Feedback & Reports

I had to work harder for my fish today on a low and clear river. The cold start to the day, coupled with the beat having been fished the previous day, may also have been factors. I picked up one or two fish from most of the runs I fished; but none of the 5 and 6 fish from the same run that I associate with Lyepole at this time of year. I also found that, a lot of the time, I had to cover a fish upwards of a dozen times before getting a response. As with my previous trip, everything on the same nymph - a Tungsten Endrick Spider. Today's count will be more accurate than previous counts; for some reason, the Grayling figure stayed in my head and, with 4 of the trout coming in the last 15 minutes, even a dunderhead like me could work that one out.
An autumn day at Lyepole, and all's well with the world ...

6 Trout, 17 Grayling

Fished for one hour without any action.

Lypole has it’s own micro-climate. A chance conversation with the holiday cottage residents confirmed that it had rained during the night. That explained why the river was a bit swifter and more coloured than I’d expected. At no stage during the day was there much of a hatch or sign of fish feeding on the surface. My first session along the upper section yielded nothing until just before noon when two very nice 11-12” trout came to a heavy Pink Shrimp in deep runs near the weir. After lunch it was all Grayling. Three beauties of 12”-14” came to the same Pink Shrimp fished deep in the slower pools of the lower section between the cattle drink and the cottage. Back on the upper section during the late afternoon another 11” Grayling took a Black Klinkhammer in the deeply undercut bend about 200 metres up from the bridge. The rest of the Grayling were quite tiny.
This is a beautiful and fickle beat, it can be so frustrating. You pay your (significant) money and you take your chance. Today I drove away a happy and contented man.

2 Trout, 8 Grayling

Great day on a beautiful beat. Sunny autumnal day, lots of fly life, very occasional fish rising. Patience, cunning and nymphs need to tempt the trout - PTN and Copper John caught the two trout on the first part of the beat above the bridge one was a nice, fat 1lb fish. For the rest, they were fun but small - mostly around 4 in Grayling - all caught on dries - small blue wing parachute and black klinks. Looking forward to returning asap.

2 Trout, 11 Grayling

My second visit to Lyepole, the first being back at the beginning of the year, the river and surroundings looked even more stunning in late summer, this really is a lovely place to be.
Walked all the way down stream and found some very fishy looking spots but couldn't get a take, then as I made my way back up stream I noticed fish taking off the surface in the most inaccessible spot, after a lot of effort I was in a position to present a fly to the taking fish...and then managed to miss 5 good takes on a dry fly, not the best start but very exciting stuff!
After lunch the hatch of small, pale up winged flies that the fish were feeding on in the morning were still coming off the water and I found some more feeding fish, this time upstream from the car park. This time I had better luck landing a nice brown trout and quickly losing another, resting that glide I moved downstream to find more feeding fish which turned out to be very small grayling, lovely to see healthy young fish in the river but I decided to leave them alone till they'd grown up a bit so moved on and promptly landed a lovely big grayling and another brown trout, all fish taken off the surface on small dries, very enjoyable fishing.

2 Trout, 2 Grayling

16 x grayling 6-16 inches, 4 x trout 12-13 inches, all on nymphs, Tungsten Hare's Ear and Pink Shrimp. Most of the grayling on the 11-13 inch range. Plenty of fly life around, but a speculative change to dry fly after lunch proved to be pretty much a waste of time. Lypole looking as delightful as ever on a mild day of sunshine and clouds - to be honest a day of continuous drizzle here would be pleasant

4 Trout, 16 Grayling

Good conditions; flow and colour in the river and a pleasant day, albeit on the cold side. In contrast to my last trip to Lyepole, when the Grayling did not really show, today they were having it. Upstream in the morning and 20 plus fish by lunchtime - including upwards of a dozen Grayling from the same glide (anyone who knows their Lyepole will surely know the glide.) Not quite as prolific downstream after lunch. I used the same fly all day (a tungsten Endrick Spider). Thought about switching to a dry in response to sporadic rises in the afternoon; but the fish in question generally took the nymph when it was offered to them.
It would appear that the beat has seen a bit of action since my previous trip - with numerous flies and leaders in the trees and, disturbingly, a spinner and float.
As ever, the above figures are estimates but, by breaking the day into two - ie upstream and downstream - either side of lunch, are likely to be more accurate than usual.

10 Trout, 25 Grayling

A very pleasant day was had on this quiet stretch of the River Lugg. The water was quite low, only finding any depth in the bends. No sign of any Trout but caught 4 very nice Grayling to about 1.5lbs and numerous 3-4inch tiddlers on a size 16 tungsten head pink PTN. Lots of fry shoaling in the shallows keeping the Kingfisher busy.

4 Grayling

Warm wet day. Water a little coloured presumably from recent rain. Plenty of fly life amongst the alders but no rise. Two small 7" trout taken on dun and GRHE (sinking by this time in the almost incessant light rain). River bottom smothered everywhere in algae growth - not healthy - nitrates?. Himalayan balsam everywhere; saw 1 dipper, wagtail and a hare. Lovely area but not supporting the amount of wildlife I would expect - nature in retreat again.

2 Trout

Surprised to find so much colour in the river when I arrived de bonne heure this morning (and this comes from a man who spent much of the previous afternoon looking at the Byton webcam and the rainfall map for the Radnor Forest). A chat with the occupant of the cottage as I was packing up, after a very pleasant day weatherwise, revealed that there had been unforcast heavy rain overnight. Grayling, the fish I most associate with Lyepole at this time of year, did not really show; mind you, the three I did catch were all good fish (ie 1lb plus). In contrast, the Trout were really having it, taking both nymph and spider with alacrity. Probably a day too soon?

15 Trout, 3 Grayling