Feedback & Reports

Day started 12 degrees and overcast/light rain. Forecast was to brighten up. Water was low, but pushing through with the faintest of peat stain to colour, so fish in depths were hidden. The only issue was a blustery downstream wind, which was cold. Weather turned bright and cloudless about 2pm. there were soome insects hatching and a very few rises.

Stuck to dry: para's and a mixture of grey, brown and even the odd black. Size 14 worked best. Tried to cover the whole beat, but the wading on the lowest part was a real ankle breaker and I gave that up. The best pool turned out to be the 'main' field pool, which is some 300 metres long and a great glide. Action in tail and head. Middle 100m almost dead.

I fished 2 sessions. The break (to stock up with flies and tippet: Thanks Sports Fish, but they do a good impression of a wounded rhino...) didn't improve my reaction times. I literally lost count the number of times my fly was taken and I managed to miss them. Maybe 40? The ones I got were 3 in am session and 2 in evening. Most were 7" to 11", but the prize of the day (week?), from the rough water at the head of the productive pool, was a stonking 21" grayling that was only just hooked in the lip on a HE dry of my own tying on a Moser barbless hook. which any will tell you are bloody useless as hooks... They are effectively bent pins and have a tendency to revert to type under any pressure... Lucky me!

The day ended cold. My car said it was 11 degrees (from a high at 4pm at 17) at 8:26 pm. That is why the rise was so pathetic I guess...

Another great day out. Thanks WUF!

1 Trout, 4 Grayling

Very warm day with fish rising all day. Most taken on a light coloured size 18 klink. Two very strong fish of over a pound & a half but the rest all around the half pound mark or less. River bank alive with families of long tailed tits peeping away which were a delight as I sat eating my 'docky' in the shade with the dogs (who had the crusts).We are so lucky to be able to just book such a beautiful chunk of the riverside at will. Thank you.

16 Grayling, 2 Other

A lot of water, 2 trout caught on PTN - returned

2 Trout

River at 10" on the Llanstephan gauge, which is higher than usual for mid August, with a touch of colour. DD mostly fishing dry fly, JD fishing a team of three wets (though swapping methods later). We didn't fish the beat hard, taking our time to enjoy the lovely scenery and occasional kingfisher, but caught regularly from about 2 til 6pm. All grayling in the 8-10" range (except for one tiddler) caught on olive nymph, Hancock's Pet, grey duster and red tag. Unusual absence of the larger grayling often caught on this beat.

11 Grayling

First time at this beat and there are some wonderful stretches of water. There were only a few parr rising in Lady Margarete's and no sign of salmon anywhere. Very few other fish seen.

I like the Edw pool very much. I wondered if the WUF Gardening Elves could pay a visit.... The very top of the beat is heavily laden with Himalayan Balsam and pretty much inaccessible... There are a couple of small trees on two jetties that could do with being removed. Any chances?!

4 Trout, 4 Grayling

2 Trout, 38 Grayling

Picked a warm, calm day with a few PWs from quite early and the odd one on and off, together with some sedges, later during the day. A few YMs as well and even some mayfly at the mouth of the Edw. Some rising fish throughout the day so, as there was some fly and fish were clearly looking up, I stuck to emergers. That said, fishing the foam, more of the fish caught were non-risers rather than risers. The trout were 12" fish and all but three of the grayling were 8-10" ones and the others were only 12-13". The preponderance of this year-class of small grayling (and I even caught some graylets as well) seems the norm this year at Abernant , Ty Newydd and GPIAC, when I've visited, and I wonder where the numbers of the usual larger fish have gone as, if these guys are looking up, so usually are the larger ones? Great for the future though as it was clearly a very good spawning year when these guys arrived on the scene. Let's hope that the FEBs don't get them before they put on some more meat! Most fish taken on a size 18 pale HE Duck's Dun and the rest on good old Grayling Steel Blue. A huge thank you to WUF for getting the strimming done on the bank on the top half of the beat. Made for a much safer walk up and back - a job well done.

2 Trout, 38 Grayling

Idea river levels (great for August) but quite cold and gloomy with persistent drizzle and light rain. All fish bar two came to a size 18 BWO emerger or snipe and purple spider, the other two to a jig nymph fished deep. Many fast rising small grayling either turning before they took the fly or too quick for my reflexes, but the bigger ones connected solidly. Best grayling 12 inches, brown 10 inches, on a spider from the first pool in the Edw. A lovely beat to explore again early or late season.

3 Trout, 7 Grayling

First time on this beat for me, and I liked it a lot. Excellent access - thanks to whoever had strimmed the balsam and other undergrowth. Fished from 1715 to about 2000, on a beautiful sunny evening, with sandpiper and kingfisher on the river. As the river runs north-south here, the evening sun reflecting off the water into my eyes made seeing the fly challenging - I was fishing a duo, with a Sturdy's Fancy and a parachute Adams. A bramble scratch a week or two ago had caused a leak in one wader, so I became progressively soggier. I missed a good few, but after a struggle got one decent 38cm grayling on the spider in fast water at the mouth of the Edw. I took it home for supper.

1 Grayling

Nice to get a warmer day this August although the northerly wind blowing downstream did not help presentation. 9 fish in the morning from Lady Alexander's on a mixture of small dry flies and a further 3 on nymph from the deeper faster section at head of pool when things had gone quite with the dry fly. Lost one very decent fish while nymphing. Was the brown of a old large fish and managed to shake out barbless hook but not before rolling in front of me - would have been my largest grayling by a long way.
In the afternoon moved up to Abernant Stream - waded up full length and had nothing - worked my way back down and had 15 on gsb. Majority in the range of 8 to 10 ", a few a bit larger.
Hooked and lost a lot of fish on barbless hooks - would have had well over 40 fish otherwise.
Also enjoyed the airshow - they do fly very low!

27 Grayling