Grayling fishing – trotting on the centrepin
The biggest pleasure in fishing is the friends you make along the way. My mate Dan and I planned a trip to a beautiful Dorset chalk stream grayling fishing – trotting on the centrepin. It was a real treat for me!
I love fishing for these stunning fish, often called the lady of the stream. They can be finicky feeders, but they fight really well in the flow, particularly when their large dorsal fin is caught in the current. I can’t think of a better way to spend a winter afternoon.
Dan and I with a couple of decent grayling from the chalk stream
Dan’s been catching some decent fish in recent weeks and we decided our best approach would be to travel light, roving along the bank. We each carried just a rod, centrepin reel, landing net and a small rucksack – I love this style of fishing.
I love a roving approach to cover as much of the stream as possible
We’ll trot a float through various swims, while feeding regularly with maggots. We’ll fish with single or double maggot, but if we get plagued by smaller fish and minnows, we’ll change to using sweetcorn on the hook.
Trotting on the pin is my favourite way of fishing for grayling
We hadn’t been there long and Dan was into a decent fish. After a heart stopping battle, keeping the fish away from a fallen tree, he drew the fish over the net. It was a cracking grayling, as long as his forearm and nudging 2lb, which is a brilliant fish from this chalk stream.
Dan had the first fish – what a great start to the day
As I filmed Dan playing and landing the first fish of the day, I had a few reservations about filming. My time on this fabulous chalk stream is really precious and I wanted to have my float in the water for as long as possible. There are some big grayling in this stream and a chance of a monster of over 3lb.
I decided to carry on filming so we would have a memento of what turned out to be a special and fun day with a good friend.
Double trouble – trotting on the pin
While fishing in some swims, we decided on our double-act, taking it in turns to cast out and trot a float through the swim, while the other was feeding the swim with regular handfuls of maggots. We had a great day catching chub with this method a few weeks ago.
The loose feed tempts the grayling into feeding and it’s much easier when your mate keeps the maggots going in. It also helps when you’ve got someone to land your fish too, it’s one thing less to worry about.
Dan is trotting the swim and I’m on maggot feeding duty
Suddenly Dan was into a huge fish, could it be the monster grayling that we’re after. It was heart stopping stuff, the fish was fighting hard and difficult to keep out of the current and get under control. As I got the net in the water to land the fish for Dan, I could see it was a big trout – then disaster, the hook pulled out before I could land it. In some ways we were pleased that we hadn’t lost a grayling as it was massive. We joked that every big fish we lost in this chalk stream was a trout, and not a monster grayling.
Sometimes catching a trout wrecks the swim as they fight so hard and spook the grayling. It was time for a move, we could always come back later.
It’s great when things go well – here’s a lovely brace of chalk stream grayling
Heart in the mouth fishing
Once you hook a grayling, your heart is in your mouth, hoping that you’re not going to lose it. You’re going to bump a few fish off shortly after hooking them, it’s one of the frustrations of fishing for grayling. To avoid this, I’ve found micro-barb hooks much better than barbless, and we land more fish on them.
Dan with another lady of the stream – what a cracker
After catching a few small grayling in the shallower glides, the bites were beginning to dry up. The sun was out and it was getting quite bright. I decided to find some deeper water with the chance of a better stamp of fish. Having found a deeper stretch, I needed to find the depth at which the fish were feeding, as it’s not always on the bottom.
I caught this one in the deeper water once the sun came out
I start fishing a little overdepth and shorten it down to stop the float from dragging bottom. If I’m not getting bites after a few runs through the swim, I’ll reduce the depth and fish a bit shallower. It’s best to keep the bait going in until you find the right depth and start getting bites. Sometimes a small adjustment is all that’s needed to catch a few fish.
I switched from maggot to sweetcorn and was rewarded with this brace
Using a centrepin for trotting is a brilliant way of presenting a bait in flowing water. I use a JW Young Trudex centrepin which spins smoothly as the float travels downstream. My 13ft Korum Glide float rod was perfectly balanced with the pin and light enough to hold all day long.
My 13ft Korum Glide float rod is perfectly balanced with the centrepin
The centrepin was loaded with 6lb Korum Glide mono line, which has a low diameter and is very strong. I use a 5g Korum Speci stick float and a 5g inline olivette, below that there’s a quick change swivel to connect a short 3.5lb hooklink and size 18 wide gape hook.
The Korum Speci float is ideal for trotting for grayling and chub
I use a 5g inline olivette to get the bait down quickly
The 13ft Glide rod did the job very well, but there’s a longer 14ft model that would have been even better for trotting on the pin. I must remember to bring that one, next time.
Last fish of the day, just before it got dark – what a great session
What a real treat to be in the Dorset countryside again with Dan grayling fishing and trotting on the pin. We had a great session and a lot of laughs, and I can‘t wait to do it all over again.