Feedback & Reports

12 x grayling 10-16 inches, 11 x out of season trout 6-15 inches, long trotting. Gauge watching is getting to be a nerve racking business. Dry for a couple of days now and the Irfon slowly dropping off, nice and clear. That's looking hopeful. But then about 6 hours of moderate rain during the night before fishing, ending around dawn. Would this bring the Irfon up into a spike of muddy high water, or would it be absorbed? I went anyway, and the river continued to run down (around 0.65 at Cilmery) and remained clear. Another dark day with odd showers, warm and with an upstream wind, which is the right kind for float fishing. In fact about 2 in the afternoon there was a concerted rise to dark olives for about half an hour, with fish coming up right next to me. Oh for a dry fly; they didn't want maggots at that moment! As I had been lazy and left the fly rod in the car, I missed out on this opportunity. There are times when the fly rod will beat trotting hands down and I'm sure this would have been one of them.

12 Grayling

Nice day on the Irfon. River a bit high but running clear, still proved difficult to find the fish. Only one small grayling caught on a goldhead nymph. One larger fish lost as well.

1 Grayling

One grayling just over 2lbs, real beauty. Trotting with maggots was more yielding than dry fly or nymph. Very quiet after 3.30pm. Forecast rain helped make our decision to retire to local hostelry.

6 Trout, 4 Grayling

First time on the foundation waters, a great days sport. Two fish on nymphs and two on emergers. Entry to the beat as per the map a bit of a jungle, but easy access via the public footpath on the other side of the river. Excellent hospitality and food in the Cammarch!

4 Trout

Two grayling caught on on bugs.

2 Grayling

River very low. Lots of small fish activity. Brown trout caught and released were about half a pound each.

5 Trout

5 Trout, 2 Grayling

Cold, waters raised. Hooked two grayling, none landed, barbless hook nymph! Not much open space to cast so wadding the only solution. Good day anyway.

River low and clear. Lost 1 Grayling and caught 3 brown trout trotting with maggot.

3 Trout

4 x grayling 15-18 inches, long trotting. I'm not quite sure what I conclude from this experiment (trotting on the Cammarch Hotel's middle beat is a new try-out). The Irfon was very low, so low that fly fishing might have been a better bet on this occasion. Four large grayling, including two really nice ones, but all these were widely separated and seemed to have been lying singly; no shoals were located. I had to leave one pool which proved to be alive with spawning salmon. Finally, one lovely 18 inch fish took the float down at exactly the spot where my friend DB took an 18 inch grayling on a dry fly back in October. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the very same one.

4 Grayling