After postponing the Puritz Grayling day from the original date at the end of Feb due to high river levels the PAAS club Grayling day finally went ahead on Sunday 7th March. The venue was the River Dee at Erbistock.
14 anglers turned out to fish, some of who had travelled a fair distance for the day. It was good to see members returning from last 
years event for a shot at the trophy in addition to some new faces. A spell of dry, cold weather had meant that the river was running low at only 0.5m and below summer average. Added to this, the water was crystal clear and the bright cloudless sky suggested that the fishing was going to be challenging! Anglers were paired up for the day and headed off to their chosen spots to begin fishing at 10am. Format for the day was to be a relaxed event, no size restriction on fish caught with anglers being able to fish the whole length of the clubs stretch. As with last years event, there was a fair range of abilities on the day, some who had yet to catch their first Grayling.
Most anglers set out adopting a czech nymph approach to begin with, using heavily weighted flies that would get down to where the fish were likely to be. By midday we began to realise that the fishing was going to be tough as only 1 grayling had been caught. Kevin O’Sullivans pink bug had taken a fish and given him an advantage going into the afternoon session.
After a short 30 minute break, and a warm in the pub, the afternoon session started for the remaining 2 hours. Fishing was again hard, but a concentration of fish appeared along the middle stretches of the beat and a few anglers managed to winkle a few fish from this area.
By the end of the competition at 3pm, 10 grayling had been caught between 4 anglers and the placings for the top 3 anglers on the day were:-
Kevin O’Sullivan 3
Neil Thomas 3 [Neil had never caught a grayling before!!]
Mike Dench 3
In the event of a draw it was decided at the start of the comp that the angler that caught the first grayling would be the winner. Therefore Kevin O’Sullivan was the eventual winner on the day……well done Kevin. He was presented with the Puritz Trophy and a very nice Sonik SK Lite aluminium fly reel. At least you’ll look the part now Kevin even when you’re not catching anything!!
Many thanks to Malc Capper and the baliff, John Davies, who helped me with the organisation of the day. Also thanks to Sonik Sports for their kind support – Mike