Feedback & Reports

What a day I had! Firstly a BIG Thank You to Oliver Burch who guided/instructed me for the day. Oliver, who suggested this lovely beat on the Irfon, not only imparted some of his vast knowledge of the art of fly fishing to my willing ears but was also delightful company. I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Oliver, he has the skill of a good teacher in the way that he freely but gently imparts his wealth of experience.
Thank you also to Kathryn at the Cammarch hotel for an excellent pot of coffee on arrival, most welcome after a 96 mile drive.
So...to the fishing, it was superb! I havn't been too successful with "The Lady of the stream" in the past so my brief to Oliver was to try to change this. He and the Irfon, met and surpassed all my expectations. The beat below the Hotel is delightful and the river was in tip top condition coming off the high water of earlier in the week. The days total was 9 Grayling and one BT to the net, and 2 or 3 other Grayling and a small Brownie hooked and lost. Of the 9 Graying 4 were taken on the dry fly even though rises and fly life were sparce through the day, and 5 nymphing all falling to a pink shrimp over a tungsten beaded Hares ear.(Oliver please correct me here if my description of the flies is incorrect.)
As for the size of the Grayling they ranged from 1/2 lb to a real "Boaster" of a fish of 17 inches with an estimated weight of 2 1/2 lbs plus. Considering my previous best Grayling was about a pound you can imagine my delight at the big one!
During the long drive home I re-ran the mental tape of a memorable day and will try to remember as much as possible of what Oliver taught me......I can't wait to return!

Rose one salmon to orange cascade but no contact. Midday 2h session with trout rod produced 7 grayling up to 14" and one sea liced trout around 13". Enjoyable day with nice water flow, light winds and good company.

A lovely relaxed days fishing on the Irfon. Cloudy with a sporadic breeze, a little drizzle. River falling with a bit of height and colour. Eleven brown trout (mostly 8" plus, a few up to 12"; and 11 grayling (12" to 16"). In total 22 lovely fish all returned safely. Few sporadic rises. All but one fish (GRHE) caught on dries, mostly traditional dry Adams (14), and a few on a black klink. Didn't seem interested in nymphs or bugs. Good views of otter on opposite bank. Can't wait for my next visit.

Less productive the my previous day on the Honddu but another lovely stream. Gin clear water that looked as if it had been a foot or two higher recently. Prolific hatches of small upwing flies (I'm no bug expert and profoundly colourblind)) all day but the only fish I saw was 1 small WBT about 8" that took a tiny sedge imitation just after lunch. No bother though I was very happy to move slowly up the stream sitting on the banks watching the wildlife. Red kites, kingfishers, dippers, water voles and busy squirrels. I saw an otter dive underwater upstream then he popped up about 12 feet in front of me just checking me out. He disappeared quickly but I heard him squeaking away for the next hour or so. The wind and rain came in and I headed back to London very relaxed and Happy.

Nil Catch.
A few fish jumping but not as many as previous sessions it seemed. Quite a few comorants on stretch (4-5 at one stage).

6 wbt caught and released ranging from 6-9". Fished with a tan klinkhammer with a gh ptn New Zealand style. Lots more raised and lost. This is a lovely beat, I fished the upper half as there was another rod fishing the lower half. The river was running fast and wading was extremely difficult even with a wading stick, I had a dunking after lunch!

11 brown trout caught on nymph. Good.

7 WBT. Good average size 10" - 12" (larger fish seen, lost fish est. 18").

FISHED FROM AROUND 2pm UNTILL DUSK, MANAGED TO CATCH 6 CHUB & 4 BARBEL BETWEEN US ALL TAKEN ON PELLET, EVERY FISH IN SUPERB CONITION & COLOUR. CANOEISTs NO PROBLEM AT ALL, THANKS TO IAN & ALL AT WYE&USK FOR ANOTHER ENJOYABLE DAY ON THE WYE .

A lovely days fishing with the water stilling lowering and having a "rusty" colour haze to it's usual clear colour. There were plenty of Salmon jumping(about 7 jumps heard
and 4 seen on the Coleman's beat - one missing my orange dazzler fly by 6 inches!). No catches unfortunately.

Should be better for this coming Wednesday, as long as the river continues to gain it's clarity.