What are your favorite Arctic Grayling flies? I have a chance to go chase Grayling in July. If I can catch just one, it will fill a small section of my 41 year old bucket list. Thanks ahead.
Joe,
The ones I caught (very small sample size) in Montana and Alaska stillwater’s were on softhackles like this (with and without a bead head)
Tried for them on some little blue lines in SW Montana with dries I found on some U.K. sites; couldn’t find any grayling looking up that trip but brook trout ate them.
Brookes’ Fancy
Tommy’s Favorite
Like I said, my sample size is very small, but from what I can tell, they’re not real picky.
Regards,
Scott
Regards,
Scott
Those are some good looking bugs. The bodies on those dries; are they made from erased peacock herl?
i have only been for grayling for one week in Saskatchewan Canada near the artic circle and the was in the fall. We caught them until our arms ached. Simple dun gray size 14 16 dry flies were best in the evening . During mornings an days a dark brown size 10 marabou leech jig drifted and occasionally twitched thru the moderate runs and pools was simply deadly
Joe,
Thanks. The Brookes’ Fancy is purple floss ribbed with peacock Herl; the Tommy’s Favorite is a macaw primary feather from a friend’s bird that was molting.
Regards,
Scott
Have fished for them in AK, and they pretty much took the same stuff the trout were on. Best fly for that one trip was just a BWO pattern (Mercer’s Micro Mayfly) but I think we got a few on eggs as well, by the nymph definitely outperformed them, for whatever reason. This was in a river system with a lot of rain, so we were never able to ever rise any on dries. I suspect as long as your trout box is well stocked, you already have flies that will work.
Maybe you could get some rises to a Klinkhamer? They were developed for Grayling.
Forgot about Klinks; good call. If you do a search on grayling patterns on the U.K. fly fishing site https://www.flyfishing.co.uk you’ll find plenty of flies to choose from
Regards,
Scott
We chased them in a Yellowstone lake and caught them on pretty much anything. I fished a brassie, and switched to a Griffith’s gnat.
I don’t know if it’s Grayling in general or just Yellowstone Grayling, but the latter never struck me as being much of a challenge. Taken quite a few over the decades on hopper and yellow stimulators size 8 - 10, never have needed to resort to a nymph or wet.
After a long lifetime of chasing grayling under a wide variety of conditions I can assure you they are very fussy feeders! For one they insist the fly be tied on your line! They do not insist the fly actually rest on the water though as many times I have had them jump out of the water to take a suspended fly.
Big grayling can take a surprisingly big fly considering how small their mouths are. I have pictures of a grayling with a size 2, 3XL Wooly Bugger in his mouth! He was roughly 22" though.
Where they are hard pressed they can actually be very particular, like in the Delta-Clearwater River in central AK. Very clear water, biggish grayling, and a tendency to be leader-shy and concerned with drag makes it a very tough fishery for the careless. The worst part is you can see SO many fish!
Stimulators are a very good choice as they float high and are easy to see… I like tying and fishing the Goddard Caddis and it is a favorite for me. I also use a ton of soft hackles.
Hey Hap!
Nice to “see” you!
Good to see you around, too! I see you left the 'burg!?! How could you do that? 
Much going on here and with my first grandson due in October I am getting a bit more busy than usual. My granddaughter is 2 and I spend lots of time with her.
Hap, that sounds great! I am looking forward to my first grandchild any day now! She was due late last week but she has other ideas and is holding out for a better signing bonus.
We are enjoying life on the edge of the palouse and like the closeness to great fishing.