One Lump or Two?

Wednesday 29th January

This was my last trip this season to the Itchen, so here's a micro blog (by my standards, anyway) to record one or two highlights of the day.

I had the pleasure of fishing with Peter Anderson. His take on the day can be found here. Peter's party was gatecrashed by a big upstart rainbow, which took him 20 minutes to land and made a nuisance of itself.

Peter is spot on about the conditions. It wasn't an inviting day to be on the water, and late morning saw the easterly wind strengthen a little to make it even less so. However, this particular beat closes at the end of January and reopens at the start of the trout season - so we had to make the most of the situation.

We started fishing at around 10.00. Peter decided to try the bottom of the beat, whereas I decided on a spot just upstream of where his "bit" ended, to work my way along from there. This had been a very productive spot for me last Saturday and as conditions were similar - albeit the water was considerably clearer - I chose the same flies; Orange Tag on the point and something pink on the dropper.

Once again, I was off the mark very quickly. It's a pool I've previously passed by, as it's near to the car park, and I wonder if most people do the same as me - head for the tranquil part of the beat and not fish it.

The current was strong, with a lot of extra water being carried. It was very much a case of deja vu, a number of grayling came to hand, were released, and the next dead drift through the pool commenced. Another take, and a feeling of something more substantial attached to the end of my line. Before long, the fish was visible and I could see that I did indeed have a very respectable-sized grayling attached to my Orange Tag.

It wasn't a long or arduous fight. I was helped by the fact I was fishing a 10ft 4wt rod with perhaps a little more "stopping power" than my Streamflex Plus 3wt, and the fish was soon in the net.

...and it's quite a large net....

With it safely in the bag, I took a moment to admire this chunky, handsome grayling. Out with the camera and a couple of shots for what would be a shortish blog entry, an addendum to my most recent ramblings.

I need to look up the measurements, but the Snowbee 3 in 1 is quite sizable.  It certainly gives the fishies plenty of room to rest in the water, and recover!

The picture below brings this to life a little more. I look at this now and realise that I didn't quite register fully the size of this lump. No scales unfortunately so just an estimate that this is a 2lb fish. Peter agreed with me when I showed him this photo on my camera screen, and he should know!

...a lump of a Grayling, and no mistake...

What more is there to say about the day? Well, I had a little fun experimenting with a downstream presentation and caught some fish that way. It was possible to sight fish a couple more, and I watched some trout spawning in the shallows.

A break of three weeks awaits me now. It will be mid February before I have the opportunity to fish next, and that will be on the Test at Timsbury. We could really do with some dry weather before then, but we'll have to wait and see!

PS: The Snowbee 3 in 1 is 16 x 20 inches, or 40 x 50 cms in new money!