Feedback & Reports

Did not fish. Viewed the river at Irfon Bridge Road. It was high and cocoa coloured. The Wye in Builth car park was also high and coloured. The rain of the previous two days had affected the rivers. I drove up to Rhayader, bought a ticket at the newsagents and fished the River Elan in splendid condition and caught.

An overcast day with bursts of sunshine made for a pleasant day on this relaxing beat. The water was low but enabled you to cover most parts of the river. No real hatch to speak of but still a few rises. Two Grayling, 8 & 12 inches to dry fly and two Absolutely stunning wbt of 9 & 11 inches on an olive emerger. Aren't the Irfon brownies beautiful!

2 Trout, 2 Grayling

I was welcomed by the owner when I arrived at the river and he told me a lot about the beat including its rich wildlife and the importance of avoiding the environmentally sensitive area. He corrected the map sent by WUF showing me that the lower limit is slightly further downstream of the wooded area. There is a sign on a tree. He didn't think the upstream limit stretched as far as that shown.
The fishing was challenging as the river was incredibly low and conditions bright, hot and still. I was casting to fish I could see on the long glides and although a number had a go at my dry fly none of them stuck (my poor timing, I suspect). If I could have spent more time there I'm sure nymphs would have paid dividends in the deep pools and gutters. I saw fish of varying sizes including a couple of good grayling and a chub. I'd certainly like to return to this beautiful stretch of the Irfon and wouldn't be put off by hot, dry conditions.

I'll have to give this river another try. Only had an hour and a 7ft rod and it's quite a big bit of water. Fell in despite it being the easiest wading of the trip! Ran for hotel and warm clothes.

1 Trout

A bit of a tough day, plus some incompetence! Not too much rising, managed just two takes to dry fly and failed to connect with either of them. Hooked a small trout on a ptn, but managed to lose that too.

Pleasant day but with a cold wind, blowing straight down the river. Good hatch of olives at 12noon when wind dropped,fish started rising and I connected with a couple before the wind got up again and it went dead after a 10min flurry.

2 Trout

Temperature just above 1 degree at 9am with a very cold easterly wind. No signs of life despite best efforts with bugs and nymphs. Lovely beat and suspect will fish better once warmed up, including myself!!

A very pleasant beat. Unfortunately, the grayling eluded me! I fished through the entire beat with Czech nymphs suspended from a bite indicator to no avail. Caught a 3lb out of season trout which was returned.

After a very slow and icey, scary drive along the old hospital road (do take care on this winding lane) we arrived at the Gofynne beat which is a beautiful part of the river Irfon. It was a cold start at 3 degrees. We fished nymphs and bugs in the clear water and had to fish a lot of the beat to find the elusive Grayling. C found a few rising fish swapped the nymphs over to a small tan F fly and was straight into a hard fighting Grayling which he nicely played into the net a lovely conditioned fish about 1.5lb. He took another good fighting Grayling. I
was not so lucky. We saw a big salmon as we crossed the river. Saw one Cormarant fly over.

Fished from 12 noon for two and a half hours in bright sunshine. Advised locally that river was high, had a lot of leaves and associated debris flowing and was running very fast - this proved to be an accurate assessment of river condition. Sporadic hatch of Olives. Saw no fish - raised no fish with a dry - contacted no fish with nymph/bug.
Despite all of the above an enjoyable November fishing trip - will definitely go back in 2013.