Grayling occupy a strange position in UK game fishing – technically available on many of the same rivers as trout, genuinely beautiful fish with that distinctive sail-like dorsal fin, and yet treated by a lot of anglers as a consolation prize rather than a target species in their own right.
Part of this, I think, is timing. Grayling fish best through autumn and winter, exactly when most trout anglers have packed the rod away for the season. That means grayling fishing happens in relative quiet, on rivers that would be busy with trout anglers in summer but are practically empty by November – which, honestly, is one of the things I like most about targeting them.
They also fight differently to trout in a way that surprises anglers who haven’t targeted them specifically – that distinctive dorsal fin gives them real lift and a slightly different fighting style in the current, and a good grayling from a UK chalk stream or northern river is a genuinely satisfying fish to land, not a lesser substitute for a trout.
If you’ve only ever caught grayling incidentally while trout fishing, I’d genuinely recommend dedicating a proper session to them through the autumn and winter months when trout seasons are closing or closed. Nymph fishing tends to be the most productive approach through the colder months, and the quiet rivers alone make it worth the effort even before you factor in the fish themselves.
Gear that fits this
If you’re kitting out for this, these fit.
For fly lines, Wychwood Connect Series 2 Little Dipper 5ft Sink Tip Fly Line #7, Airflo Superflo Power Taper Floating Fly Line WF4F Sunburst / Purple and Guideline Experience+ WF #5 are all worth a look.
Leaders and tippet worth adding: Airflo Sightfree G3 Fluorocarbon 50m 8lb 0.21mm, Frog Hair 100% Flourocarbon 25m Spool 2X/10.0lb and Orvis Mirage Flurocarbon Tippet 2x 9.5lb 30m.
On the reels side, Lamson Guru S-Series Olive Green Fly Reel, Guideline Aeon Fly Reel- Black/Silver #7/9 and Greys Tital Fly Reel #3/4.
Rods: Guideline LPX Tactical Single Handed Fly Rod 10' #6, Daiwa Silvercreek X Fly Rod 10' #7 and Guideline Rivolt Single Handed Fly Rod #7 10'.
Sarah Marsh came to fly fishing through her father, who kept a rod on a small syndicate water in Devon. She spent her teens fishing stocked reservoirs and gradually worked her way toward wild fish on moving water – first on rain-fed freestone rivers in Wales, then on the Hampshire chalk streams she now considers home water.
She holds a level 2 APGAI fly casting qualification and guides informally on the River Test and, from June to September, on a private beat on the River Tay for Atlantic salmon. Her personal best brown trout came from the Itchen at 4lb 1oz; she’d sooner not talk about the salmon that came off at the net last August.
At The River Bend, Sarah writes the game fish species guides, fly fishing technique articles, and the legal content covering trout and salmon regulations.
Covers: Brown trout, rainbow trout, sea trout, Atlantic salmon, fly fishing, chalk streams, Scottish rivers, close season and regulation articles