Feedback & Reports

2 fish caught near Doldowlod caravan park. Water turning colour after a morning of heavy rain. By evening the river was un-fishable. I did (with W&UF authorisation) an invertebrate sample. The river is almost devoid of life, I found a few stoneflies, segmented worms, a few small cased caddis, no up-winged flies of any kind. A really poor sample.

2 Trout

A good day for big fighting grayling. Not that I'm complaining but where are all the small ones? Lots of small stone flies about, probably yellow sallys but my entomology is not great. A stonefly imitation dry is what they preferred today. Not a sniff of a trout strangely. A very civilized beat if I may use that word. With little benches, pools neatly named and signed and a clear path running the length of it. Luxury!

10 Grayling

Hard days fishing as the river was pushing through hard and fast. Very little fly life and only the odd fish rising. Still caught all fish bar 2 on dries tan klink and pheasant tail para doing the business. All trout were small 8" to 10" grayling from 12" to 16".

5 Trout, 11 Grayling

Back again today. Lovely weather with the river slightly lower but still looking good. Lots of Grayling and a few trout. All the fish coming to the New Zealand method with most taking the PTN but a few taking the large Elk Hare life jacket Caddis. What struck me was the larger than average size of the Graying and this was backed up by the other angler on the beat I spoke to. Most fish were 14-16" but two were more like 18". Wonderful fishing.

3 Trout, 10 Grayling

Fish was rising on and off through the day, so caught mainly on dries on sedges. Fish was smutting on small flies and changed flies thoughout the day. Many fish missed. Fish taken throughout the whole beat with grayling and trout up to 2lbs and another rod had a cracking grayling around the 3lbs mark.

4 Trout, 24 Grayling

Another day on this superb beat. Sean the owner again took time to point me at specific areas and hotspots. The river looked perfect. I had a few grayling and missed many more over the course of the day. The first however was a immaculate personal best 19.5 " specimen that grabbed my Holy Grail nymph. What a fish! The rest were taken on dries today. One of the things that I really like about this beat is it's accessibility.

5 Grayling

I arrived at around 11AM and by chance met Sean in the car park. He told me he owns this beat and offered to show me around. What followed was that he essentially became my professional guide for the day and apart from his insight and knowledge even gave me some coaching. Lots of grayling were caught, mainly to him, but I had a few and missed even more all to dries. They were taking small elk hair yellow and olive patterns. A fantastic day on this beautiful beat with great company. I learnt a huge amount, not only about the river but technique. Many thanks Sean.

4 Grayling

This beat was fished by five members of the Grayling Society on this occasion. The river was running clear at 12C and was well up owing to compensation water from the Elan Reservoirs.

1 Trout

Arrived late and only had a couple of hours or so. River looked in great condition but struggled to get any takes today.

The river was back down to just above summer level but was flowing quite quickly, the weather was overcast, warm with a heavy downpour around 1700 hrs. Very few fish rising and no significant insect hatch all day, I fished with the intention of catching trout and achieved catching nine fish to 2lb, all were in excellent condition and all returned.
The large fish took a GRHE the rest, all around the pound mark, took partridge/orange or snipe/purple size 14 fished across and down and we're all taken at the tail of the pools.
Regards Brian.

9 Trout