We have certainly had some fine autumn days during the first half of November in Cumbria, a nice respite from the last six months. It has been a real pleasure to be outdoors on such occasions in so mild a climate.
With the salmon season now finished six weeks ago on the Eden, it seems an absolute age since those fish were on our minds, the good numbers of fish that have run the Eden all year should ensure a decent spawning for future stock.
Grayling are the main quarry now until the salmon season once more kicks off in the middle of January. The river has relatively behaved itself this first half of November due to the more settled and dry weather, the levels and water clarity were about perfect. The grayling fishing of late has had some good and also some poor days, such is fishing sometimes. It is all down to the air and water temperatures, river conditions and the unpredictable weather. These factors are always out of our control and it is a hard combination to get right for any chance of success sometimes.
Grayling fishermen both trotting and swim feeders using maggots are getting good results, unusually fly fishing techniques do not seem to be so effective this autumn. This seems to have been the same scenario all over the country for whatever the reason may be, just as it has been with the salmon fishing, they just were not taking; you can put it down to unsettled weather I guess.
If you can locate the grayling, it can be a relatively easy task after that, but finding them can be difficult on occasions, this is where the bait fishers do have the advantage. I do not think there are the grayling numbers on the Eden that there were in previous seasons at present. The fish that anglers are catching are mainly on the large side, grayling over the two pound bracket are common and the smaller average Eden fish of around the pound mark are just not there in the quantity that there should be.
The last few days of November, the weather has deteriorated somewhat with very high winds and a mass of lows coming in off the Atlantic. This has put paid to any thoughts of getting on the river with the fly, although the anglers trotting and feeding bait are doing quite well. Water temperature is now at 9oC which is warm for the time of year and the river once more is in flood.
