Feedback & Reports

1 x grayling 1.5lbs. 1 x trout 10oz. Karen had 1 brownie of 10oz.

One chub caught on a dry fly on what seemed like a perfect trouting spring day. I saw what I thought was a good trout early on as I arrived at the beat but it might have been a chub. There was quite a hatch starting around 11.00am and fish were rising but were they all chub?! Despite the day getting warmer and the water was low and gin clear I did not see or spook a trout all day. After 1.00pm the hatch slowed down. This is a marvellous stretch of river but one has to wonder about the trout population. Beware of wearing felt soles on the slate bottom which is currently covered in fine layer of mud - it is worse than ice.

No fish caught (trotting with maggot). After all the rain the previous day the Irfon was still slightly high, although it was fishable. It rained again during the morning, which brought the river up again by a few inches. The sun finally made an appearance after lunch, which caused a few stoneflies to hatch and a brought on a short-lived rise from what I assumed to be trout. It's a shame the river wasn't fishing as well as it was last week, but it's always nice to be up at Cefnllysgwynne.

Trotted maggot. One chub 3lb, one small trout.

Good days sport, with 7 grayling from one and a half pound to two pound and two out of season trout both of about one and a half pound and in really good condition. I also lost numerous other fish on hook pulls until I tried a slightly larger hook so I could put a bit more strain on the fish. All fish taken on float fished red maggot trotted down in various swims between the little weir and the church.

We fished the top end of the stretch and, having read TH's review of his day on the lower end, we know where all the grayling were. We float fished maggot all day and only had 2 grayling about 1.5lbs, but we had 3 trout about 2lbs and a sea trout (yes, quite sure) of getting on for 3lbs. Trout/sea trout weights an estimate because all released in the water. River level higher than ideal but clear and fishable.

10 grayling, one at 12oz, the rest in the 1lb 4oz to 2lb range. Also a chub of about 4lb.

Inspired by O.B. from Gloucestershire's last visit to Cefnllysgwynne I decided to sneak in one last Grayling session (long trotting with the centre pin) before getting ready for the new trout season. Sadly I picked the wrong day weather-wise. It rained heavily all morning and then, once the rain stopped, the river rose by over a foot and turned chocolate brown. Needless to say, there was no sign of any grayling, and the only fish caught was a very unexpected (but nonetheless welcome) 1.75lb rainbow trout. I'm assuming this is an escapee from a hatchery rather than stocked (?). I wasn't sure of the etiquette on taking non-native fish, but it was in great shape so I treated it like an out-of-season brown trout, and returned it.
I love this beat so will be back again for the grayling in late Autumn, when I hope for a catch return like O.B's.

12 x grayling 12-18 inches, trotting with maggots. Irfon back in good condition. Most of them were a very nice size of around 15-16 inches.

3 x grayling 14-18 inches, trotting maggot. Driving through heavy rain on the way up to Builth, it did strike me that I had been rather optimistic to book into Cefnllysgwynne with this much precipitation predicted. On arrival at 9 o'clock I found the Irfon already high, but still reasonably clear, so I made a start. After a bit, a very heavy trout took the bait close to the rod top and made a series of three jumps on its way downstream before opening the hook. That explained, to my mind, why there were no grayling on that spot. The river was now rising but after a while I began to get bites a long way downstream, and took a grayling of 14 inches, followed by two lovely fish at 17 inches and 18 inches, both of which took a long time to play up-current. However, by this time the river had risen drastically, coloured up and become full of debris. The fish switched off and it was all over by 11 o'clock.