WINTER MAGIC 
- by Ronnie MacLeod

Ronnie hasn't enjoyed a Winter so much for years. The reason (apart from Loch Ken ) - The Grayling ! Don't you miss out next Winter! 

December, January and February, 3 months of the year that usually mean one thing for the coarse angler, namely, poor fishing in freezing conditions. Though you still have one or two choices. You can always queue for a place on Balmaha pier, huddled over a quiver tip with a north westerly whipping down the loch. "Eh, no, I don't think so", or you could sit on a frozen canal, fishing Eskimo style, catching small roach or 'plankton' as a pal of mine calls them. "Eh, no, don't fancy that one either". Maybe a bit of pike fishing, probably a bit better option than the other two, but no, I'll leave that to the pike 'nutters'.

So what is left then. Sit at home, watch TV. Football perhaps, another second rate Scottish game. You could always wash the car, like all the other idjits on your street. Better still, get a gun and shoot yourself! A Sunday without fishing always seems suicidal to me, but don't worry, there is one fish who does not want you to wash the car, watch TV or murder the wife, and she's probably a better lady than the one you married. Have you twigged yet? No? So, it is true, you don't have to be too clever to be a fisherman. Well lads, the lovely Miss Grayling is waiting and eager and for all you coarse anglers out there, you have the tackle. Trout anglers have treated her shabbily for years and are only now waking up to an empty bed. At last, the penny seems to have dropped. This little Lady is worth having.

Taking the tongue out of the cheek now, you are missing out on the finest 3 months sport of the year if you don't court her. The Clyde, the Earn, plus many more offer this fishing. It can be brilliant - here is an example.

I had been trying for years to get Rab Crossan to try it, but like the dedicated 'greedy' match angler that he is, he would always put it off. But this year he finally agreed to give it a try, only after he topped £1,000 match winnings I might add!

So off he went, doon the Clyde, clutching his rod and his little trout bag - 'how cute'. And that's another nice change, not having to carry all that crap coarse tackle about. Well he came into the shop that night with a grin from ear to ear. Twenty-seven grayling on one of the outings, these Clyde fish average around the ½ lb mark. Then just before the big freeze we made a trip up to the river Earn at Dunning. A cracking bit of river this. The fish here average over the pound mark. Between 3 of us, we caught around 40 grayling, from 10 oz to 2½ lb and boy do these fish go. It's not unusual for the bigger grayling to take 20 or 30 yards of line off you, very powerful fish indeed.

Rab Crossan nets an Earn fish

Moving on to the style of fishing, it is fairly simple stuff. First pick a likely looking run, then concentrate on it for about 15 minutes or so. My starting bait would be 2 or 3 maggots, float fished, although it's worth carrying small red worms and sweetcorn, all deadly on their day. Hook size, around size 14 seems right. If the current is not too strong, I would introduce some free offerings to the water, but be careful, feeding is a skill learnt and, I suspect, bad feeding results in more blank days than anything else. There's no point in throwing maggots into the water if they never reach the bottom. All you achieve is to move the fish downstream as they chase the food, better not to feed if in doubt.

Sweetcorn can be useful when the water is boily, as these go to the bottom quickly. But remember, they are very filling. So I would not expect to feed any more than a couple of dozen in a days fishing, and only if I am catching fish over the l lb mark. Smaller grayling prefer maggot or worm. By concentrating on one run at a time you should draw a shoal towards you. If there are no bites after the 15 minutes suggested, it would be safe to assume there are no feeding fish in the immediate area, you then start to fish down the run. Stop feeding at this point, you might find the fish are sitting further downstream, waiting for your offerings being brought to them. It would be pointless feeding as you do down a run as I have said, you would only drive the fish before you. You should connect with a few fish somewhere down the run.

In the course of a days fishing I would not expect to fish any more than 10 runs. Too many anglers move around too much, in an effort to cover the whole river. This they indeed do, but they do it badly, and their results suffer. Also there seems little thought is given to presentation and for that matter, all terminal tackle. I have seen many amazing floats employed in the pursuit of grayling. 'Pike bungs', bubble floats, even clothes pegs. One thing is for certain, the grayling will never be an endangered species.

Going on to floats, these are very important. It is not something you merely suspend your bait from and it registers bites. A float is much more than that. It is the hardest working piece of equipment you employ in your days fishing, or it should be. If you are the type of angler who just takes his float for a swim, then you are not fishing properly. Keep one thing in mind next time you look at a river, the surface always moves faster than the bottom layer of water. So with this in mind, you have to run the float slower than the surface, how much slower then really comes down to the fish. Sometimes they can be so docile, you have to really hold back, up to one third of the water speed, in an effort to get bites, but remember, holding back hard will only work if you have sufficient weight down to hold the bait at eye level to the fish. The less you have to hold back, the lighter you can fish. A 12 ' or 13' rod is essential for this kind of trotting, as you can get behind the float, without dragging off line.

It is important that the float follows the grain of the current and presentation has to be smooth, no jerky movements. The float always leaning back to its master, the bait always preceding the float, tapping its way over stones and gravel. The first thing the fish should see is the bait, not shot or float, just the bait. A good way of ensuring a smooth trot is to keep the handle tight to your body. Open the bail arm, cast, then with your left hand, feed the line to the float, between reel and first rod ring. A centre pin reel is also very useful for all close work as it rotates evenly with only a little thumb pressure required to slow the trot down.

Moving on to terminal tackle now. This can really be broken down to 2 shotting styles. To bulk or not to bulk. I should expect for most grayling situations, bulk shotting is a must, as most rivers are fairly turbulent. It is important to keep the bait close to the bottom at all times. Bulk shotting allows this, but when the river is slow and even grained, maybe low conditions, a strung out style of shotting can be deadly. This entails small shot, say Nos8 or 4 dotted down the line, every 5 inches or so. This allows for a more delicate presentation, with no grouped shot that could scare fish. It also allows you to fish the bait further away from the float, very important when the river is low and clear and the fish spooky. The bait proceeding downstream, well in front of the float.

Going back to the floats to be used, it should be remembered, the stronger the flow, the bigger the shoulder on the float. This has to be shotted down properly. The water has to run over the body or shoulder of the float. This in effect, keeps the float down in the water, when held back. The most effective line you can trot, with the greatest control is parallel with your rod tip. As you try to fish further out from the bank, it becomes more difficult, keeping as much line out of the water helps. Most fish caught on float come from within 2 rod lengths of the bank anyway. So concentrate on these lines and try and fish it well. Your first few trots are really about finding the depth, keep deepening until the float drags under. Then bit by bit, shorten your depth so you only touch the high spots on your trot. Take a mental picture where these are, so you can hold back as you come to them and as is often the case, this can be where the fish are sitting, behind some stone or obstacle. The bait swings up in front of the fish, coming from nowhere, it often results in a savage take, banging the rod tip over, practically hooking itself.

The cold you were feeling moments before vanishes. It's between you and fish now. You tell it you only want to borrow it, just a short while, maybe take a picture or two. It does not heed, but takes off to the middle of the stream, dorsal fin erect, showing its defiance. But slowly it tires, you steer it closer to the bank. It's a beauty, maybe 2 lb. Just a look just a closer look, it comes ever closer, you lower your landing net, the prize very close now. It makes one last valiant try for freedom. The hook gives up, the float snaps upwards, hitting the rod with force. You curse. The fish hangs there in the current. You watch it, fascinated. How it can put you through so much emotion. It turns and drifts from sight. 

A minutes silence is observed, you lost this time. Standing there, at the side of the river on a winter's (late) afternoon. The light drawing in, snow covering on nearby hills. You walk to your car in the gloaming, tired, you fished hard today, you fished well and you enjoyed the challenge. Who can want for more!