In recent winters grayling seem to have enjoyed something of a renaissance among the nation’s coarse anglers.
A species that can be relied upon to feed in conditions that will see ice form in your rod rings, only simple tactics are normally required to catch these plucky fish. The hardest part can be to find a river that’s clean enough to hold decent stocks. Even a hint of pollution will impact them, and so today we tend to have to head west and north to find viable populations.
Often, the biggest grayling will be the first one to be caught from a swim. Lesser fish will then occupy the prime spot vacated by the dominant fish within seconds of it being caught. This means that it pays to stay mobile and, in fact, most of my grayling fishing involves roving around, covering as many likely-looking spots in a short winter’s day as possible.
EVER WONDERED WHERE FISH GO IN THE WINTER? THIS ARTICLE WILL REVEAL ALL!
Red maggots
The bait that I have used for most of my grayling fishing has been a bunch of red maggots. Four grubs on a size 14 hook are about right, and present a decent target bait, especially when trotting.
One trick to remember is to hook half the maggots through the ‘head’ and the other half through the thick end – this will help stop the line twisting in the flow as you retrieve the rig at the end of the trot down the peg.
With maggots, I tend to fish with the minimum amount of loosefeed, especially if trout are present. Maggots will attract pugnacious trout that will dart in and get to the bait before the grayling, and then cause a commotion as they are played out. Much better to carefully run just the hookbait down the swim for a few minutes. Normally, the highly-attuned grayling will need little encouragement to intercept the bait.
FEEDER FISHING IS A TOP TACTIC FOR GRAYLING, READ HOW TO CATCH MORE ON THE FEEDER.
Worm sections
Half a dendrobaena worm makes a brilliant grayling bait. I only came to using worms quite recently, having found myself faced with a stretch of river where maggots were banned. Worms proved to be very effective, and I wish now I had tried them years ago, when I spent more time fishing chalk streams, as I am convinced they would have been devastating.
I like to split a small worm in half and then hook it through the cut end, leaving plenty of hook showing. Although this is still quite a large bait, the grayling take it with gusto, and this highly visible bait is ideal for trotting.
IF YOU NEED TIPS ON CATCHING GRAYLING, THIS EXPERT ARTICLE IS FOR YOU!
Corn
Another large bait, and one that is quite selective, is sweetcorn. It is great in its natural form, but dyed red, it is said to mimic salmon eggs, which can form part of the grayling’s winter diet. I have had mixed results with corn but some anglers catch incredible amounts of grayling with the golden grain.
While it does produce, it can take some perseverance, and often doesn’t bring as many bites as the others I have mentioned. Pomegranate seeds also make a great hookbait, again emulating fish eggs, you can also pretty much guarantee you'll be the only angler on the bank using them!
IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO UPGRADE YOUR FLOAT ROD, CHECK OUT THESE EXCELLENT OPTIONS IN OUR BUYER'S GUIDE.
Artificials
In the past I have made a big error by shying away from stretches of river that do not allow bait fishing. On game fishing-orientated rivers this can mean a lot of prime grayling fishing is not available to the bait angler.
Having fished literally shoulder-to-shoulder with fly anglers, I now know that artificial baits, especially Czech nymphs, can be more effective than natural baits for grayling. I put this down to the way that these weighted flies can be fished close to the bottom, where they mimic the look and behaviour of shrimps and other invertebrates.
In the future I hope to learn more about fly fishing for these lovely fish. Not only will this open up more opportunities, but on its day, it is the superior way of catching grayling.
