Why do Arctic grayling bite so readily?
“Arctic grayling are renowned for their willingness
to take a lure, fly, or bait. Some anglers say that Arctic
grayling are “stupid” or “gullible”, but the life history of
these fish offers some clues as to why they bite so well.
As far as we can tell, Arctic grayling spend most of the
winter in deep pools under the ice. Because the water is
so cold during winter, Arctic grayling don’t feed very
much (that’s why they are sometimes hard to catch under
the ice). Grayling must store enough energy to make it
through the winter and be able to migrate to spawning areas
in spring. After spawning, Arctic grayling must feed
voraciously during the entire summer. They feed like
crazy so that the eggs and sperm for next year’s
spawning can be developed before freeze-up in the fall.
This is why many anglers notice that grayling caught
during fall look like they are going to spawn during the
next few weeks. Because summer is short in Northern
Alaska, Arctic grayling don’t have much time to spawn,
feed and prepare for spawning next spring. In other words,
grayling can’t help the fact that they feed on anything
(your fly, for example) that happens to float by. This life
history, although fast and frenzied, has made Arctic grayling
one of the most common fish in northern regions of Alaska.
Their life history also makes grayling very susceptible to
angling. Their eagerness to feed, however, has led to stock
collapse in some instances. For example, the Chena River
still supports (much to the concern of fishery managers) a
fairly large harvest of Arctic grayling. In 1989, anglers
aught and kept more than 13,000 fish over 12 inches long.”
Originally published c. 2003 on Fly Anglers Online by Bob Fairchild.