Feedback & Reports

Thought we would have a day on the Irfon as a change to the Wye, looking to catch a first Grayling for one of my angling Pals up from Stevenage.
River very low and water temps cold after the cold dry snap, walked the length during the day, discovered too many mouthwatering swims to mention, they all had one thing in common,( Bar two) there were no Grayling willing to show any interest.
Managed a first Grayling at 1lb 11oz for D.S and a second at a 1lb 8oz, both in perfect condition so he was delighted.
Found a shoal of chub feeding for the last hour and we managed 6 fish to 4lb 7oz
A great day in glorious surroundings, but Grayling fishing was hard even fining down hook-lengths and hook sizes.

2 Grayling, 6 Chub

Our first visit to the Wye and the river seemed to still be quite high. Tried numerous patterns with no success sadly. Very bright day with a few hatches and definately a venue for future visits.

River full up but clear. Both rods fished hard for 5hrs with same set up, Czech nymphing with a trio of flies. Not a sniff of a bite. To round it up got stuck in the church meadow, but it not rain so things are looking up.

Decided to have one last try for grayling before the end of the season, long trotting with maggots. I started at the lower end of the beat, just upstream from the church (Church Catch pool), but couldn't find any fish. I then worked my way up through the wood (quite boggy on the path at this time of year). I again couldn't find any grayling but did catch a 1.75lb brown trout (in reasonable condition for out-of-season) from Hendre Pool. I then went up to the meadow and worked my way down the gravel flats from the island (Grandstand). I finally managed to find some grayling at the lower end of this straight run. I caught two, the largest a beautifully conditioned 40cm (1.75lb) fish. I suspect the grayling are shoaling up now so it would be good to hear where they're concentrated in other people's catch returns. The field by the church is probably too soft to park in now until the weather dries out. Even with 4WD I had problems by the gate. Great day out - thanks WUF.

16 x grayling 12-17 inches, 1 x chub around 2.5 pounds, long trotting. Snow showers and a very strong cold gale - river was rising again during the afternoon and slightly coloured, 0.60 - 0.69 on the Cilmery gauge. It would nice to have fished one of the other beats on my winter "to-do" list, but yet again this was about the only one with water at a reasonable level for fishing. The main Wye is still very high.

16 x grayling 12-17 inches, 1 x chub around 2 pounds, long trotting. Very cold and windy. River rising during the afternoon due to rain and snow.

20 x grayling 14-17 inches, trotting. These came from one shoal, tight packed, of very nice grayling, mostly 15-16 inches. These were pristine fish and not a cormorant scar to be seen for once, which was very encouraging. Also the temperature just about rose to freezing for an hour or two around midday, so rod ring icing was not so very bad a problem. The river is now low and clear, so the trotting gear used was quite light, and nymphing would probably have worked well also.
The main difficulty about today was to get the car to the beat at all. With all this snow about, the road into Cefnllysgwynne is definitely 4WD territory. Still, sitting indoors has been giving me cabin fever, so I threw a shovel in the back of the Landrover along with the fishing gear. I packed up around 3 as it looked like snowing again...and that's enough from one shoal.

A rather chilly but great day at Cefnllysgwynne. Levels were low and we spent most of the day searching out just two and three fish per angler. The day then ended with a fantastic grayling weighed at bang on 2.5lbs just as the snow started to thicken. The place is always beautiful, but more so in the snow!
Final catch, 6 grayling between the two of us, largest being 2.5lb, with the rest around the 3/4lb mark.

Lovely venue. Between the two of us we caught 4 grayling to about a pound and a half and 6 brown trout incidentally while trotting maggot on 2lb line, size 16 barbless hooks. All fish returned safely to the water. Beautiful varied beat. The owner provided a more detailed map which was a great help.

15 or so grayling trotting maggots. The grayling were boiling to the maggots at our feet at one stage - fascinating sight. Explored some new parts of the beat this time and must repeat myself from last return to say it's an awesome place. Will be back as soon as possible. Shame about the season rod that we watched lose a fish in a tree - he scarpered but left the line and float hanging there.