Fished the gryffe again for the grayling today and yet other blank fished all the usual spots where iv'e had success before,I never even touched an out of season trout,parr nothing.I'm wondering if the increasing amount of goosander's and cormorant's i'm seeing on the system is starting to have an effect and i know it's still very early in the year but it's unusual not to touch anything.

Cheers.

not what i wanted to hear as i have just purchased a permit for this water, but surely there must be parts still with some fish in them, lol

I hope so

Kevin

Don't panic mate I wasn't saying there is no fish as i know fine well there is come the warmer month's there will be plenty of trout showing especially if you go down just as it's getting dark,The point i was trying to make was are the cormorant's and gooseanders affecting where the fish will feel comfortable taking up residence,Grayling are usually mid water fish not feeling the need for cover as much as trout but this might have changed with these things stalking there every move making them even harder to find.

Cheers.

I have a cunning plan...

1. We contact Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and persuade him to do a recipe or two involving cormorants on one of his TV programmes. (Guess what's on the barbeque at the club opening day...)

2. Next, ask Heston Blumenthal to make cormorant flavoured ice cream to sell in his restaurants.

3. Jamie Oliver Oliver will jump on the bandwagon suggesting they should be served in school meals due to their low fat content and high concentration of Omega 3 oils (from all the fish they consume). He might even start promoting them in his Sainsbury ads.

4. Sling up some posters in bus shelters, shopping centres, playgrounds, skateboard parks, etc.telling the local yuffs that they taste like buckfast and have halucenogenic properties when eaten.

5. Start selling permits restricting people to two cormorants a day - that way anyone that goes over their ticket quota will be doing us a favour - heck we might even welcome a few poachers if it's just the cormorants they're after.

6. Invent a range of fly patterns where cormorant feathers are the magic ingredient. Would have to come up with some original names for the patterns as the most obvious one is already gone...

7. Train them in the same way as the Chinese do by tying a rope around them, slipping a ring round their neck to stop them swallowing the fish and use them as a novel method of trout or salmon fishing. The ultimate fishing accessory for the tackle tart who has everything. A neatly folded cormorant would fit perfectly in the big pocket at the back of most fishing vests. (Please note however that if you fix their leash rope to the bank or a boat, this may be considered a "fixed engine" under the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) Scotland Act 2003 and would therefore be an illegal fishing method)

8. And if all of the above fails (because nobody can shoot them without a licence) just carry a length of chain and a padlock each time you go fishing. If you see a cormorant, padlock it to a lamp post - chances are it'll have been nicked by the morning.

(please note, all of the above is completely made up and tongue in cheek apart from the halucenogenic properties bit - just ask my unicorn...)


Seriously though, they do seem to be a problem on most waters these days with a lot of commercial fisheries having similar problems. Not sure if there is a good solution to be had as I believe the licences to shoot them are difficult to obtain and probably wouldn't help the public perception of fishing in this day and age.

Would be interesting to hear how other clubs are managing this problem though.

Cheers

Peter

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www.paisleyabercornanglingclub.co.nr


"Give a man a fish and he is fed for a day...

Teach a man to fish and he's away almost every weekend, buys loads of gear he'll never use and can't walk past a single piece of water without popping the polaroids on for a quick look..."

I don't know what it is that you are doing wrong there mate, I was out just before christmas and hit plenty of fish both trout (all putback) and an out of season sea trout hen fish which was well mended again put back. The grayling were there and took a bit of coxing out I have to admit. All returned back, had a cracking day catching them. Hopefully see you at the open day in March.

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For me the futures bright and its wild as nothing else comes close.

hi
i have never fished for grayling on the gryfe lots of good brownies though
any tips

big yin