Feedback & Reports

Shared this stunning beat with a young J S from Bath who had a rather more successful day than me with his nymphs. With my weighted nymph collection sitting on the table 180 miles away, I was left to fish the tails with an Elk hair caddis. Picked off four fish from ten to fourteen inches during the bursts of sunshine and a 30 min hatch at 12.30. The continual down stream breeze strenghthend to more gusty conditions that took the enjoyment and ability to present a fly away for the day. All fish safely returned as was I to the Red Lion in Llangynydr. A good day.

4 Trout

A very warm, sunny day with a light upstream breeze, little cloud cover. This is a really lovely stretch with plenty of variety and some gorgeous views.
On the water for 11am to find trout already rising to the hatch. A mixture of types seemed to be coming off but March Browns started appearing in abundance around 11:45 until, I'd guess, about 12:30. This definitely counts as the most prolific March Brown hatch I've ever seen and the sport was excellent, particularly in the rougher water where the rises were harder to spot but the speed of water meant less time to inspect my fly tying efforts. Took 3 on a large dark olive pattern and 5 on a grey wulff, ranging from 7-16 inches, all returned.
Although upwings kept trickling off all day, surface activity was pretty much done by 1300. After a long lunch I tried a large, weighted caddis pupa in the deeper channels and connected with something pretty powerful which took a lot of line and stayed deep for 3 or 4 mintues before a quick dash to the surface and a head shake which popped out the fly. Couldn't tell the size from the brief flash, but it made a good story that evening.

8 Trout

Salmon fishing very slow so took my trout rod...caught a three quarter pound brown trout ( released in good health ) on a gold nymph. River in good flow but not too fierce.

1 Trout

Drove up from London same morning expecting river to be high and coloured, or to arrive in midst of downpour, or both. Delighted to find on arrival the day was merely overcast (with temperature around 8'C) and the water conditions were fine (1 1/4 on Brecon gauge). Fished flats for the most part from 11 am to 1.15 pm (B .C) or 2.45 pm (G W) respectively. Sporadic rises to LDOs early on followed by large hatch of March Brown from say 1.50pm to 2.20 pm that brought up more of the bigger fish. A few trout still rising when GW stopped fishing. Fish caught ranged from c6 oz to 1 1/2 lb and took Taff's emerger, hare's ear/ comparadun emerger and March Brown dun. Great start to season.
PS. Other reports have also noted a perceived recovery of the March Brown population on this river in recent years. Has there been a study on this, does anyone know, and if it's true (i.e. the recovery) does the report suggest why? I'm used to these things getting worse so it would be nice...

12 Trout

A heavy hatch of March Browns from around 11.30 to 1.15pm with some LDOs although the LDO hatch never got into full swing. Trout were taking the March Browns as they emerged at the start but were very fussy about which artificials they would take. We took fish on large CDC duns and deer hair emerger style patterns, as well as getting one or two on spiders. Best fish about 15 inches. We caught 6 but missed and lost many. Absolutely fantastic to see the March Browns hatching in such numbers.

6 Trout

After fishing this beat last week and catching fourteen trout to 14" I wanted to try again for some of the larger fish I had spotted. The sun was bright and the river lower making things tricky but by getting into position near the head of the pools and keeping still I was able to let the fish start feeding as a few March Browns and LDO's started coming off around late morning.Using a para Adams and a black tung bead PTN as a duo I caught some good fish with the best a very plump 17" and lost a couple of solid fish. Later on I fished the far bank fast runs with long leader nymphs (a new dual length rod is a great tool) and had good sport with fish to 15". With such beautiful weather I had to finish the day by stripping off and having a swim in the middle pool, life doesn't get much better!

8 Trout

Only sporadic small hatches of LDOs between 11 and 2.30 meant quite a few tackle changes but when the trout were rising they really hit hard. 1 on a GRHE early on followed by 4 decent fish, lean but fit, on Kite's Imperial who accounted for themselves well before being returned. The best at 40cm just didn't give up on the acrobatics. A lovely beat although I didn't get past the first two flats. A big otter roamed along the far bank at one point. I'm glad I brought my wading staff, the notes are spot on about the challenging rocky bottom. Plenty of parking on the road going up the hill.

5 Trout

Fish caught on nymphs and dries. Nothing to shout about but all fish in good condition, best trout was 14" and 4 silvery smolts. This beat has a great variety of water for its length making it a great place to practice different methods.

10 Trout, 4 Other

Fish were caught on dries and nymphs, nothing big with the best fish of 14". Some larger fish were pricked when nymphing but did not stick. A steady trickle of olives and a few March Browns came off during the day with Grannon showing latter on in the afternoon.

14 Trout

Nothing caught. Two or three fish rose on the lower flats to some dark olives for about half an hour around lunchtime and I am afraid I left an Imperial in one. Rather clumsy.