Long campaign for a big grayling comes to an end

A FOUR-YEAR quest for a huge grayling finally came to a successful conclusion for Paul Houghton when he slipped his landing net under this 3lb 1oz beauty. 

The Lancashire all-rounder banked the specimen when he fished a river in North Wales over two days. 

The 42-year-old spent the first day of the trip familiarising himself with the stretch, during which time he managed to locate a potential holding spot for big grayling. 

He told Angling Times:

“By the end of day one I’d caught a number of fish to 2lb 3oz from this shallow, fast swim with an area of broken water, so I planned to fish it first thing on the second day. 

“Within a few casts I hooked into what I thought was the bottom, but then this big, dark grayling jumped clear of the water!

“Panic set in immediately so I applied as much pressure as a I dared and quickly scooped it into the net.”

Paul’s 3lb 1oz grayling was a new personal best by 4oz and fell to a single redworm trotted under a float with no loosefeed.

Paul Houghton and his 3lb 1oz grayling