What a stunning day! Very cold but still, and wall to wall blue skies (once the freezing fog cleared) and with little rain this week the River Clyde was in beautiful shape for a spot of Grayling fishing. Initially, I planned on heading to Swanswater, but having a new toy to play with, and also it being such a stunning day, the lure of the river was too great. My relationship with the Clyde has not been an easy one, last winter season I had three visits and blanked three times. I think there is a lot of local knowledge in fishing the Clyde. My gut feeling is that the Lamington and District beats are probably the best for Grayling but it sounds to me like many sections get fished heavily as a result and to top it all, you can’t fish it on a Sunday which is a pain.

So I headed up to the UCAPA section above Abington and fished a section visited last season as I was sure there was a nice run here which would hold some Grayling. Last time the water was like hot chocolate (Ok cold hot chocolate!) What a difference a year makes, the water was much lower now and not frozen over! Wading was pretty easy on the whole though the water was gin clear and with the bright sunshine, casting a shadow over the river was a problem. While Grayling are known for not being “spooky” I am sure if you cast a shadow over one, its going to clear off pretty quick.

High on the Upper Clyde

High on the Upper Clyde as mist lifts on the water

I set up a French Leader rig with a 5 foot tippet below my indicator section, and three fairly closely spaced droppers on my Hanak 3 weight rod on its first outing. Wading into a deep but inviting looking area fairly early on I got that very characteristic soft thump of a “moving obstruction” on the bottom, and indeed it started to move more and more taking off line in the very deep water. I was wading almost as deep as I dare, and in fact was not sure I had a shallow enough route back to the bank, but held on and played a fine Grayling of about one and a half pounds I would say. Certainly the second biggest I have caught.

Sorry I don’t have a pic- I really tried but between being in very deep water, with freezing wet hands and a fish in the net, I could not get the fish to hold still and get the camera phone working with one hand, and I was keen to see it back safely so I ended up releasing it without a lasting image. Not to worry I am sure you know what a Grayling looks like, if not see here!

I fished on at the same spot and got a knock then a few casts later another fish was on, again very deep on the point nymph, unfortunately this one did not stay on for long and the line went slack, I am pretty sure it wasn’t as big as the first. The first fish took a green, red tag jig nymph and I am sure the second did too, what a very effective fly this is!

I fished on but got no further offers here, even after changing a few flies so moved on and fished out the entire run.

I walked for miles the rest of the day fishing a lot of faster moving sections where I could get suitable depth, and later in the day as the sun warmed up I even tried a dry fly with a nymph below, NZ style but got nothing. It was a real joy though fishing upstream on the dry in the warming sunshine, and was good practice for getting a nice long drag free drift.

I returned to my starting point for a final try in case the fish had returned to the same spot late in the day but it wasn’t to be and no further fish were encountered despite swapping round some flies, still I am more than happy with my day’s fishing, not a blank!