Read the article with FishingTheSpot: the grayling
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See the fishing tripsThe Grayling
From June to December
28 cm
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The Grayling belongs to the Salmonidae Family. The average size is 35 cm for 400 g (maximum 50 cm for 1.5 kg). Life expectancy can reach 5 years, rarely more. Breeding takes place in spring. The number of eggs laid depends on the size of the female and ranges from 600 to 8000 eggs. The fishery is open from June to December.
The body, compressed laterally, is covered with large scales, some of which, pigmented, draw longitudinal streaks, highlighted with black spots. The head is small, the mouth opens downwards. The muzzle is thin, the eyes have forward pointing pupils and golden rings. The distinctive signal of the species is the long, high dorsal fin, supported by about 20 soft rays. The whole forms, over nearly a quarter of the length of the fish, an iridescent flag of violet to purple coloring, also called a vexille. The caudal peduncle is thin, surmounted by the adipose fin characteristic of Salmonids.
The Grayling lifestyle
They eat small prey: insects, larvae and adults, crustaceans, worms and small mollusks taken from the bottom or caught drifting (gobages on mayflies and trichoptera).
As an older fish, it sometimes eats small fish: juveniles and minnows, in an exceptional way.
The breeding takes place in spring, just after thawing, unlike trout, which is observed in the middle of winter. Mature adults (3 years old and over 32 cm tall), swim up the rivers to look for their spawning grounds in areas rich in deep, fast-moving gravel. Males are recognizable by their almost black coloring and widely deployed standard. They compete to isolate a female, then mate during the bridal parade. The male covers the female's back with his dorsal fin. The couple, by violent movements of their caudal parts, digs the substrate of gravel and emits the eggs and laitance. Several laying phases follow one another in the presence of other males who try to participate in the fertilization of 600 to 8000 eggs (depending on the size of the female). The eggs are yellow and 3 mm long. They remain sheltered under the gravel for about twenty days, in water of about 10°C, in April-May, depending on the river regime. At emergence, the fry is 15 to 20 mm long, with a small yolk vesicle. Then they move to the shoreline to feed. Growth is very rapid and in late autumn, the grayling reaches 15 to 18 cm.
The Grayling habitat
The grayling area corresponds to rivers with fresh and flowing water, but where trout and barb, and minnow coexist.
The Grayling are often present in groups, on gravel pits and areas of smooth currents and own funds with vegetation composed of aquatic buttercups and Fontinalis sp. mosses.
Originally from the Danube basin, it is present in eastern France, central Europe and England. He is absent from Scotland and Ireland. It has been successfully introduced in western France (Dordogne, BĂ©arn) and in some rivers in the south.
The Grayling angling
The grayling is sensitive to natural baits but it is dry or drowned fly fishing that wins the most votes among amateurs.
