Feedback & Reports

River clear and with good flow. Very little insect life. Air temp 14C . Water temp 8C. Not much moving. Caught both fish on large nymph. Better fish 13 inch.

2 Trout

6 Trout

Arrived early for first full outing after an interminably long close season. River 0.90 m and dropping slowly with perfect colour. A water and air temp of 9 c accompanied by a northerly wind made it difficult to stay warm when wading. The river looked so fishy though.
Rewarded with a 12 lb silver torpedo at 9.30 which took a conehead Feeler Cascade presented on a T14 10 ft tip. Good fight and swam off strongly. What a start to the season !
Saw another fish head and tail by the cables. Otherwise not a single March Brown or LDO seen never mind a rising trout.

1 Salmon

took a grayling on the French leader from craiglyn falls I dropped down to penalow pool where a small hatch of large dark olives I had 2 grayling on drys then dropped down to Harry's pocket and had 2 more on drys I went back up outside the hut for a coffee and a very large hatch of large brook dun around 3pm the fish went mental rising all over penalow pool i struggled to match the hatch I did manage 3 more

8 Grayling

Fresh run 18 lb fish taken by grandson James Downes on yellow flying C.

1 Salmon

One lovely 2lb grayling to save a blank! Took a size 14 light green olive off the top. Bitterly cold wind all day, tried about 2 dozen nymph patterns but nothing, only a saw a few rises, thought they were small trout splashes until one took my dry.
Alltogether a hard day but on a beautiful part of the river and a stunning grayling to end it all.

1 Grayling

Good amount of water pushing through. The morning started of slow, 2 wbt 1lb & 1.5lb on nymphs. LDO’s started hatching in the afternoon, resulting in 3 wbt 1.5-2lb on dries. Not a bad day.

5 Trout

Chrome bright fish, circa 12lb , Willie Gunn 1.5in copper tube very light dressing, size 8 double hook on super fast sink tip in Mill Stream, Rectory, photographed in net in water at 10.25 am. Safely released without damage.

1 Salmon

Not a touch unfortunately.Cold North East wind kept the temperature around 7C. A nice spot spoilt somewhat by the very noisy road in the background.

After fishing the Beacons reservoir in the morning I decided to have a first look at this beat as I was so close . I parked at Vaynor church and fished a couple of pools by the footbridge. Good numbers of Olives hatching when I arrived around 2 pm and saw a fish rising just above the bridge. Caught that one on the second cast then hooked and lost another shortly after.

1 Trout