Autumn Update: Beat 10 – Trekelland – Inny open for winter grayling fishing.
Following review by LAA Committee, Beat 10 – Trekelland – Inny will be open from 1st November 2026 for winter grayling fishing by artificial fly only. Please note that natural baits are now not allowed on this beat at any time of year. Remember LAA general regulations, advice and Environment Agency byelaws continue to apply.
LAA request members’ care and understanding when visiting this beat due to riparian tree management and agricultural operations currently being undertaken along the beat. Always park your car responsibly around the vicinity of Trekelland Bridge due to recent damage repair works to the bridge and approaches.
Should anglers wish to fish for grayling over the winter LAA request you follow the advice below:
Wading Advice while Angling for Grayling
Salmon, sea trout and brown trout spawn during the grayling season. If you are grayling fishing and need to wade; avoiding ‘redds’ is good practice.
Redds are nests where salmonid fish have laid their eggs, which if disturbed and trampled on by wading anglers could cause egg and fry mortality. Therefore, in winter, anglers should take care to avoid such areas and give a wide berth to spawning salmon, trout and sea trout.
Look for clean, recently disturbed gravel. The act of creating a redd involves the female salmon or trout disturbing gravel, which makes a circular area, varying from around one square foot in size for brown trout increasing to several square feet for larger seatrout and salmon, that has cleaner looking gravel than the surrounding area. Eggs are laid inside the gravel nest, where the male fertilises them before they are covered up by the spawning fish fanning loose gravels over them. Redds can appear as a combination of a mound and a depression in the gravel. The mound, where the eggs are located, will be downstream of the depression.
When fishing gravel-rich spate rivers such as the Tamar and its tributaries, you must avoid wading on gravel beds, shallow tails of pools, and areas with aquatic plant cover to protect incubating eggs and young fish.
The Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975, Section 2(4) makes it a criminal offence to wilfully disturb spawn, spawning fish, or any spawning bed, bank, or shallow (known as a redd) where spawn or spawning fish may be.
Specific Areas to Avoid Wading
The Tails of Pools (Glides): Spawning salmon and trout specifically target the smooth, accelerating water just above a riffle. This shallow, uniform flow provides the perfect intra gravel oxygenation for their nests. Avoid stepping anywhere near these tail-end glides.
- Shallow Gravel Riffles: Golf-ball to softball-sized gravel is the prime substrate for redds. Avoid walking through these shallow, fast-flowing gravelly stretches, particularly from late autumn through to spring when eggs and alevins (hatched fry with yolk sacs) are buried beneath the stones.
- In-Stream Plant Communities & Margins: Juvenile salmonids (parr and fry) rely heavily on underwater plant cover and slack-water margins to hide from predators and to rest. Wading through these marginal nursery habitats can displace young fish or damage the vegetation they depend on.
How to Spot and Avoid Redds
- Look for Bright Patches: Fresh redds appear as distinctly clean, lighter-coloured circular depressions or mounds in the gravel because the female fish has fanned away the dark algae and silt.
- Beware of “Invisible” Redds: After several weeks, algae re-colonises the stones, masking the nest. Even if the gravel looks identical to the rest of the riverbed, assume any stable, mid-stream gravel pocket could be harbouring life.
- Stay Close to the Bank: If wading is absolutely required to traverse the river, stick tightly to the margins or walk on secure bedrock and larger substrate rather than cutting across mid-river gravel bars.
- Don’t do the “Grayling Shuffle”: If you are winter fishing for grayling, never intentionally shuffle your boots to disturb the riverbed and attract fish. This practice can easily dislodge or crush invisible salmonid eggs