A big lady from the river

Well that was a great morning.

I got to the river for 4.30am, the idea being that I would struggle once the sun got up properly. In my first swim, I set up a quiver rod but it was soon clear after getting constant knocks and skinned maggots that this wasn't the tactic for the day. Up went the drennan floatmaster with a big stick, and after feeding for half an hour, I started trotting maggots. 

I was in immediately with a lovely wild brownie, then not much else.

A move slightly downstream and I was in straight away again, this one feeling a bit heavier, as it turned out to be..

This was quickly followed by a nice dace of 6 oz or so..

So far so good I thought, and was really enjoying just trotting the float down. However, no more bites came so I upped and moved once more.

 

Patient feeding in my new swim allowed them to get in the mood, and on the first trot down, another brownie came to the net, beautiful fish they are

On the next trot down, the float slid under and I struck into something solid. It felt big, I couldn't budge it (I was only using 2lb line) at first, but eventually it started moving. Thoughts of a nice chub  came to mind, but I was even more pleased when I realised a big grayling hit the surface. I carefully played it, fortunately the soft rod cushioned every movement, and after a good 5 minutes I finally netted her, and what a fish she was!  It weighed 2lb 4oz, and long term achievement succeeded, and beating my old pb by nearly a pound.

I didn't get anything else as the sun rose higher, and called it a day at 10am. 

 

Plenty of these being taken by trout in case anyone is interested....

Happy days!!