Feedback & Reports

Cold and cloudy. River level very low . Tried wet flies and nymphs. Some good tugs but no trout caught. Beautiful beat and despite nothing much happening, I had a good day immersed in nature.

Fish sadly not very cooperative today.
Saw one rise all day (which I could not get to come again) and Klink and dink and Deep nymph no joy either. But a lovely beat and The river very clear - to the extent that sight fishing would even have been possible if there has been a bit more sun.
Nb a word for the keen euro nympher: when they say felt soles and studs recommended here for wading they really mean it. I would not even think about trying to nymph here without them. On some of the wye and usk grayling beats you can get away without them - but not here.

15lb coloured cock fish from middle of beat. Very hard wading in high water...

1 Salmon, 1 Grayling

Not sure if the Ddol farm gauge is telling me the truth today, it claims it to be 0.65 but it looked like 0.75. I've fished it at 0.65 several times and it is a nice level, but today I couldn't even get out to some of the spots and the river bed wasn't visable anywhere. Anyway enough of the excuses because I did manage to catch a few later in the day (it did go down a little) the best grayling was 16". Its great to be back here again I've waited quite a while for the weather to cool and the rivers to drop!
WUF Note: The Elan dams began over-topping the day before, which would explain the extra water not registered on the Ddol Farm gauge located above the Elan confluence.

2 Trout, 4 Grayling

River high and clear, no salmon seen or touched here. Two obliging trout.

2 Trout

River low, very bright , plus cold start, ended up Tenkara fishing and caught a few in the faster pockets

1 Trout, 5 Grayling

First time on the Wye, only fished the lower section , river looked great but quiet no activity on the surface but thought I would give it a go anyway. Tried klinkhammer for a couple of hours to no avail. As the day warmed a hatch of a few what looked like pale watery so delved into the fly box to match the hatch , action at last . 3 takes straight off missed the first 2 connected the 3rd and lost it just as quick. Will be back . Nice beat think a bit more water on would help and less sun

What a difference a week makes. Last week I fished in short sleeves in the afternoon. This week I was shivering in two fleeces. Bright sunshine and a cold northerly wind made things more difficult. We struggled to finsh fish with nymphs and despite a few flies in the air and on the water, there was only the very occasional rise. What gayling we did catch, were a little larger than last week, with several at 14". Overall, 8 grayling between 3 of us, all on nymphs. Fished ~ 10 - 4pm. River low and clear.

8 Grayling

Fishing with JB. We had planned a 3 day session to end the season but the weather plainly had other ideas. Even this day looked dodgy a few days beforehand but we decided that there would be a clear slot based on forecasts nearer the time – and the weather performed exactly on cue, with the rain finishing as we arrived at dead on 10 am and returning at 6 pm. In between things were remarkably clement although the temperature did drop as the day wore on.

The river was low which means that the fish in the usual spots are not so keen to play. So a bit of a hunt was needed and there is plenty of water here for them to hide in. Things were slow to start but once the fish were found sport was brisk, although there were only a few risers. Parachute dries worked as usual, although they can get a bit damp at times….

At Gromain on Sunday the large grayling we had were predominantly females. Here it was the opposite – mostly males. And thick solid muscular fish, some of which took 5 minutes to bring to hand. 16 in total – mostly in the 16 to 18 inch size range, smallest 12 inches but two clonkers knocking on 20 inches. Stunning fishing! And plenty of small grayling in the margins that were so small they could drown a fly but not take it. Mr Spotty trout was absent from our catches although a few were seen …

Looks like Louis and the gang have dealt with the knotweed too… great job, none seen on this visit, thanks for picking up on report. This could be our last trip out this year so many thanks to the WUF team for some excellent fishing in trying times.

16 Grayling