Feedback & Reports

Funny sort of weather this morning!!! 13 degrees overcast, much like October tbh !! I decided I'd give the edw a crack , been a while since I've given this trib a fish ....
Got to the Cregrina bridge about tenish, river looking low and clear ....eeekkkkkk !!! Stealthy tactics today me thinks !! And that was just what was needed, fished dry as always, with my six foot, two weight tod,...and actually from half twelve quite a few rises, especially the tricky calmer water above the bridge to Glan Edw Farm ..Great solid takes to my Para Iron Blue.... spot on !!! Look like the trout were hitting on small black midgy stuff !!! Saw a few mayfly too ..... fantastic !!!!
More fish above the bridge today ...Fished perhaps only fifty yards past the farm, great fun though!!
Eleven brownies to the net, two good fish also self released..Ggggrrrrrrrrr ...... sizes between seven and eleven inches.... Lovely tubby summer fish too !!
Here's hoping for some rain tonight and tommorrow. I think I saw on the met office satellite thingy ....some good amounts of the blue stuff coming over mid Wales anyway ...Perfect, much needed ...Edw, Ithon and Lugg are low ......
Anyway, another lovely session on a favourite beat ... ohhh getting a jungle above the bridge...A pukka cut back and decent tidy up is much needed otherwise we'll loose this cracking beat...Most of my cast were parallel, inches from the waters surface anyway !!! Not ideal casting stance in fairness...Not sure when this beat last had a haircut, not that it matters, trouble is green stuff never stops growing spookily enough !!! These streams need some TLC, simples ..... Right, cold drink time for this callsign !!!lol ....

11 Trout

Well, a real social wild streams day in a way... initially I went to have a look at the top beat of the Ithon ( Llanddewi ) .... I saw a car in the beat pull in, lower down, mid beat, when I had a recce of that upper stretch, came back down the main drag and had a chat with Adam, a very pleasant chappy ... mentioned I'd fished here yesterday and passed on my tips for success, or at least that works for me !!!
Onwards to Edw, Cregrina .... Sunny and warm when I set up at quarter past twelve .... the breeze got stronger in the afternoon, particularly around two ish.... I only fished up to Glan Edw Farm ,Great sport today, and a few lumps .... I must admit this beat and Hundred House do have some goooooood brownies as residents!!! Water was at 11 degrees and when I set up , reading 18 degrees in my truck dash .....
Fish hammering my dry offerings today, sedge and a few late mays on thr go. Tight accurate placement of the fly needed here .... But lovely takes tbh .... Getting a bit low here if I'm honest ... this becomes a tricky beat in low water ... very clear too !!! Still,managed fourteen lovely Edw fish to my net ... sizes from six to twelve inches , also a good few self released Houdinis!!! They have a skill for that on this beat .....lol !!!!
A fun three and a half hours .... wind started picking up at three,I'd had some good sport, so cut out just before the farm . Enroute home ,a few hundred yards up from the Hundred House beat, I saw a gent putting on waders.... Peter Lloyd, cracking chappy, he was doing some much needed loping of the Hundred House beat. I mentioned to him ,myself and a few of the other wild stream permit holders also take secateurs out on their wade upstream !!! Some are dire, we discussed the demise of some of the older beats and some that are never fished now because they're so overgrown.... Escley, Upper Cilieni, Arrow Monkland, ...... Our rant over was nice also to chat of the fun beats we do have , so not all negative....A fun afternoon, nice to chat to two keen wild stream anglers.... ha, funny really, I've never met another angler in years on these beats ....
Homeward bound and I'm meeting up with two anglers in The Crown later for a couple of well earned scoops !!!! Happy days ......

14 Trout

2 Trout

Another session on an old favourite, fished today midday to five bells , was 21 degrees in my truck dash when I set up .... ohhhhhhhhh what a difference low and clear makes .... Tricky trout today, lots of very slow wading !!! A hot sultry day, not quite so many mayfly as the other day, but the trout were still smashing the duns then the spinners.....
Started at the very bottom of the beat ... Fishing selective pockets, right up to the bridge.... picking up three or four on the dries .....
Above the bridge up into the jungle, with those slow deep pools was fun,. Up past Glan Edw farm the stream is fantastic ..... Great Savage smash takes to my Wulff patterns .... superb!!! Sixteen or so to the net .... sizes six to eleven inches ..... a few good Edw fish this afternoon too ..... Great fun !! Real tussle on the two weight six foot rod .... love it !!!
This is a long beat you need to fish/ wade slowly .... on several occasions this afternoon I'd gone past an area, only to see a splashy rise tight in the margins behind me !!! Had a couple with a downstream snake cast .... tricky to connect sometimes !! Still fun having a go, and that's what its all about !! I did some experimenting and put on a size twenty f fly .... were the trout Zoned in just on Danica ?????..... definitely not !! These opportunist stream trout are no easy push over, but a well presented dry will see them brought to the net !!! Actually I spent lots of my time redressing my fly this afternoon ..... along with the fish to the net, plenty didn't make it, and politely released themselves...... how kind !!! Lol !!
Anyways, another fun sortie ..... hitting the squirrels later this week here .... start making a dent in their population !!! Home time, and a cold bottle of Katy cider ..... sorted!!!

16 Trout

My first trip to this beat, and what a beauty!
The wading below the bridge is a bit more difficult, as the brochure says, but manageable. And great pools above.
I only wish that I had been able to land every fish that came to or took my fly. Maybe the Mayfly I was using was too large for these small fish?

4 Trout

Well , what a totally sublime sporting five hours that was !!! Fished the coloured, tea stained Cregrina beat today, one of my favourites !! She was still carrying a bit of water but workable and , when I parked up at half eleven, saw a couple of Mayflys on the go ....... spot on I thought !!
The fishing below the bridge is tricky in coloured water, in fact dangerous if I'm honest ..... even me as a die hard local i here, doesn't do a lot of this lower beat after rain ..... I have favourite areas that produce fish and move on up the bank, avoiding disco dancing on the bed Rock you can't see .....
Picked up six I think below the Bridge, by half one the party was just bouncing along, with Danica making the fish rise, with violent splashy forms .... Great stuff to see !!! By three it was a full on rave !! Trout rising below me, above me and a yard in front of me !!!!!, in the slower pools ... I caught five from one cracking pool .... Tactically picking off the nearest first and working my cast up!!! Just sublime sport !! One fish was rising so close ... my six foot rod, I literally lowered my treated grey Wulff into the bubble lane, and he hammered it !!!
Put the effort in above the farm and you'll be rewarded with your trout ...Some lumps rising in a very deep pool ... with growth I just couldn't get a cast to him, even a downstream presentation ... up past Glan Edw Farm, tis jungle warfare ..... Needs not just a trim, but a dam good sorting out ... I took secateurs today, and did a bit, and I see Brian must have done some work here last week ..... It needs some serious attention up there in fairness !!!!
Still, fishing was awesome and just a red letter afternoon .... got out fairly knackered at half five ,twenty two fish maybe a few more to the net, lots of self released fish too....all on dries. Sizes from seven to twelve inches I'd say .... cracking stuff . Had a good chat with the farmer, who was most interested in the fishing and condition of the River etc etc ...... Even got shooting permission there too..... vermin control and a major thin out of pesky grey squirrels .... The sheep creep with lamb feed in it,had eight squirrels bomb bursting out of it when I walked past it first thing this morning!!!! I'll soon wade into those numbers !!!!! Anyway a fab day on a great beat ...... maybe the Lugg or Arrow tommoz ..... Happy Days !!!!

22 Trout

Didn't arrive until midday and the river looked pretty coloured from the bridge. Started at the bridge and went upstream and plenty of mayfly and olive's around by 1. Fish taking mayfly well so fished mainly Klinkhammer but Dhe and para Adams also worked well. Didn't quite get to the top finished about 5.

20+ to hand and plenty more lost or missed.

20 Trout

Not fishable due to river conditions with continuing heavy rain

River looked an absolute picture at ten when I parked up by the Bridge......Shes sat at a really nice , Dry fly height now , with just that slight Edw tinge to it!! Seems like the kingfisher was busy as I walked down , that lively shrill noise they make..... You know you're by a wild river when you hear that .....and that fast glimpse of electric colour, just fabulous !!!
Fishing was sublime .... only went up to the bridge, great sport on just a single well ginked dry ....My favourites for here getting hammered .... I think ten or eleven made it to the net, with a good few more, on and off today as well .... ahhhhhh such is life .... Nothing huge today,biggest ten inches, smallest six maybe.... but they all nailed my dry ....such good fun !!!
This beats getting a bit wild WUF ..... could do with a proper bit of TLC ....I forgot my secateurs today, but next time I'll do a bit of pruning, particularly the lower beat up to the bridge needs some attention !!!
Again, like the Duhonw, fish are in the faster water and heads of all the tiny pools , fab fun..... my Six foot one weight has had a fabulous few days to be honest she's loved the whole adventure !!!!
Got out at half one by the bridge ...... as I'm writing this at three, we are having a good down pour here in Rhayader ...... good for all the tubs and pots in the garden .... Happy days !!!
Off out guiding tomorrow in the Elan Valley, for a couple of days, then maybe another wild stream over the weekend, lifes good ......

10 Trout

Well, after battling it out at Hundred House, all you've gotta worry about here is the bedrock... but go steady and its ok .....ish !!! Fun here, when I walked down at half three....did a couple of hours, missing the rockey middle section, just incorporating a nice pool i know is fun on the dries .... in fact two pools produced a few good fish, and under the bridge the section there was fun also. The river height is perfect for dries now , and clear too!!!.....Some good fish on the Cregrina beat this afternoon tiny dries ....lovely stuff. And the colours of these Cregrina fish, stunning brownies.... The sport was just great fun in fairness, and rising fish obliged eith satisfying takes to my dries ....just the best of our sport hey !!! Anyway , managed eight to the net and a few slipped off as well ..gggrrrrrrrrrrrr !!!
Sizes I guess were between seven and thirteen inches ... three of the fish were beauties this afternoon.Half five, that was me done, a few lovely days on the wild streams, and great sport too .... some clients early into next week up on Claerwen reservoir, should be fun !!! Home time, and I have a date with a coooooool bottle of amber nectar !! Lol ....

8 Trout