3lb 2oz grayling from southern chalk stream
This huge 3lb 2oz grayling was caught by Neill Stephen during a session on a southern chalk stream.
The London-based big fish hunter admitted that the species had become an ‘obsession’ for him this year and he has spent hours walking the banks of the river in search of his quarry.
His dedication finally paid off after he trotted two white maggots through his swim more than 50 times to entice the impressive specimen from a deep hole.
“It was so very frustrating as the fish would mop up all of the loosefeed and then leave the hookbait time after time before disappearing back into the sanctuary of its hiding place,” Neill told Angling Times.
“But I knew that if I just stuck at it with a fine, balanced approach then it would eventually slip up.”
Neill didn’t pinch any shot down his 3lb mainline that was tied directly to a size 18 hook, and used a length of lead wire to wrap around the base of his small loafer-style float.
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River Test yields top-quality grayling to 2lb 13oz
A fast and flowing river made floatfishing impossible during Adrian Eves’s latest trip to the River Test but that didn’t stop him landing a series of grayling to 2lb 13oz.
The Fox consultant studied a variety of swims to look for suitable areas to find his target species and decided to pack a small feeder with Dynamite Baits Red Krill groundbait and use red maggots on the hook.
A fish of 2lb 1oz kicked off proceedings with three more over the 2lb-barrier coming to the net before the biggest of the session was landed.
“This fish was just 3oz short of my personal best. I didn’t land as many as I usually do in a session but every single one of them was a quality specimen,”said Adrian.
Small stream produces 3lb 5oz grayling for Neill Stephen
When the rivers are flooded fish will often find sanctuary in the smaller carrier streams – a fact Neill Stephen took advantage of to land this 3lb 5oz grayling from a southern waterway.
After spending hours walking the banks searching for his quarry, the London-based former Drennan Cup holder eventually located a couple of big fish.
“I really enjoy fly fishing for grayling, and where I am able to see the fish its now always my first port of call,” Neill told Angling Times. “This fish took a size 14 pink shrimp pattern to a 4lb Drennan Fluorocarbon Fly Leader, and as usual for big grayling hooked in fast water gave a nerve wracking account of itself.”
Trio of 3lb grayling on the River Frome
Jerry and Chris Antrobus enjoyed a productive weekend’s grayling fishing on the River Frome, taking three specimens over the3lb barrier.
The biggest ‘lady of the stream’ – a fish of 3lb 9oz - fell to the rod of 54-year-old Jerry on the second day of the trip, where he latched into the impressive personal best at the tail end of a deeper pool. Fishing sweetcorn over a few loosefed red maggots, he used 4.4lb Drennan Float Fish line, a size 12 hook and a 4AAA Avon float.
“Most of the grayling we caught put up an aerobatic scrap but this one held much deeper and gave a real dogged, ponderous fight. I knew it was going to be a bigger fish. On the corn you seem to get fewer bites than maggot but the fish are larger,” he said.
Not to be outdone, his 24-year-old son Chris also caught grayling of 3lb 2oz and 2lb 15oz.
2lb 6oz grayling on first session
A debut session in search of grayling ended memorably for Josh Fisher as he netted this 2lb 6oz fish.
The Angling Direct-backed all-rounder made a long drive from his Norfolk home to a southern river and trotted maggot and corn hookbaits on size 20 hooks and 3lb line under a 2AA chubber float.
Despite the waterway’s low stock of the species he soon had a 1lb-plus fish in the net.
An unexpected sea trout was also banked before he took his new personal best later in the day.
