Feedback & Reports

Good stain on the water made for a productive day

No fish caught but had two rises. Had a major problem with the cows in the field next to river above the weir. They were very persistent and made it impossible to fish from that side of the river.

One twelve inch fish on a dry Tups. Few fish seen to be surface feeding.

1 Trout

Very quiet on the top of the water this evening which is a bit unusual for here , even the 'banker' runs didn't bring a riser despite best efforts. Maybe it was the rather cool and very gusty wind coming down the valley? Who knows, there's always next time! Could do with a good flush through though (as they all can I'm very sure) and looking at the gauges this evening they have it. Hurrah !

I've just taken out a Wild Streams season pass, so this was my first outing. I haven't fished for trout on a small river for 20+ years so I was bit rusty to say the least. What an enjoyable day though. I had a great morning exploring this beat.
The water was low but there were fish in all the likely looking spots. I only managed to land & return one small 8" brown trout. I touched a few and lost a couple in the series of pools between the railway bridge and the bottom of the beat. Most of them were going for a gold bead hare's ear nymph.
I am fairly clueless as to what flies I should be fishing. The comments on successful flies on these catch reports are really useful for tips. Fishing the whole beat and 20+ pools with only a few casts/flicks in each was a new and really enjoyable experience.
The WUF set-up and excellent website and maps have been a great discovery. Hopefully I can soon hone my skills. Being keen to explore I fished the adjacent Honddu Pandy beat in the afternoon and also the nearby Upper Grywne Fawr beat but with no luck at either.

1 Trout

Fished from 14.00 to 19.00 all fish on the dry fly small black gnat

6 Trout

With the lack of rain over the last few weeks I wasn’t really sure what to expect… but I was desperate to fish and this was the only day I had free. It was pretty fresh first thing, with light cloud. The sun did eventually break through mid morning and it turned into a stunner of a day.

I have fished here once before quite a few years ago and things did look slightly different. Of course the Honddu was low for most of this beat, but with a bit of searching there were some deeper and faster flowing sections, but much of it was either very shallow or barely moving. I struggled to start with on this small stream to get the technique right, and the trees and vegetation all around were ‘interesting’! After a few snags and tangles I got into a bit of a rhythm, more on a flick than an actual cast.

I wasn’t really expecting much but the fish came in the morning session up until about 2pm. I caught four (in varying sizes) and missed a few. I stopped then for lunch, and after that there was no action at all. A massive hatch started mid afternoon, with all sorts and sizes taking to the air (someone with greater knowledge than me would have to tell me what they all were). In some sections of the river the air was thick with flying insects, zipping around in giant balls, clouds of life... but there seemed to be no rising fish at all! Nothing. I sat and watched on many occasions, but nothing. So I stuck with my trusty Klinkhammer indicator with a copper Hare’s Ear dropper, and I was just about to call it a day when a massive WBT tugged on my line (at about 7pm approx). This was a big fish for such a small stream and put on a hell of a fight. Having lost a few earlier in the day I was worried that I may lose this one too, but thankfully I netted it. A beautiful fish, and a great end to the day.

This was wild stream fishing at is best, in such a beautiful part of the world. The only things that would improve it for me would be a sign or marker to show where the non-fishing section of the stream starts and finishes around the old fish farm, and some plastic pipe on the barbed wire fences that you have to cross would be useful. All fish returned.

5 Trout

The river was looking a little fresher after a small lift last week but still needs more, as they all do around here. All quiet as far as any fly coming off or falling in so prospected with the old workhorse of a fly, black klinkhammer .
Only worked up to the house below the fish farm today as was quite a windy day and with it coming in from all directions too!
Picking off trout here and there in the 6 to 8 inch bracket, none of the bigger chaps wanted to play today but still great fun but the highlight was a 14inch cock grayling, never had any grayling out of here before, lovely! Am certain there was another decent one in the same pool too as fluffed a couple of the those 'blipping' grayling type rises !

6 Trout, 1 Grayling

Fished for a couple of hours late afternoon. Excellent beat, the water running lower than I expected with the recent rain but still fishable. I took 3 small trout and a grayling from the faster runs with a gold head pheasant nymph but missed several more on the dry. Not on my game and should really have had double figures. I put it down to the really aggressive herd of cows that ran at me forcing me to beat a hasty retreat and scramble over barbed wire. Must be something in the water of the Honddu.

3 Trout, 1 Grayling