Hi. Do grayling have trouble in flooded rivers and do they move down river in really heavy floods. Im asking because me and my mate have been fishing for the last few days in are local river after the river has been in flood for the last 4/5 weeks and all we are catching are 6inch grayling nothing bigger and b4 the floods we were catching better size fish pritty much every time we went down there. It seems like the bigger fish have just gone. We know the river very well and we just cant find them after the flood. What do you think

I think you'll find that once the river settles down and there's been a couple of frosts, they'll shoal up again and magically reappear.

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Thanks lighthouse
The river has changed a bit on the bottom and where there were weed beds they have gone and the bottom is really bare. Hope your right

Apply a bit of logic. Grayling have been present in our rivers since the last Ice Age - 12,000 years give or take a few. Do you not think they might have had to deal with the occasional flood in that time? It's THEIR environment and they are used to it. They will simply move location to where they are more comfortable which may be only a few feet. They also shoal up at this time of year and you can fish three feet away from a large shoal and catch nothing. Doesn't mean they are not there - it just means you are fishing in the wrong place.

All fish are adaptable and have evolved with the ability to look after themselves in all conditions, almost, except that of pollution.
A shrinking river makes them shoal up in any deeper water, and you will find pre-spawning shoals later in the grayling season. Even brown trout, supposedly a non-shoaling species, can be found in sizeable shoals, in main rivers, off the mouths of spawning sreams. Such spots are best avoided late in the brown trout season. TerryC

Well the problem there is that its just not me finding it hard. I know guys that have fished the river for years and they are saying the same thing.They dont seem to be there in good numbers at the mo.The grayling in are river has not been in there that long because the river was in bad shape because of the mines and all the coal dust in the river. only know they have been coming back to the river and they started to show in good numbers up the top of the river but now they have just faded away.I know a few miles down the river there are good numbers of good size grayling being cought. Me and my mate are pritty much on the river most days and we know the river very well and we are finding it quite hard going to find the better grayling. Im not saying that they are not there because there are good numbers off small ones in the river but just b4 the big flood that we had i was watching a few nice grayling feeding in a long run that always holds the better fish and there have been better grayling holding in this part of the river since i started fishing the riverIm really not sure whats going on down there.But hope the river comes back to its self where i fishOnly time will tell

Thanks for the help everyone