Graylings on dry fly

Grey sky, cold day, +6 C.  Doesn't look good for dry fly?

River level was 259 cm, flow 14m3/sec.

I arrived to Raba to try my new French nymphing setup. I rigged my rod with 9' tapered camou leader, coiled sighter and 0.12 mm tippet.

Fish didn't take on nymphs. But I noticed growing surface activity. Graylings were eating small insects, something like gray midges.

I didn't have rod for dry fly. So, I rigged my nymphing rod Traper Guide 3wt 11' with floating line.
It was 4wt, but there is no big difference, especially on close distances.

The insects hatching were very small. I found smallest dry fly in my box. It was still bigger, and not exact imitation, but that's all what I have.

Soon, I got first grayling on dry fly.


There were a lot of them , splashing in the middle of the river, on wide shallow run, on depth 30-50 cm.

Unfortunately, my fly started to sink soon, and I didnt have a floatant.  So, I changed it to something different, white CDC size 18.  I also got fish on this.


There were more empty takes, as usually.  I got a bit bored, and switched to nymphs.

No takes on nymphs at all. No brown trout, no rainbows. I don't know why. So I returned to graylings and dry fly setup.  Small grey CDC was the most successful.  I figured out that fly itself not that important. More crucial is that it doesnt sink, and stays afloat as long as possible. And drag-free drift of course. 

Wind was blowing upstream, so it helped to cast to upstream side.


Later, active fish moved closer to the bank.


After 3 hours my feet were frozen , and I decided to leave.
Dry fly fishing always good. unfortunately I didn't have proper rod, but even with 11' stick it was manageable.

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