First session this season after the rub a dubs

Fished the Yorkshire Rye - a lovely, intimate river for those who don't know it rarely more than 10-15yds wide

My usual method is a roving approach and thats how I began today - fished about a dozen swims over a mile stretch with ledgered flake. Resulted in 2 fish one about a pound and the other about 3lb
At the top end I encountered a young otter and spent 20 mins or so simply watching him. He caught a small silver fish - probably a dace and then proceeded to consume it. In the past couple of years I've encountered otters on several occasions on the Rye - they seem to be doing very well
I have very mixed feelings about them I must say like most anglers - lovely to watch but worrying about the effect on fish stocks

I returned to the car and set up the trotting rod with the old rapidex. Then fished the same stretch with maggots. A few small grayling for my trouble, but then the best fish of the day a 4lb 3oz chub - not huge by national standards but a decent fish for the Rye
As I packed up the heavens opened and the drive back was a bit hairy at times - still all in all a good day.

Hope its just the start of many to come

a 4lb chub is a good chub by anybodies standard, well done
cheers
jerry

Nice days fishing Jez

Just one thing, why not try trotted flake instead of the maggots ?

I do trot flake at times and to some extent it does often result in better quality fish. But having covered the stretch with it on the ledger I thought I'd give the maggots a go.

There are some good grayling in the Rye - I've had them to nearly 2lb in the past but only on maggots or worm so that was always at the back of my mind if the chub weren't interested

Well done, nice chub. I had never heard of the Rye before your post. Sounds a nice little river.

Originally Posted by JayZS

Sounds a nice little river.

Ssssshhh - yes it is

The Rye drains the vale of Pickering in N.Yorks and flows into the Yorks Derwent near Malton. There's quite a few miles of decent coarse fishing run by various clubs in the lower reaches. The upper river is mostly exclusive fluff chucking

Barbel are caught from time to time but I've not had one in over 25 years! They move upstream into the Rye for spawning and a few get caught usually early season. I got smashed up big time a few seasons ago but whether it was a barbel or something foul hooked I'll never know

My best chub is 5lb 9oz and I usually get a 5 at least once a season but I've yet to get the elusive 6 - still its fun to keep trying

Originally Posted by jez

I do trot flake at times and to some extent it does often result in better quality fish. But having covered the stretch with it on the ledger I thought I'd give the maggots a go. There are some good grayling in the Rye - I've had them to nearly 2lb in the past but only on maggots or worm so that was always at the back of my mind if the chub weren't interested

I suppose it is the right time now for the grayling and maggot is the better bait for them thou

Still i would of fished with the bread

Hi Jez, I spent much of my younger years fishing the rye and the becks that feed it. Not sure if you can still get on it but Thornton beck below Thornton le Dale holds some huge Grayling, my pb was 2.12 and I witnessed a 3.4.

We also used to catch big Pike around Feb/March time, especially in the bottom reaches of the feeder streams of the Rye

Never fished Thornton Beck - can and still do fish Pickering and Costa Becks

Unfortunately the average size of Rye grayling seems to have declined in recent years. I regularly used to catch fish in the 1 - 11/2lb bracket but not so big recently
I have a friend who 'knows' people and has access to a couple of private stretches - he's had plenty of 2 pounders tho no 3s I believe

I was hoping to get back on at the weekend but the weather forecast don't look too good

No, it's looking pretty bleak for the weekend.

The Grayling population has always fluctuated over the years, they seem to follow a cycle of 5 or 6 years from good to bad. Not sure if it's to do with them being relatively short lived but hopefully they'll be back in a year or two