When Everything Clicks – Trotting the River Test

The river was in fantastic condition, any colour from the recent rain was dropping out, and levels were absolutely perfect, this is great but also left no room for excuses!

I travelled light, pint of maggots, some Betalin flavoured corn and a of course my trusty Betalin and plum spray, planning to cover as much water as possible and frequently change hook baits till I found the winning combination.

I started with corn, fished a few inches from the bottom, navigating some light weed, I felt confident, but after 15 trots with little sign of action I switched to maggots. I reduced both my hook size and line diameter slightly and introduced a steady flow of maggots, 5 or 6 at time. This new combination proved to be a winning one! Two trots and I was into my first fish of the trip.

She stayed low and heavy and cruised upstream, I knew she was a big fish almost straight away as she jumped clear of the water. She was soon at my net and was mine. There's something special about big grayling, dark beautiful colours and a milky chest, stunning!

I carefully weighed her with the help of the river keeper and had some fabulous photos taken to capture the moment. She weighed an impressive 2lb 14 ounces. An unbelievable start to the day!

I dropped into several different areas, trotting a mixture or corn and maggot, I managed to land a good handful of hard fighting trout all around the 3 1/2 lb mark, a great test of tackle.

While speaking to the river keeper he mentioned that there were some large chub in the stretch, conditions were great so I thought I'd try some slower water to see if I could catch a few. This switch paid off and I had soon landed 3 chub to about 4.5lb.

One swim had it all, an eddy to my right and a beautiful crease of faster moving water. It was while running a float through the faster water my day got a whole lot better! A couple of handfuls of flavoured maggots, followed by a gentle trott with two maggots sprayed with Betalin plum presented on a size 18 hook was the game changing combination. 

My float wobbled, then dipped and I lifted into what I thought was a decent chub. The fish held low, swimming steadily upstream tight to the bottom of the river.

A full five minutes later, it finally showed itself, I honestly couldn't believe what I was seeing, a huge grayling was circling in the now crystal clear water. Id like to say I stayed calm but the opposite was closer to the truth.

The next few moments were a blur, other than me nearly bumping the fish at the net I somehow kept it together enough to finally capture my prize.

My screams of excitement and terror had grabbed the attention of the river keeper, who was again on hand to help. We carefully weighed her and we both (mainly me to be honest) jumped around with excitement and hysteria!

The scales settled on 3lb 5 ounces, often when things get big they become ugly, but this was no ugly duckling, she was the most beautiful lady of the steam.

I fished with confidence and am sure that Hinders Betalin Plum makes a huge difference when added to free offering and sprayed on hookbaits. I absolutely love the stuff. I'm off to celebrate at the pub - my aftershave of choice …. You guessed is Betalin Plum.

Richie