late Jan with JT and the lads, i am looking to land a right clunker.. thats my goal to end the Grayling season....

Nice one

Glen