Fly Fishing For Grayling In Austria - Gmundner Traun

Fly-fishing for Grayling in Austria – by Martin Schulz

For a fly-fisherman the moment of a rising fish to a dry fly is the ultimate experience. It is the moment when two worlds connect in one spot - your dry fly. I love to fly-fish for trout and other game-fish, but I lost my heart to the grayling especially those of the Austrian rivers. Many of these rivers have a long tradition in fly-fishing, like the Gmundner Traun. These graylings are powerful and constantly have to deal with the strong flowing rivers; they are excellent sport-fish. The feeding is less aggressive compared to trout but more constantly when it comes to dry flies. The grayling is the “queen of the stream” and the fish shows this in its gorgeous looking and elegant behaviour (really comes out if you have ever seen a large grayling jump when hooked). The presentation has to be very accurate and your fly has to be well served upstream. I found out that a good serving of the fly is much more important than the selection of the “match the hatch fly“, but size does matter. If you see a grayling that is nipping flies from the surface you have a high chance to hook the fish. If the grayling refuse to take your fly, try a smaller one. For picky, rising fish I have my standard pattern:
A dark grey CDC Fly, TIEMCO 103 BL Hook Size #13-19 

 
I can’t think of many graylings that have refused this fly. I see the main reason for the success of this fly in the very thin and light hook, the fact that the fly on one hand is tied sparely, but on the other hand floats well due to the tail of hackle fibres and CDC feather.

Large graylings tend are rising less and prefer staying in deeper stretches. Usually you would go for the nymph, but bigger grayling will never lose the preference for dry flies - this is again different to big trout. I have often seen graylings that are standing in 4-5 feet of water that are not rising the whole day. Still you have a good chance if you present your fly accurate and the grayling will take it because it is welcome appetizer. Often when the sun is shinning the chance to hook a fish with dry flies is much higher.
What I really like is to fish pocket waters, where the river is flowing fast and the rocks give a rippled water surface. The grayling has to decide fast to take the fly or not.

This spot I fished in the morning and did not hook any fish, it was also hard to see the small #17 fly in the shadow of the trees. I came back midday and it was on, I caught plenty of 15-16” grayling in the magic hour.

 

Fly-fishing since many years, I am still dreaming about hooking a 20” grayling on a dry fly. In the Traun River I have seen some good fish (+20”) coming up from very deep water and turned around half an inch before my fly. It seems the fish has taken your fly and you give it a hook set. In fact the fish has seen that’s something wrong in the last moment and it is hard to get him up again. The grayling is a good teacher for experienced fly-fisher and also for beginners... at least for me it is one of the most beautiful fish to catch.

If you like to plan a trip to the Traun River that is also well known for trophy trout, please check the homepage of “Freunde der Gmundner Traun”.