Huge grayling for Adam Perna
Trotted maggots gave Adam Perna a haul of five grayling including three two-pounders to 2lb 9oz.
The Oxfordshire rod adopted a roving approach on a southern river and took fish throughout the day before connecting with his new personal best an hour before dusk.
He said: “In the 2lb 9oz fish's case I had caught a few brown trout that had disturbed the swim so I fed for 20 minutes, spraying maggots, and then ran my float through again and the grayling took the bait after the float being in the water for a couple of seconds.
“It looked huge being a male fish, and put up quite a scrap. The difficulty was drawing the fish close enough to net with only a 1lb 4oz bottom on.”
Adam used a five-AAA chubber float, a size 22 hook and 4lb mainline.
3lb grayling highlight of trip
A recce trip to a stretch of river in the Wye Valley in search of grayling proved fruitful for Mike Townsend who landed a number of specimens - this fish of 3lb the highlight.
The Doncaster-based rod caught all of his fish on single maggots which he offered on size 20 hooks and 0.09mm hooklinks with just a couple of AAA shots pinched on the line due to the very shallow clear water.
“On my first trip I’d just caught a fish of 2lb 4oz when I stood in a wasps nest. After getting stung several times and chased 200 yards by hundreds of wasps I called it a day,” Mike told Angling Times/ “When I returned I caught a cracker of 3lb exactly and several others over 2lb to 2lb 10oz. I saw all the fish take the bait and if I didn’t strike straight away, they spat the bait out and wouldn’t feed again.”
Personal-best grayling for Adam Perna at 2lb
A day of searching for a big grayling finally paid off for Adam Perna when he netted this 2lb specimen from a southern waterway.
The Oxfordshire-based angler fooled his new personal best for the species with a bunch of maggots presented alongside a simple feeder setup.
He has now revealed his intention to target the species more often in the coming months and said: “I found a deep pool that looked perfect to produce a bite and thankfully my hunch was right. I’m hoping to up my best yet again once the weather cools down.”
His successful rig was made up of 4lb mainline and a size 14 hook.
