Flyfishing With Wagtails

The Clun is fishing really well at the moment and on Sunday afternoon i had five hours of excellent Grayling fishing.



This particular beat was a first for me but after hearing good reports i decided to give it a go.
It is a varied stretch of water with lots of deep silty pools in which Grayling thrive, but also plenty of riffles and shallow glides.



Plenty of good Grayling came to the net, mostly to a small pheasant tail nymph, with a few taking the Klinkhammer on the surface.
The Trout seemed to have been having an off day, with just a couple of small fish caught.
However the river is full of very small 'fingerling' Grayling, which is a sign of a good breeding season and bodes well for the future.



As always the Clun valley is a wildlife haven and many birds accompany you whilst fishing, including Dipper, Kingfisher and this pair of Grey Wagtails.

Thymallus Time On The Clun

On Saturday it was good to be back out fishing, this time on the river Clun with my brother Colin as a fishing companion

On arrival the weather was perfect, warm, light cloud and a slight upstream breeze with the river having a nice colour to it.



The last time i fished this river Trout were feeding well, taking both dry flies and nymphs, Grayling were also starting to show.

We split the beat into two, Colin taking the top half and i walked down to the start of the stretch. With no fish rising and very little fly life about, i opted for a two nymph approach, tying on a red tag and pheasant tail.



This method proved successful on a surprisingly tough day with some decent Grayling caught up to 14" plus a few Trout, but they were of a smaller stamp with the best at 10".

After 7 hours i met up with Colin just in time to see him hook and net a good Grayling, his best of the day.

He had caught the majority of his fish on a tungsten headed hares ear nymph under a Klinkhammer. In fact all the fish caught by both of us were taken on or near the riverbed with few seen rising all day.
Overall it was a most enjoyable flyfishing trip with some lovely hard fighting Grayling caught, all the fish were returned as always!