A morning grayling fishing the river tees, with the 14ft drennan acolyte plus

With freezing overnight temperatures and the River Tees fining down after last weeks flood, conditions seemed ideal for a spot of grayling fishing. There's something just awesome about the lady of the stream; they bite in the harshest conditions, fight hard and look stunning. I didn't manage anything massive, but happy to catch a dozen or so nice grayling to slightly over a pound this morning.

The 14ft Drennan Acolyte Plus is a great tool for the job....

Avoided the blank in difficult conditions

Just got back in from a mornings fishing in difficult conditions. There was a good few foot of water in, leaves thundering through and wind / rain. Decided to use some smelly paste to try and tempt a barbel or chub, roving about and fishing the slacks.

The first few swims produced nothing, other than big piles of leaves. On the next swim there was a tree in the river upstream, creating some slack water and a crease, ideal place to find a fish. First cast and the rod banged a...s the bait came round in the flow before settling. Next cast the same happened again so I assumed that something was sat in the crease picking off food as it flowed by. I took the weight off, cast out a big lump of paste, and touch ledgered as the bait swung round the crease. This got me a strikeable bite straight away, not massive but a chub all the same, and I was happy to avoid the blank.

Left shortly after as the rain got heavy....

Water Temp was 49.5f

A November barbel and a new pb

Well that was an eventful evening. River was up a fair few feet after the rain of the last few days, and temps into double figures, so it had to be barbel as the target. I turned up in dark to find thick fog, making moving about difficult in the torch light. The banks were treacherous as well.

I had to try five different swims before finally getting the wrap round I was after, resulting in a new pb of 9lb 14oz after a brilliant fight.

The banks were really treacherous, had to be careful in each swim in the dark, and the fog just made walking by torch light very difficult. 

Returning to my car and trying to drive away, it soon became apparent that my car was stuck. After trying as much as I could, I ended up calling darren to help me, and then shortly after two anglers came walking by and helped push me out - cheers for the help everyone!