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Arctic Grayling
Thymallus arcticus |
RON PITTARD GRAPHIC
TEXT BY GREG MCDERMID
The Arctic grayling is the perfect fly rod quarry.
Beautiful, forgiving, and free rising to a fault, this
species is a favorite of all who have pursued it. There
is only one problem: Grayling in North America are
largely restricted to northern latitudes well away from
people.
It wasn’t always so. Remnant populations of Arctic
grayling were once abundant in Lake Huron drainages in
Michigan, and the species occupied several watersheds in
Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, and southern Alberta. Extremely
vulnerable to overfishing and habitat degradation, they
have been completely eradicated in the east, and greatly
reduced in the west. Southern anglers wishing to tangle
with a Grayling nowadays must acquire detailed
directions to pristine streams in Montana or
Yellowstone, or visit one of the artificially-maintained
lakes scattered through the Rockies.
To truly experience Arctic grayling fishing at its
finest, you need to head to northern Canada or Alaska,
where boreal solitude has preserved vast areas of
pristine wilderness. In a land dominated by big pike and
monstrous lake trout, the Arctic grayling seems
paradoxically dainty. A bronze- or silver-hued fish with
large scales and a deeply-forked tail, the grayling’s
calling card is its huge, sail-like dorsal fin, commonly
tipped in lavender, purple, or red. In large males, this
fin commonly extends beyond the adipose, and stands
three- to four-inches tall when fully extended. It’s
something you’ll never forget, and makes it impossible
to mistake an Arctic grayling for anything else.
Arctic grayling (above) are extinct in their native
range in Michigan, and only a few isolated populations
still exist in Montana and the southern Rocky Mountains.
The Canadian Arctic and Alaska are the best places in
the world to catch these fish.
While mostly associated with rivers and streams, Graying
also occupy some of the larger northern lakes. In fact,
the largest specimens--in the five- and six-pound
range--seem to come primarily from Canada’s Great Bear
Lake.
Almost exclusively insectivores, Arctic grayling are
particularly suited to dry-fly fishing. So eager are
they to rise to the fly, that even hard-core beer-gutted
northern hardware fishermen have been known to set aside
the heavy gear when confronted by grayling. In fact, it
seems criminal to do anything else.
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