What water temperature do grayling prefer?

Grayling feed most reliably between 2°C and 10°C — active in cold water when trout have largely shut down, and the most temperature-predictable of the target species.

What's the best method for grayling?

Euro nymphing and small dry flies fished in low, clear winter water are the standard approach. Grayling hold in tight shoals over gravel and steady glides, so finding one fish usually means several more nearby.

Grayling Fishing

Q: When is grayling season?

Peak season runs October through February. Rivers close for spawning from March to May.

Grayling turn up when everything else has given up for the winter — smoke-grey, sail-finned, utterly unbothered by conditions that would send a trout to sulk on the bottom. They shoal where a trout would sit alone, which somehow makes finding them easier and catching them no less satisfying. The lady of the stream, they used to call her, though there's nothing especially ladylike about the take.

Grayling feed most reliably in cold water — active between 2°C and 10°C, when trout have shut down almost entirely. This is the most temperature-predictable of the target species: know the water temperature and you can call the fishing with real confidence. They hold in tight shoals over gravel and steady glides rather than defending single lies, so find one fish and you've likely found several. Peak season runs October through February; rivers close for spawning March to May. Euro nymphing and small dry flies in low, clear winter water are the standard approach.

Select a river and the grayling will do the rest

Peak fishing runs October to February — the months when everything else goes quiet and the grayling come into their own. Euro nymphing and small dries in the right conditions.