Feedback & Reports

After a "wash off" in August, I was looking forward to a day on this reknowned Irfon beat. Three weeks of weather watching provided probably the best water and weather conditions I've had all year. Ok, we can expect fallen leaves on and under the water, I've dealt with this in the past, a pain but par for the course at this time of year. I had success the day before with dry's further up the Irfon but thought I'd try a quick search via the duo or "mixed grill" as I heard it refered to recently ,ha ha! Nothing was proved by this but noticing some subtle rises on the glide downstream from the chapel, I tied on the "go to" Klink but nothing. Several rig changes and leaf removals later I gave in, contemplating some instruction next season because with most of the boxes ticked today, it must be me!

A glorious autumn day but with the first hard frost the night before I suspected the going was going to be difficult and this proved to be the case. The situation was not helped by shed loads of leaves drifting down the river in great floes. Bright fluorescent Klinkhammers were needed to spot the fly amongst them and heavy gold-heads to reach the fish which were hugging the bottom. I managed to return one 12" WBT and one 10" grayling so all was not lost. I look forward to returning on warmer days when I know this beat really does produce the goods.

Had a good day on Cefnllysgwynne, the water level was .43m and clean. A cloudy start with browns @10" taking grhe - three in total. After lunch the sun came out, on went the dry size 14 hare's ear parachute, may fly and pale watery dun and the grayling showed some interest with 19 cought between 7" and 18" and another 4 browns up to 12". All in all a great day.

What great surroundings to spend a day off work! Sadly couldn't get the grayling to come & join me. 2 trout to 13 ins returned safely . Lots of leaves on & in the water, my excuse! Will return soon.

Had a great day, caught lots of Grayling and Brownies, biggest Grayling 1lb 14oz, made up.

Originally booked to just fish for grayling but fortunately the lady in the Wye & Usk office pointed out that it was still possible to fish for salmon. As a result ended up taking both salmon and grayling gear. It was a long hard day with absolutely no interest from either species. At 5pm decided to have one last run through Church Catch. Right on the bend and Bingo. A nice 31 inch hen salmon. What a pleasant way to end the season.

River clear and at a good height (0.5 on the Cilmery gauge). Weather overcast, warm but with a persistent light drizzle. Despite such good conditions the fish were reluctant. We fished the top end of the fishery above the Grandstand and rose a few desultory fish to sparse hatches of Olives and Iron Blues and finished with three out of season trout and three or four grayling all about 8 or 9 inches. No interest to "bugs" fished hard over the gravel runs.

14 grayling and 10 out of season brown trout.

2 x small grayling around 10 inches, 4 x out of season trout to 11 inches. A very tough session with the Irfon running very high and a lot of debris. When we arrived it looked just about fishable, but with ongoing showers it rose and coloured slightly more, only dropping back again late afternoon. So much for the excuses. On the plus side, the sun shone in between showers, there was a double rainbow and the Irfon valley was looking at its most beautiful with trees in full autumn colours. As David said, standing in the Irfon at this time of the year is rather like being in one of Monet's paintings. Finished at dusk and found pub with a fire where we could drink whisky and warm up, while a distinct steam rose from under wader trousers.

Rain overnight certainly spoiled my day with the water up and leaves everywhere. The only place I dared to wade given the conditions was the Church catch. Water was starting to sort its self out by the end of the day but of course it was too late. Blank I'm afraid. Can I claim a wash off?