Grilse on the Fly.

       
           
The wind was a bit blustery on beat 4 and it was knocking over the camera so I decided to move upstream to the bend just below beat 2 to start some fishing and get out of the strong wind. I  was casting the fly in tight against the seam line and allowing it to get some depth before it moved into the faster water, there are normally a few fish holding in mid stream but with the speed of the water the fly doesn't stay in the zone for very long. A few careful mends will get some extra depth but fishing that area with a heavier sink tip or even a small brass tube will allow you to get down that extra foot to provoke a take. Normally I will fish most areas with the 2.6 ins per second sink tip in summer levels but when it comes to a fast water area like this I prefer to change over to the 3.9 ins per second sink tip, one could also add a small brass tube fly to the lighter tip and achieve the same depth as the heavier tip but without the movement that the small fly can give. Fishing down the run I could see a fish boil at the fly as it moved across the river and then a short pull on the loop and the fish was on, the grilse rolled on the line once or twice and then headed for the far bank moving quickly upstream. I put a lot of side strain on the fish and brought it back towards me not allowing it to get back down through the run and at one point I could see the fly hanging outside it's mouth and when you can see a small size 15 fly there you have every right to start getting nervous as that's why most summer grilse are lost because they just snap at the fly and rarely hold it well. Gently coaxing in the fish I was able to tail it because there is no gravel or beach area above this croy to land a fish, quickly removing the fly ( actually it just fell out ) I held the grilse for a few moments longer than normal as the water was warm and low in oxygen and this allowed the fish to gain back it's strength before releasing it. It was a nice fresh fish of about 6 lb but as it didn't have any sea lice on it, it was probably in the system for a week or more.