Kharius on a float rod

In spite of the fact that most of my grayling fishing trips are devoted exclusively to spinning fishing, I should pay tribute to float fishing, as my first grayling was caught on float tackle. Catching, by the way, this vigorous fish on a rod – an occupation very interesting, especially on small forest streams, where you are surrounded by stunning nature, and if you follow simple rules and recommendations to catch the first grayling can be on the first fishing trip.

Bologna or fly rod?

In the conditions of a small river where grayling live, there is necessarily a current, because grayling is a fish that lives in clean, flowing rivers. Thus the fly rod due to the “dummy” equipment is not suitable for us, which is not the case with the telescopic (bologna) rod, which is designed for fishing on the current, when the float with the bait must be lowered downstream for several meters, which does not allow you to do fly rod. The length of the rod in the conditions of fishing on the micro river should not exceed four meters, the optimal choice will be a three-meter rod, because on such rivers you have to often move through thickets of bushes and trees. A large length of bologna will significantly reduce your mobility. And the advantages of short rods are much more – less throws on tree branches, the weight of a good telescopic rod does not exceed 150 grams, and in general to handle while fishing with a short rod in tight conditions, when overhead tree branches, much more comfortable. In addition to length, pay attention to the material of manufacture of the rod, because you have to hold the rod in your hands during the whole fishing trip, so it should be light, which is achieved by using high-modulus carbon. Examples of such rods: Mitchell Tanager 300, Stinger RiverCross Compact 330, Higashi Emi 320.

Inertia-free or inertia reel?

Having the experience of fishing with both types of reels when catching grayling, it is certainly impossible to say that this reel is the best one, because both inertial and non-inertial reels have their pluses. Accordingly, and certain disadvantages that need to be taken into account, and the best way will be to thinly analyze in person or by satellite fishing conditions on the river on which you plan to catch grayling. In what cases does a non-inertial reel win over an inertial reel? First of all, of course, where you need a long, accurate throw, which with the help of a non-inertial reel is convenient to make, if the vegetation on the river disposes to long throws. The second weighty argument in favor of the “inertia-free” will be the presence of adjustable friction, which cleverly dampens the jerks of skittish fish, thereby reducing the number of failures on catching.

Kharius as large, and smaller, bites very quickly, the float goes under water instantly without any “wiggling” in the water, so for the best hooking line should try to keep slightly taut. With the help of inertial reel turns out to do it cleverly, because such a reel when the fishing line itself tightens it, if necessary, the fisherman himself can hold the reel. “Meat grinder” drops the fishing line from the spool without any tension, so miss the bite with it is much easier, so to begin with, based on my experience, would recommend a small inertial reel, such as Nelma-Luxe-2, Nelma-Z 3-M1. Do not forget about the fact that the inertial reel, as a rule, after throwing turns the fishing line into the so-called lambs – this is when the monofil twists in coils because of the small bobbin. Inertial reel due to the larger diameter of the drum is less prone to this feature.

Line and hooks

In fishing conditions, where snagging tackle for tree branches can not be avoided, I do not advise to be shallow with the thickness of monofilament fishing line. The optimum thickness of the main line will be 0.16-0.18 (mm), and unwinding 50-100 meters is more than enough for fishing on such small rivers. Tear off the equipment in the conditions of forest rivers have to be quite a lot, so I advise you to knit a fishing line, which, of course, should be smaller in diameter than the main line, so as a fishing line I use Salmo Grand Ice Magic in diameter 0.12-0.14 (mm), the breaking load of this diameter is enough for catching grayling. The main characteristic feature of hooks for grayling fishing is a straight long barb, like Owner #56537, because grayling is a greedy fish and can swallow the bait up to the gills, thus the long barb allows faster extraction of the hook with the help of small cornsang or extractor. The size of the hooks can be different depending on the bait used, mostly from #14 to #10 according to Owner classification. However, in recent times that I have been catching grayling on float tackle, the hooks have been replaced by large mormyshki, which due to their already load do not need additional in the form of lead pellets. The weight of such mormyshki about 1-2 grams, and the size of the hook itself – 10 and 12, the float should have the same weight of the load. Kharius is not afraid of mormyshka, and even on the contrary bites more willingly.

Time, place and fishing tactics

The grayling spawns around May and June with the warming of the water, at this time on the forest rivers the water after the spring flood is high, turbulent and turbid, so it is not possible to catch fish at this time. As a rule, already in the middle or end of June, when the river gets into the channel and the water begins to lighten, grayling after spawning shows high activity, which can be compared only with the fall fever. At this time you can look for fish both on the deep parts of the river with a calm current, for example, various pits, backwaters after rapids, and on the sections of the rolls themselves. In mid-summer, which is usually the hottest time, grayling become less active and bite best in the early morning and late evening. However, it is possible to catch grayling at lunchtime as well, as I have never encountered such a situation during my twelve years of fishing practice, when the fish refuses to bite all day long, it is only the angler’s endurance that is needed here, together with constant movements in search of suspected fish stands. I recommend going downstream, but with extreme caution, not creating noise on the water and not raising a cloud of mud, which, like your float, floats downstream, so if possible, try to move along the river bank. Do not be lazy to bend over or go down on your knee, grayling reacts very quickly to your shadow and sudden movements, in clear water you can see how the fish swims to the shelter under the opposite bank at the slightest danger.

On such micro rivers have to move often, so be prepared that before the first nibble will have to make a long way. At the height of summer, grayling is highly active during rain, especially after its completion, when flying insects are nailed to the surface of the water, and the fish begins to actively splash, sometimes and jump out of the water, thereby giving its place of parking. Micro rivers, it should be said, are quite subject to heavy precipitation, and after heavy rain the water level rises quickly, however, you need to wait a day or two for the water to become clearer, and you can go again for grayling, looking for it in deep places, as well as along the shore. In summer and up to September, grayling occupy familiar staging areas, such as: river reaches with moderately fast currents, shallow channels, channels, pits under steep banks, and wooded areas. In such places grayling often stands in small flocks of 3-4 fish, accordingly, having caught one grayling, it is worth to stay in a promising place. Most of the time, not taking into account the fish hunting for flying insects, grayling keep to the bottom, so I try to hold the bait as close to the bottom as possible. In late fall, closer to the beginning of November, grayling roll down the river to the wintering pits and stand on the rolls less and less often. At this time the fish’s catch is very active and sometimes you can catch more than one grayling in one hole, and it bites during the whole daylight hours.

Choice of bait

When choosing a catchable bait, as well as when catching other fish, you need to start from what time of year it is, what the grayling prefers to eat, and what kind of wildlife lives in the reservoir. Despite the fact that grayling is a very voracious and omnivorous fish. One of the best baits for catching grayling is the larva of the brook midge, which lives in large numbers on the micro river. You should look for larvae houses on rocks and on tree branches lying in the water. In early summer, when the grayling is a larva living in a cocoon, grayling fishing is one of the most productive, but closer to July, the houses where the larva lived are already empty. At the height of summer, the grouse can be replaced by gadfly or grasshopper, and the grayling itself begins to actively feed on flying insects. You can lead insects both in the water column and on the surface, lowering them downstream. My universal bait for all the years that I have been catching grayling on a float rod is a large rain or dung worm, which is easy to find or buy, and it is also all-season, because at any time it is guaranteed to catch this vigorous fish. And here as best suits the saying: “a big piece and the mouth is happy”, so I always plant 2-3 large worms, thereby using fairly large hooks up to 8 number. And a final tip – do not spare bait, because the grayling’s mouth is wide, and the fish itself is very greedy, so five broodworms or a bunch of worms will not scare the fish, but on the contrary attract, especially large grayling.

The grayling is an extremely cautious fish, but not at all capricious, and if you follow all those simple recommendations and tips, which I wrote above, you can catch this undoubtedly one of the most beautiful fish of our country on a float rod very successfully during the whole season of open water. With all this fishing on small rivers among the indescribable beauty and silence around, which is broken only by the singing of birds, always brings great pleasure, and for this purpose it is not necessary to catch big fish, because even the nibble of a small grayling – it is always a mass of emotions.