Bad weather hits UCAPA’s grayling competiton again

Dec 18 2008 by Margaret Shaw, Hamilton Advertiser

FLOODS in November spoiled the sporting opportunities of most anglers on the Clyde.

Because the salmon season was over, this meant that grayling anglers were affected more than any other group.

The major disappointment for the directors of the United Clyde Angling Protective Association was that the grayling competition, originally planned to take place last autumn, was cancelled yet again.

This competition is intended to be a part of a management tool which should help to conserve the grayling - currently an endangered species - and ultimately enhance the population of the species.

By catching a large number of the fish, something can be determined about the present state of the Clyde's grayling.

The fish are to be measured, weighed, tagged and released. If they are caught again, and reported to the association, the new information will tell us something about both their movements and growth rate.

December started dry and cold. There was then a night of heavy snow with more forecast. This did not arrive with anything like the severity that we were warned about but the temperature stayed low and the river dropped to an encouragingly low level.

The grayling competition has now been arranged for the middle of December and the suggestion is that conditions should remain suitable.

In the lower reaches, where the competition is supposed to take place, a fair number of fish were being caught in the first week of December. Some of these went to 1½lbs but the majority of them were very much smaller.

Perhaps the better fish had been feeding too well during the spates and were not hungry enough to take the baits being offered.

The large number of smaller fish present suggests that there are a lot of breeding fish in the area. This is the sort of news the association will be hoping to hear.

The middle reaches, around Carstairs, had hardly been fished during the summer. A few anglers who had spent time here knew where the biggest weed beds had been.

The finer silt found in these spots seems to hold some attraction to grayling. In their few outings since the water level fell, these anglers found only grayling which were not even as big as the traditional description of being herring-sized. They do, however, give hope for the future.

Between Symington and Crawford, some really good specimen grayling were being taken. Some of these were said to be in excess of 2lbs in weight.

As conditions began to stabilise, these fish were being caught more often on artificial nymphs.

Initially, it took gold-headed patterns to get down deep enough to where the fish were feeding but gradually smaller and lighter patterns came to the fore.

The fish were not easy to find and were certainly not easy to catch but they were present and could be found eventually.

The permits for UCAPA waters now require photographs to be attached by the permit sellers at the time of purchase.

This does not apply to day permits but anyone who intends to fish more than a few times in waters covered by these permits will find the season permit to be a bargain.

Even more so is the annual permit, which is now available and will last for the whole of 2009.

Buying a permit from this association does not confer the right to attend the annual general meeting in January. To do so requires becoming a member of the association.

The first step towards doing this is as simple as contacting the secretary, whose telephone number appears on the permit.