Grayling fishing

Grayling are the reason a chalk stream angler's year does not have to stop when the trout season ends. Thymallus thymallus is a salmonid but classed as coarse fishing under the rod licence rules, which means it can legally be fished for through the winter when trout waters are closed. For anyone wondering where to fly fish once the leaves are down and the mayfly are a distant memory, grayling is the answer.

The typical grayling season on chalk stream beats runs from 16 June to 14 March, though this is a guideline rather than a fixed national date: individual fisheries set their own opening and closing days, and some overlap with the tail end of the trout season while others wait until autumn to target grayling properly. Always check the beat's own dates before you book, particularly late in the season when river levels and weather can bring an early close.

You can recognise a grayling immediately by its sail-like dorsal fin and the faint purple-grey sheen along its flank, which is where the "lady of the stream" nickname comes from. They favour clean, well-oxygenated water with a decent flow, and through autumn and early winter they tend to shoal up in the deeper glides, runs, and the tails of pools rather than spreading out across a beat the way trout do. Find one grayling in a swim during cold weather and there are usually several more nearby.

Grayling fishing in winter rewards a slightly different toolkit to summer trout fishing. Smaller fish, and grayling in general during milder spells, will still take a dry fly or a small emerger fished with a long leader, especially on bright, still days when a hatch of midges or late olives brings fish up. Once the water cools properly, though, most grayling are caught on nymphs fished deep and slow: French leader or Czech nymph tactics, a heavily weighted bug bounced along the bottom, or a duo of a dry indicator and a small nymph beneath it. Bright pink or orange bugs have a long history on grayling water for a reason, they simply get seen and taken in cold, coloured water where a natural nymph might be missed.

FishingBeats lists 221 beats for grayling across 40 rivers: the Test, Itchen, Kennet, Hampshire Avon, Dun, Frome, Lambourn, Nadder, Anton, Dever, River Allen, and River Dove. These are largely the same chalk streams known for trout, which makes sense, since grayling and brown trout share the same clean, cold, weedy water and are often caught from the same swims at different times of year.

If you are new to grayling fishing, dress for the weather rather than the calendar. A grayling day in December or January can be some of the most peaceful fishing available on these rivers, with quiet beats, low light, and fish that, while sometimes fussy, will often keep taking through a whole session once you find the depth and pattern they want.