September mixed bag
September can be a brilliant month for the spate stream dry fly angler as the brown trout are now fat from their summer feeding and the grayling are also getting into fine form.
A recent trip up to the River Hodder in Lancashire with my son Kyle produced for me 7 browns, 2 grayling and 2 sea trout. Kyle also caught a grayling of 1 1/2 pounds plus a smaller brown trout. All fish fought very well for their size.
Some of the fish were taken very close in to the bank.
The picture above shows me into a small sea trout which took a barbless dry fly only three yards from my rod tip. Click on the shot above to see the full size image of the fish in the net. Only days before large salmon were crashing through this stretch, subsequent to big autumn floods.
Unfortunately, Kyle struggled on this particular day as we all do at times but this shot above shows him into a good grayling that put up a great fight. Persistence does pay!
Kyle displays his well - earned grayling which he quickly returned to grow on. The smile says that he was exceedingly pleased with this nice truly 'wild' specimen. It took a dry, white palmer-style dressing.
Grayling can take a while to recover after a good fight so it's essential to keep hold of them until you start to feel the power surge within them.
Click on the picture below to see a short video of a lively little Hodder sea trout, taken of a Blue winged olive type dry fly, reach the net.
