We spent a few hours on the middle River Ayr this morning collecting samples for a project. It was a beautiful day and we were all relieved to be out of the office for a change.
With the hard frost and low water levels, our thoughts turned to Grayling fishing which seems particularly under valued here in Ayrshire. There were a few fish rising in the deeper pools indicating the likely areas to find a shoal of these hard fighting fish.
The grayling of the Ayr aren’t very big (a good one would be about 10″) but they are good fun on light tackle. Fly fishing, particularly Czech nymphing can be very productive but so too can trotting a bramble worm or a couple of maggots on light tackle and tiny hooks.
Whilst many salmon anglers once viewed graying as vermin and killed them, nowadays thankfully, catch and release is the norm for those that seek out this sporting wee fish during the winter months.
Given the right weather, I’ll be out there this weekend having a go.
Stuart
