Grayling Masters 2018 Fishing Review

The Grayling Masters 2018 at Builth Wells organised by Daniel Stigg Graham with the Groe Park and Irfon Angling Club (GPIAC) and sponsored by Esoteric Tackle, was a great success.

Having won last year with the prototype rod and line I was back with the full production versions to see if I could do it again. Rain overnight in the Irfon catchment turned the low, crystal clear waters into chocolate soup with twig and leaf seasoning. The previous two days practice was not going to be of much use or was it?

A recent flood had concentrated the fish into very specific water. Deep and slow. That's what I'd worked out from the two days previous. If you could find water like that then the fish were likely there.

Fly patterns are generally quite personal. The issue with coloured water is getting them to see the flies. Only thing for it, a large bright fly on the point and they my favourite flies above. This year my top pattern was a sewing shop special using black Madeira Metallic (370 Peacock) which has blues, greens and pink tinsel in it, as the body. Partridge hackle behind a copper bead with a thin neon orange collar. Tail was a few fibres of Coq de Leon. All on our Esoteric Jig hook sizes 12 and 14.

The Esoteric 4 in 1 Nymph Rod and the zero weight Esoteric Euro Nymph Line were the tools of choice. I had a rod and a half length of indicator, two tone nylon in yellow and black but it didn't stay on very long.

Malf Thomas was drawn to fish with me. Lovely chap who knew where we were going. So I loaded myself into his car. First beat of the competition, 12, Irfon just above the road bridge. Lots of overhanging trees fast current and chocolate brown. I could see the water I wanted to fish but I had no access to it. The water was pushing hard and it was far too deep on the approach.

All I could do was twiddle about in the margins with the rod set at 10' 6". I had a bit of ESO Wax on the end of the indicator line to give me a little more contrast and to let me know where the end actually was. The flies were diving very deep past several bars of colour. I walked both banks trying to get in and poking the rod between the branches of trees. Sufficient to say, there were no fish to be found. Malf faired no better. We both decided it was too dangerous to fish on so we left for our second beat early.

The second beat was up at the burger factory. Totally different water. Fishable! Yes it was coloured but no where near as opaque as the Irfon. I felt we had a chance of fish. Like a true fool I had left the extender sections in the car. The extra reach of 12' would have been ideal given there was no foliage to get tangled in.

Right at the start of the peg was deep, slower water. This was exactly the sort of water I was looking for. Enough flow to move the flies but nothing the fish would have to burn calories in to hold station. Quickly. I had a brownie in the net. That was a good sign that there were fish about. It amazes me how just one fish can change the temperature of the water. I wasn't feeling so cold round the nethers any more!

I'd taken off the indicator line and stuck a bobber on the junction between line and tippet. With this setup I could fish further way from myself but still keep most of the line off the water. Staying in close contact with the bobber is absolutely key to the technique. The fish were not hooking themselves. Every twitch got a firm tap of the tip. Two grayling came to the net. The account was open and confidence grew. Unlike the Dee, these grayling don't want to come to your feet. A little more range definitely helped.

The second ingredient is covering as much water as possible. Fish are not going to see the flies in coloured water, unless they almost hit them on the nose. You have to methodically cover as much areas as possible. A long rod really helps with this and I'd not got my extension.

Lunchtime and not many fish had been caught. It was touch and go if the competition would continue. However, it did because there were some fishing being caught and the water was dropping and clearing. I was still thankful we'd done our Irfon section.

The afternoon put us back on the Wye below the bridge, at the Island. The top section again looked slow and decent, but it didn't have the depth. Once you got into deeper water the current was whipping those flies through. There was some slacker water in the lee of the Island. Unfortunately it didn't yield a fish.

Travelling with the current to reach the Island was one thing. Getting back was another. There are some pretty smooth and rounded rocks in this section of the river. "Like walking on babies heads" a certain Manx friend of mine would have described it like. Reaching the bank hips and knees were singing. Just one more patch of slower water left to try, at the very end of the peg. Nothing.

Malf had made it back from the Island and he didn't have much spring in his step either. We were done in.

We decided to move on. Leaving the car at Jewsons, we walked along the flood defences to our next peg. I believe it's just above "the power house pool". A totally featureless channel of water. It did have a couple of things going for it. It was deep and slow. The main current was over to one side so the majority of the beat looked like the  perfect conditions I'd caught in previously.

The full length of the Esoteric 4 in 1 Nymph Rod at 12' was doing it's job. Along with the bobber I could search large areas of water. Constantly stepping and casting. Leaves would regularly register by dragging the bobber down but you have to tap the rod tip to be sure. Grayling on! and off again. It was a grayling because I caught sight of it before it rolled and spat the hook. Such a sickening feeling losing a fish when they are so few and far between.

Trout! but it at least ended up in the net. That gave me some more confidence to fish this section hard and properly. Two more grayling in the net and another big fish is on. I'm over eager. Instead of letting it swim alongside me and settle back into the net I stab at it and it's off. Bad angling that. Absolutely my fault I lost it.

I skitter a small fish over the top and into the net. It'll measure but it is heart stopping when small fish are bouncing about the place and avoiding the net. Another small fish darts straight back at me and I can't keep the pressure on. It's off. I don't mind losing fish like that because it happens and there's nothing you can do about it.

One more fish and I give it a measure just to have one measured fish. 35cm. The session is over. Back to the car park for the results.

Second on count back I'm going to be muttering for days about stabbing at a good fish.

On the plus side the production rod and line worked really well together. I could nymph, fish a bung (essentially) and on practice days I was turning over the leader to fish a grey duster to catch a few fish. I brought it in shorter for the tight conditions on the Irfon and went to full length on the Wye. At no time did I feel under gunned with the descent fish and didn't worry about the 3lb tippet.

Fabulous, friendly competition and hearty congratulations to Lee Tatton for his second time winning the competition and to Hugh Weir for his third place. It could of gone any way between the 3 of us with the same number of fish.

Hope to see some familiar faces at next years event. Even if you aren't a competition person, there are day tickets available to fish some beautiful water. Many thanks to Malf for driving me about on competition day and being great company. Thanks also to Ben Evans for the day fishing his local water and to Daniel Stigg Graham for our trip to the Severn and organising such a great event.