The Lady of the Stream

So the weather was not that bad. It did rain, but there were some clear patches and the sun even came out once or twice. During one of the clear periods, I went out on the river to see what was in the swim. After an extraordinarily wet June, the river was full and slightly murky. There were a few fish though and what I found was this: A Greyling (Thymallus thymallus), known as The Lady of the Stream. Caught with a small daddy-long-legs dry fly hiding a 13mm hook (below). The fly is actually mimicking the Crane fly which you will find in abundance near the rivers.

This particular fish was about 30cm long and a very beautiful specimen. I actually mistook it for a trout as I saw it next to a small bridge on the river Selle at Conty, just up from the old railway station. I was able to cast the fly over and above the fish without having to back-cast as I was only about four meters from the fish, luckily just out of it's angle of vision. For five minutes I played with the fly, trying to tempt the sleepy creature. And then, as if just for my pleasure and knowing that it was a protected species and would be put back, it rose and took the fly. Without much of a fight, I landed the young Salmonid onto the bank. I don't know who was more startled, me or the fish. "A Greyling!" I proclaimed to the birds and trees. The first one that I've caught here as well.

I fumbled to get my mobile phone out of my pocket to take the photo above. Not great quality, but it shows the beautiful dorsal fin, indicative of the species. I removed the hook and returned it to the water. The poor thing didn't move for about a minute and I thought that it was dead, but then it stopped pretending and rolled over and swam off to same spot that it was caught. It would not have been fair to catch it again, so I left the fish alone, knowing that one day, we may just meet up again.

More info:
Wikipedia (English): Greyling
Wikipedia (French): Ombre