Having managed to get my grubby mitts on the new Helios2 10ft 3-weight, my car was winging it up to middle Eden on what can only be described as perfect weather for chasing grayling. If only we’d enjoyed such conditions a month ago… Wafting a rod made up in your kitchen is one thing, but nothing beats a proper field test and I was eager to see what this light outfit could do. Chilly mornings tend to push sport back an hour or two and as predicted it was after lunch before things got going. Yes those late season willow and needle flies could be seen fluttering through the still, autumn air but of more interest (to the fish anyway) were heaps of beetles drifting down. Not your regular shaped beetle either, these were long, slender beasties that despite their impressive size, sat extremely low in . Thankfully, I had the good sense to check a snaking foam lane that betrayed them. Just as well really, for grayling favoured them over the many needle flies and Blue-winged olives which were now drifting down. Odd, I know, but for once, fish turned their noses up at these pretty upwinged flies. Granted my foam beetle might not have been an exact copy, yet it fooled enough fish to make for a memorable session. Better still by late afternoon shoaling grayling eventually switched to the B-WOs, extended sport to well beyond 5pm. As for the rod, further trials will be needed tomorrow…
~Not your conventional beetle profile, but these slender jobs sent the grayling daft~
Although that bit more portly than any naturals this foam imitation fooled the bulk of my catch during a day on the middle Eden
