The quest for Goliath grayling

Grayling have a huge following among the up-and-coming fly generation of ‘kids’ under 40. I’m a wee bit older than them now but I can see their point; grayling are truly, utterly, blissfully wild. They have always existed in spite of – not because of – man’s interference and that makes them fascinating. They are as beautiful, with an elegance trout can only envy, as they are cunning, suspicious of anything we offer them that doesn’t look ‘right’. Their fight is inexhaustible, alternating between hair-raising rushes and long periods of dour, sullen resistance.

All grayling are great but it is big ones – the 3lb-plus specimens – that are the Holy Grail among devotees. At 3lb, a grayling becomes a different fish, often black in colour, bull shouldered, a gob-smacking monster from another planet. I should know: I’ve seen more than 40 such fish, including a record grayling of 4lb 8oz, caught by my guided client, Simon Ellis, in February 2019. I’d always had admiration for Goliath