A nice cold winters day for grayling.

The day looked almost perfect,maybe a bit bright, there was a hard frost on the ground,very little wind and the river had dropped to its normal winters level.
A good day to go after the grayling.
As Lamington section had closed I decided to venture to Ucapa water at Crawford.
I have been up to this area a few times without much success,a couple of nice trout at the end of the season but no grayling.
Starting off at Camps Bridge I decided to go upstream having my first few casts at the first run--no luck and then up to the pool by Crawford Castle with the same result.
I moved a bit further upstream, going along a steep bank,I peered  into the water to see if I could spot some fish, but the light wasn't very good, I couldn't spot any
This was a place that I had seen fish before, so I thought that I would give it a go anyway.
My tactics were to fish a couple of weighted nymphs on a long leader and a pimp indicator.
Starting at the bottom of the run I carefully entered the water and gradually, making my way upstream,fan casting as I went.
I knew that I was fishing correctly,there was very little wind, so I was able to cast upstream and bring the flies back trundling them along the bottom at the speed of the current.
After an hour of hard fishing I had reached the top of the long run,without a single take.
Its hard fishing in the winter-the water temperatures are low-the fish semi-hibernate becoming inactive,just hugging the bottom.
To be successful I think you nearly need to plonk the fly right on their nose.
I went back downstream and had a few more casts,sat down had my sandwich and coffee.

Took in the scenery and a shot of the castle.
Had a chat with one of the locals,he had just returned to Crawford after years away in Norway.
A nice lad-- Hi Rider.
Back into my warm van and home.