Question about arctic grayling

[Parker Hale]

Many years ago, I spent some time in Fort St. John (BC). We did a jet boat trip, started out on Williston Lake, went up the lake to the Carbon River. Camped for a few days on the Carbon. Hiked up the river and the grayling fishing was fantastic. Tons of dry fly action on Royal Coachmen.

[Sundancefisher]

That sounds like a hoot.

[Smoky buck]

You don’t need to go all the way to dease for good grayling in B.C.

It’s good around Chetwynd I caught lots of big grayling out of the Sukunka river. But really most of the rivers are good in that area. Lots of bull trout in the mix as well. Grayling are aggressive and not to bright

[58thecat]

Use the search on the forum, type in arctic grayling….use google earth to check out areas prior to your adventure.

That’s what my son did and he put us on a honey hole that paid off, other spots not so but you gotta get your feet wet and enjoy the journey!

We found a deep slow moving pocket of water that held some beauties after 6 hrs of walking, stumbling in and out of the water, woods etc.
Funny how every hole looks promising.

At first in a few areas we were all stealthy but our flies got hung up etc and in many cases one person is waist deep in the water getting untangled from deadfall etc and three feet away the grayling were picking off either the fly or the dropper.

Super aggressive fish and very active once hooked up.

Good luck.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Sundancefisher]

Originally Posted by 58thecat

Use the search on the forum, type in arctic grayling….use google earth to check out areas prior to your adventure.

That’s what my son did and he put us on a honey hole that paid off, other spots not so but you gotta get your feet wet and enjoy the journey!

We found a deep slow moving pocket of water that held some beauties after 6 hrs of walking, stumbling in and out of the water, woods etc.
Funny how every hole looks promising.

At first in a few areas we were all stealthy but our flies got hung up etc and in many cases one person is waist deep in the water getting untangled from deadfall etc and three feet away the grayling were picking off either the fly or the dropper.

Super aggressive fish and very active once hooked up.

Good luck.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sweet pics

I had an awesome time once in northern Alberta.

Stopped beside the highway and walked down to a large river. After a number of casts and seeing nothing I walked 5 minutes upstream where a tributary flowed in… cast at the mouth and caught nothing. Walked 2 minutes up the trib to a pool and proceeded to catch 150. It was crazy.

[SuperCub]

Did some grayling fishing in the Yukon in 1998. It was the most fun I'd ever had fishing. They did a lot of jumping and fought like a large brook trout.

Little flourescent green bug was all we used. No problem catching a bunch.

[keeks]

Originally Posted by Jack fish hunter

I fished it for a long time too. Never caught brookies just rainbows and grayling

I'm gonna need to take a real close look next time I'm up there. Could be rainbows, but I'm sure there wasn't a black spot to be seen. I'll report back this summer.

k

[elkhunter11]

They are typically not much larger than 12" or so, but there were plenty of grayling in the House River. We caught many west of the bridge on highway 63. East of the bridge, we caught pike.

[roper1]

Originally Posted by elkhunter11

They are typically not much larger than 12" or so, but there were plenty of grayling in the House River. We caught many west of the bridge on highway 63. East of the bridge, we caught pike.

Were you fly fishing for the pike also?

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by roper1

Were you fly fishing for the pike also?

A friend went east with a spinning rig, as I fly fished to the west. It was more to see if there were grayling on that side of the bridge. He caught a couple of pike but no grayling.

[Speckle55]

I have caught grayling in McLeod river and Athabasca river above Borland river

End of April to mid June

The bigger ones are running 16 to 18 inches

The creek mouths work

Back eddies. and head of holes work

I like the first 2 weeks of May

The Grayling and Rainbows are holding in river

As always this is

Food for Thought

David

[Dean2]

Largest Grayling I ever caught were on trips to the Kikisa River, just West of Hay River from where the Yellowknife highway bridge crosses, and downstream to Great Slave Lake. We used to go up there for a week every year. It is quite a long hike from the bridge to the lake so we used a Helicopter to jump up and down the pools. The fishing was fantastic, largest I ever caught out of there was just over 5 Lbs but we regularly caught 3-4 lb fish. The Canadian record is 5 lbs 10 ounce, or used to be, so my bet is there are some in there big enough to beat that.

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by elkhunter11

They are typically not much larger than 12" or so, but there were plenty of grayling in the House River. We caught many west of the bridge on highway 63. East of the bridge, we caught pike.

Not commenting on your adventure specifically, just some info for the OP... While fly fishing has typically resulted in more action, spin fishing the same water has typically resulted in bigger fish for me.

Not saying you should spin fish, just stating that using something that imitates a baitfish rather than a bug can result in some surprisingly big grayling... even from streams that arent known for producing fish of any size.

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by Bushleague

Not commenting on your adventure specifically, just some info for the OP... While fly fishing has typically resulted in more action, spin fishing the same water has typically resulted in bigger fish for me.

Not saying you should spin fish, just stating that using something that imitates a baitfish rather than a bug can result in some surprisingly big grayling... even from streams that arent known for producing fish of any size.

The often small offerings with fly fishing with a slower presentation is the factor regarding size in my opinion. Decent size streamers on a sinking tip often even things out size wise

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by Smoky buck

The often small offerings with fly fishing with a slower presentation is the factor regarding size in my opinion. Decent size streamers on a sinking tip often even things out size wise

More or less what I was trying to say. Last time I specifically went grayling fishing I was using spinning gear on a stream where I usually have non' stop action with fly gear, but never catch a fish much over 10". I dont think I caught a dozen fish that day, but quite a few of them were in the 13-14" range.

I dont see many people tossing streamers at them, but I think it would be worthwhile.

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by Bushleague

More or less what I was trying to say. Last time I specifically went grayling fishing I was using spinning gear on a stream where I usually have non' stop action with fly gear, but never catch a fish much over 10". I dont think I caught a dozen fish that day, but quite a few of them were in the 13-14" range.

I dont see many people tossing streamers at them, but I think it would be worthwhile.

We are on the same page

I definitely caught better size grayling on bigger offerings both fly and lures. The little buggers will actually tackle pretty big offerings too. My co worker in chetwynd was tossing 3/4 oz kamlooper spoons for bulls well I was targeting grayling on the fly and he caught at least ten grayling in the 10-16 inch range on his spoon that day

[colvert]

Originally Posted by tiptoprod

Colvert, what would you say is the best time to head out to Cottonwood River?
I am planning to go up northern BC this year.
Do you find they are all about the same size?

Thanks!

Just read your post today...
Was back at the beautiful Cottonwood River the first week of September, and not a simgle fish I don't understand why. The Summer had been hot and dry, water temperature too warm maybe for the fish to be at this location?
In the past they were pretty good sizes. Late August is good too.