The grayling is halfway between the coregonids and the salmonids; it is not a trout and not a whitefish, but has characteristics of both. They are one of the most beautiful fish of the northlands, delicious and easy to catch on almost any lure.

 In Alaska, we ran into grayling only in the lower third of the river we floated. The upper river was dominated by dolly varden, and apparently the two species do not mix well because when we started catching grayling, no dollies were to be found. We also ventured up a few small, crystal-clear creeks that held good populations of grayling. In these creeks, a small, couch-sized hole behind a mid-stream boulder would give up as many as a dozen fish. Nymphing produced in these situations, and a #10 caddis pupa was our best pattern. A few small fish were taken on dry flies, but the larger fish were not interested in surface feeding.
In the main river, we caught grayling incidentally while targeting rainbow trout in fast, bouldery runs. They took egg patterns and small, bright flies. While not the hardest-fighting fish, grayling are just too neat-looking to pass up. A mature male will sport the tall, sail-like dorsal fin that the species is famous for. Females and juveniles do not develop this pronounced sail. The electric purples, blues and chartruese colors just cannot be captured by a photograph, so you will need to go catch one to understand the grayling's beauty. Grayling are also very good as a food fish. They have white, flaky meat that is very mild in flavor.