Over the past year or so I have been working with Steve Gray of All Things Piscatorial and we have fished together a number of times as we share a love of trotting rivers. Steve had mentioned that he had never caught a grayling so on the 13th December I took him to my favourite stretch of the river Itchen near Southampton. After a cooked breakfast in a café in Eastleigh we arrived at the river at 9 a.m. and were soon catching trout.

Stev with a beautifully marked brown trout

I tried my favourite swim fishing from a jetty on a sharp bend and managed the first graying of the day.The fish took double red maggot but fish can also be caught on sweetcorn.

A small Itchen graying

Steve soon had his first grayling and was very pleased with his achievement but I wish he could have fished here a couple or years ago when the fish were much bigger and more plentiful.

Steve with his first grayling

I had given him some floating braid to trot with and I think I have another convert. We wandered up and down the river with only a few more fish to show for our efforts but both enjoyed the day just fishing the way we wanted without having to worry about anyone else.

Unusually I caught the biggest graying of the day, Steve generally gives me a good hiding when I take him to one of my venues, he is a very good angler.

A pound and three quarter graying

This fish weighed about a pound and three quarters and two years ago would not have been mentioned. What are we doing to our rivers?

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