It was on this trip that the first idea of Eat, Sleep, Fish came to me, somewhere anglers could share their fly fishing adventures. When I got back the wheels started to turn albeit slowly until we got the ezine up and running. I wrote this a while back now but thought it was time for it to see the light of day. I apologise in advance if some of the facts have changed a little, or a lot, since I wrote it but hope you enjoy it anyway.
As I advance in years the fishing part is as strong as ever but the numbers thing is something that doesn’t really motivate me in any real way. I have to hold my hands up and say I am probably one of the least competitive people around and it is the weirder more esoteric stuff that floats my boat more than anything else these days than sheer numbers.
I am happy to throw a rod in the truck and go after something a bit different at the drop of a hat and on planning a trip to Montana recently I got this idea that I would really like to try and catch a river grayling.
I know it doesn’t sound the slightest bit weird or different but over there they are becoming quite a big deal. I wish it were because anglers were appreciating just for what they are but sadly it is because they are in serious decline.
One of the most genetically pure examples of Arctic Grayling (Thymallus articus) have been living in the Big Hole river since the ice age. Locals are worried because if the estimated total population numbers of 1,000 are to be believed then they are in serious trouble. If you compare trout numbers in the same river of around 2,000 per mile this gives you a pretty good feel as to why all is not looking rosy.
Hardly surprisingly man has had a hand in the lack of numbers of grayling but now farms and fishermen are talking and more is being done to protect such a valuable asset. Fishermen speak and are heard in Montana and there has been an attempt to list grayling as an endangered species that looked like it might just happen last year but lack of money means plans for this are on the back burner for the time being and hearing news like this meant I knew I had to try and see one before it was too late.
Having done some research it looked like the Upper Big Hole was going to be the best place to find them and having flown in to Missoula we made the 3 hour drive to Wisdom to try our luck.
Wisdom is a great town, town is probably the wrong word as there are a few shops, restaurant and a petrol station but the people were friendly, the rooms good and the coffee excellent. I don’t think I need much more than that. Oh, I forgot to mention that the Big Hole is just at the top of the street with easy access and on parking up we looked over the bridge and saw a few rising fish.
We even caught a few of them with plenty of whitefish and a few rainbows too.
A little jet lagged we just kept fishing and although I was in the right place I sort of pushed grayling out of my mind and got down to enjoying the Upper Big Hole and was just happy to be there.
The fish weren’t coming easy but I think we had done ourselves proud and after heading back for some caffeine and excellent burgers for lunch we headed back upstream to fish some more.
I’d busied myself trying to work out a mini hatch and stubbornly changed flies until I managed to rise and then miss a fish but left the pool with at least some sort of moral victory.
As we walked upstream I ran over a bit of the homework I’d done on Montana grayling and what the locals thought was the best spots to catch them and remembered that I’d read they are often found where a feeder stream comes in to the main river.
" I threw a heavy peeping caddis into the bend"
The main river at Wisdom is not big by any means but I came to a bend in the river with a deep hole and a small flow coming into the tail of the pool from a tiny feeder stream. It didn’t make sense to cast into the flow coming from the feeder stream as it was so shallow but the pool on the bend was deep and inviting and although I was happy to fish the dry until now I couldn’t resist throwing a heavy bug in just to see who was home.
I threw a heavy peeping caddis into the bend and let it dead drift down watching the leader for takes. Nothing, and on seeing the depth I decided to crimp on some split shot too which seemed a good idea although my 3wt didn’t necessarily agree. The next drift was the same and I had gotten out of the water and on to the bank to fish the pool towards the belly.
At home I catch a lot of my winter grayling by inducing them by gently raising the rod as the fly drifts down. I tried it the third drift and felt a gentle take as I did so. I cast again and did the same but this time connected with the take. I saw the colour of the fish as it tried its best to throw the fly and assumed it was another whitefish. Then I saw the unmistakeable dorsal fin of a grayling.
I guess I could now write all sorts of poetic stuff about the fish and the fight but all I know is that I played it really carefully, got it in, got a photo and put it back. I know how precious these fish were and I was keen to make sure it got back as quickly as possible.
The smell on my fingers was the same, and the fight the same but the fish had a few less spots than our grayling have and that was about all I could see in the short time I admired them.
I have to admit I had to sit down for a bit to take it all in and if I were a smoker I’d have lit a big fat cigar but I’m not so I didn’t but I would have.
We fished up until our bodies gave up and walking back I had to have another go in that same pool and using the same technique hooked another. We couldn’t work out if it were the fish I’d caught earlier or not but it was a similar size so I can’t say for sure. Now I am at home I’d have bet it was another fish but I can’t seem to find details of if they will shoal up like their European cousins. Just the lack of numbers puts the odds against this but who knows?
Back by the bridge where we parked there was a rise going on. I can’t stand to leave rising fish so scrambled down the bank to try and get a cast at them. It looked like they were on the emergent stage of what looked like a baetis hatch so a gold old sparkle dun was the nearest I could get. It was lucky it was near enough and a good no nonsense rise to my fly had grayling number three (or possibly 2 dependent how you look at it) and with that I made a few more casts and headed back for a well earned coffee.