Feedback & Reports

On the basis that, no doubt, some smart 'arris fishing a mile upstream of me will have emptied the river, I had better be careful what I say next but, compensation water from the Elan Valley made for a very difficult day - and not what I had in mind when I climbed out of a warm bed at 05:00 this morning. A gin clear river, pushing through with a noticeably cold feel to it. Mixing it up, with tungsten nymphs and fishing the stream with a dry (there was nothing rising), resulted in just two Trout during the morning. As with the water, one of them going 2lb plus was some compensation. Slightly better in the afternoon, another Trout, a brace of Grayling (both 1lb plus) and, when I finally encountered some rising fish, 4 Parr in rapid order on an Adams.
Of course, it could have been the thing on the other end of the rod ....
(WUF note... The level of flows from Elan are way above both compensation and regulation flows: valves are being repaired at Caban)

3 Trout, 2 Grayling, 4 Other

Unfortunately I could only fish for two hours in the evening and caught and touched nothing! But the river looked wonderful as ever and was in good condition. I saw very few fish rising despite a decent hatch. There were no other anglers on the river between 7 and 9pm.
Regards Giles

4 hours in the morning on Craig Llyn, fishing pocket water with 3 weight brook rods and drys all taken on usual sedges and emergers
Afternoon at Dolgau with many thanks to Richard for fishing his beat. Large hatch of flying red ants carpeted the river with fish rising everywhere in splashy takes. Spent a frustrating hour trying to match the hatch. Yellow Greenwell spider in tan and tupsley indispensable were the only flies that worked. Tried all other patterns with no success. Should have had a lot of fish but still looking for the pattern to match that hatch.

11 Trout, 9 Grayling

Water at a nice level and clear,plenty of fly life but only sporadic rises and we couldn't work out what they were taking. GC did well taking 5 grayling,2 of which were 15 to 16".
This is a lovely beat and hopefully with a few more visits we will learn how to catch the number of fish other anglers manage.
Thanks to W & U and the fishery owner for providing such a nice place to fish.

3 Trout, 6 Grayling

Lovely beat, great weather and friendly people at the campsite. Water was low and it was overcast. Took 2 lovely Grayling [first ever] and drew a few WBT to dry flies but no takers.
There was a plentiful supply of flies rising most of the day which was great to see. Better anglers would have taken many more fish but we enjoyed the day nonetheless and will be back again.

2 Grayling

Quality fishing as usual. A strong cool down stream wind kept the fish down so nymphs caught most with a couple taking a klinkhammer. No monsters but all a good average size and in good condition.

4 Trout, 24 Grayling

fished the afternoon after cutting bracken off the bank side all morning ,picked up all of the trout from the heads of the fast water on klinkhammer and sedges the grayling were holding in deeper water ,perhaps trying to get away from the two broods of goose anders that have adopted the beat, klink and dink with half of the grayling taking the holy grail nymph....a good days fishing.

7 Trout, 11 Grayling

First time to this beat, took a friend Howard who had never fished a river with fly rod nor ever caught a grayling on rod and line. We made our way to the bottom of the beat, the river looking a little coloured, and the weather warm, cloudy and very little wind. We started on the dry and I caught a grayling on the dry and Howard had his first grayling shortly after.
Both missed several others before Howard had his second, after this we started moving up the beat. The wind got progressively worse as the day went on and a strong downstream wind made dry fly presentation difficult so we switched to nymphing. Howard had a little brownie, whereas I caught seven grayling. Oddly the only thing they seemed interested in was a white coloured czech nymph.
The Wading at this beat is easier at the lower end, but there are areas with large boulders further up that make wading tricky. So tricky that I took a nice refreshing dip!Overall this beat has so much to go at, some nice pocket water, dry fly flats, gullies, deep holes and fast runs. Really enjoyed the day and will definitely return to this beat, thanks WUF.

1 Trout, 10 Grayling

I met a fellow fly fisherman, Tom, at the parking spot who gave me some great advice on leader setup and preparing a dry fly rod and a nymph rod to save time, gave me three of his self tied nymphs and even his spare pot of frogs fanny. What a gentleman. River in great condition freshened up after the rain. Very happy with my catch even though I lost another three, one of which felt big. The Grayling was the only rise I spotted and came to an emerger dry immediately after catching a WBT under the same spot on a nymph.
The friendly site manager asked if future fisherman could park in the new parking spot, sign posted next to the site office.
WUF Note : The fishery owner has confirmed the new parking arrangements and the beat details issued to anglers have been updated.

8 Trout, 1 Grayling

Water temperature and air temperature low. Cold water from Elan. 11am sun came out, air temperature rose. Sledges started to come off main off the grayling over 1lbs one well over 2lbs. 2 good trout near 2lbs on drys and clink and dink. Evening time fished river Elan many thanks to Richard.

4 Trout, 20 Grayling