Since I was a child I have fished, but have never had the opportunity to fly fish. When I visited the beautiful River Coln with Mark a while ago, he pointed out the grayling – a graceful, elegant fish and one that I had never managed to catch. That was the spark for the idea: could we organise a small evening event, try fly fishing together as a team, and perhaps even catch an elusive grayling?
Jen enjoying fly fishing on the River Coln
Mark set about speaking to a fellow angler to see if he could provide some instruction and we were ready to go. On an early summers evening, we gathered on the banks of the River Coln, keen to learn some new skills. Mark Purvis of The Cotswold Fly Fishers arrived, and we were off. Some of us were naturals, whilst others needed slightly more (a lot of!) instruction, but we finally managed to get our rods in the river, and each of us was lucky enough to have a few bites.
It was very exciting and although we didn’t all catch, we were all very delighted when Claire hooked and landed her very first freshwater fish – a beautiful brown trout!
The triumphant brown trout!
Mark our Riverkeeper shares his own reflections on the river and the many different species that can be found there – as well as what we can learn from their presence…
The River Coln is a very special piece of water. As a limestone stream it has very similar characteristics to England’s world-famous chalk stream rivers. As such, its clear, cool water supports a wide variety of aquatic life. Most prominent among the myriad of species, for a riverkeeper at least, are the brown trout and grayling that call the river home.
I have long had an obsession with the grayling in particular, and many hours are spent trying to tempt the monster on to the end of my line.
In my humble opinion the grayling, or lady of the stream, as we anglers sometimes call them, is the most beautiful fish we have here in UK waters. Its pewter flanks are splashed with iridescent violet hues and the enormous sail like dorsal fin is a patchwork of blood red and black spots. This freshwater sailfish is simply stunning!
A great shot of a grayling Mark caught on the River Coln at the end of last year.
Grayling are what we call an indicator species. They will not tolerate poor water quality and quickly vanish if river conditions deteriorate. To have a thriving population here on our beats is a real feather in the cap for our estate.
