Feedback & Reports

First time on this lovely little beat. Fished from the bridge up to the pipes. One small trout and a few salmon parr. Other than that nothing else seen. Water was very low and it was a (rare) hot, bright day. Challenging but absorbing fishing. I’m looking forward to another visit in better conditions.
Well worth the 6 minute drive from home!

1 Trout

All jobs nailed early bells, so decided on a wild stream ..... With the weather looking a tad windy and rainy the next few days, thought a slow mooch on a Sunday up a favourite beat would be just the ticket !!! Clywedog Brook it was then......... Save the larger wild waters of the Elan Valley/ Nant-y-moch for Monday and Tuesday with clients !!!
Strewth she's low, not sure as I saw different wader sole prints in the mud in various places, we shall see on Monday, when the last few days catch returns are submitted and on display !!! Very slow going on the bottom half, wether Tarka had been on the go, I'm not sure, but wowser, tricky stuff!!!! Low and very clear too ...... A few days rain muchly needed .....
It perked up half way up the beat, when I started at eleven, plenty of insects on the go, but I guess in fairness trout will be wising up a bit on this beat now !!! I did fancy a mooch up the Cammarch, another of my favourites, but that's still of limits .... Crayfish lockdown still implemented!!! Still bemused why some are fishable and others closed ..... still ours is not to reason why as they say !!!
Good dry fly sport over five slow hours, did up past the weir, not far, managed seven beauties to the net, along with a few self released kind souls !!! Great fun as always, tight up in the fast water .... ohhhh and two surprises in the deeper pools, came out from nowhere and hammered my dry, lovely stuff... lots of squirrels munching the early hazelnuts and more and more leaves in the river now !!! Clocks ticking folks !! A fun Sunday, back home and a bottle of Westons Cider !!!! Happy days ......

7 Trout

Another funny start to the day .... big ohhhhhhs and ahhhhhhhhs on the super hot weather we're getting on the radio on the short trip to Clywedog Brook.... Overcast and muggy in mid Wales, looked like rain too .....
Never mind, fished an d local favourite .... seeing the gent yesterday had a pretty good bit of sport here .... I fished my usual tiny dries .... plenty of insect life on the go, although early on they we're hammering the smaller stuff tight up in the faster water ....Those small almost gnat like flies.... I should study them more ... A size twenty black f fly did the biz initially..... good sport to be fair ..When the sun did pone its head through, olives starting showing and some sedge......Heating up pretty quickly, must be 23 or 24 by two ish ... I fished from eleven till bang on three,got out at the weir, plenty of sport has for this callsign, with nine crackers to the net, three of which were a good stamp for here, maybe eleven Inches of more ......
Tis nice to see the trout in fat lovely condition here. The water does stay well shaded in this secretive brook. She's low and most of my cast were mega tight in the pool heads, the alder root side of the pool too !!!Great savage hits to my dries, as always with these feisty stream brownies.....! I did do a bit more trimming of annoying bits ....Plenty of grey squirrels seen , now active on the hazelnuts , and actually with the breeze, lots of leaves coming down now too !!! Tis getting that time folks .... Enjoy it while you can !! I'll give this a dam good haircut after the season has finished !!! Onwards and possibly another wild stream beat tommorrow !!! Time for a pint of orange juice and plenty of ice !!!! Lol ......

9 Trout

Pretty beat, my first time here. Started 0730, thinking it was going to get hot but it remained a little overcast until I finished around 1430. The stream was cool after recent rain (9C according to my thermometer at 0745, air temp was 11C). The top quarter has denser foliage and more fallen trees so I didn't really fish it but there was plenty of good water below that part and I felt like I could cast to pretty much any bit of water I needed to. I reckon it would fish much better with more water in it, though.

There are a lot of lovely streamy stretches which were largely ankle or shin deep today with only the smallest of fish (you know, when they keep going for your tiny dry fly but can't get it in their mouths), I imagine it's a real pleasure earlier and later in the season when it's higher and the fish move out. I managed to get get at least one rise of a more decent sized fish each time I came to one of the the few channels of deeper, but still quick moving water. There were a fair few very slow moving flats and that's where I saw the only rises to naturals but I never really know how to fish that sort of barely moving water, so generally don't try.

6 trout from 3 inches up to about 9, all in good condition.

6 Trout

My last foray for a few days !!!! Opted for one of my favourites , the Clywedog brook , again !!! lol …
I arrived at the brook at half seven, reasonably cool then,. My fishing today went on up past the weir about a hundred yards…. Had plenty of sport by then in fairness . Great fun on the dries again , with a sneaky, very very slow wade upstream …..Good takes on my Iron Blue and Greenwells, superb stuff.
Lots of insects on the go from eight ish, with fish looking up then too … Also plenty of horse flies, why is it they always want to land on you when you’re concentrating watching your dry fly come down a trouty run !!!! I dip tested the water temp with my thermometer, reading13 degrees under the canopy , lovely job ….
Seems like the pending thunderstorms due tommorrow are causing quite a stir, even chatting about it on the radio on my short journey from Rhayader to the Clywedog brook …. Jeeeeeeeez, British folks and the weather hey …lol !!!!
Good sport again here, with careful slow wading, managed a dozen to my net , maybe one or two more, on my usual tiny dries, great takes too, and a few of them risers today also … great fun ! The usual stamp for here, with one cracker of eleven inches. Three more self released themselves, so polite of them !!!!! They’re always feisty little strong fish here to be honest …. Superb stuff !!!
Tis noticeable when you. One out from the stream , from under the canopy , that heat hits you like a brick, quite literally ….When I returned to my truck, the dash temp was reading 27 degrees…. I was like a camel at a watering hole, supping my cold Diet Coke from my cool bag… absolute bliss, much needed.
A fun few hours again ….. got out at half one, a total buzz of four or five days solid on the streams, loved it ….. Would be nice if we do get a drop of rain tommorrow, these rivers need it now…. Lovely job !!! Home time and something cold and amber coloured in a pint glass I think !!!! Topper !!!!

12 Trout

A really early start ... up at Sparrows fart, five bells, two leisurely coffee's, a bit of watering the garden then off to the Clywedog, beat the heat !!@
Parked up just before half seven .... fished dries as usual .... ha ha ....Great fun here.....a slow slow wade here ... five hours to the top of the beat, getting out at half twelve ....If you don't mind casting kneeling and fishing tiny delicate dries, etc etc then at the mo this beats is for you ... if not, try something bigger like Llanddewi.... Both are mega low at the moment and require stealth to the max !!!
Usual hiding holes had me Savage rises to my dry ........Actually by half eight some steady rises ....and some olives seen around nine !!! Fish definitely in the faster stuff, although in the deep pools, had two nice surprises on my dry ....lovely stuff!! One came up leisurely like an old carp and just engulfed my fly, superb stuff..... Great scrappers on this little brook ..
Otter prints at the bottom end, fresh too .... in fact first two pools were as lively as a dodo !!!!
Thirteen made it to my net .... a fun fun session, sizes being the usual for here,best around eleven inches, but the colours on these fish, staggering !!!
Watched a kingfisher struggle with what must have been a young trout in its beak .... looked huge in comparison to the bird ..... A lovely chilled out wade up stream on a favourite beat ..... just the best of summer hey !!! Let's hope for rain Thursday, certainly need it !!!!!

13 Trout

River very low and clear, and a lovley stretch to explore. Caught 5 small trout biggest 7" . No signs of rises so eventually changed to a slow sinking ant that worked well. Be nice to go back with a bit more water.

5 Trout

Well , what a super little stream! Dont know how I missed this one for so long and have driven over it many many times on the way to the Rhayader AA's running waters (great fun btw!) and thought better give it a go after reading of JA's exploits this year !
So , nice one JA : ) .
Parking is just great ,one of the best, loads of room though the main gate into the field was padlocked and meshed till about halfway up . Look up to your left though and you'll see a gate into the wood there , adjacent to that is an easily scaled gate into field.
Rather socked in and well fenced initially (mainly slab rock water down in there anyway) but soon gets easier and accessible.
Then its riffle ,run, pool on up and some surprisingly deep pools too ! No real issues moving around and upwards either. Great.
Water pushing through v nicely , though carrying some colour still by the looks after the recent rain no doubt.
Quiet with any fly etc on top (dog days are here !?) but speculative casts with a 16 cdc & elk got good interest.
I got on just fine with a 7'6" 2 wt.
Lots of tiny olive nymphs on the stones and loads of midge larvae , which I suppose is a good or not so good thing ? A few caddis.
A beautiful place and just amazingly peaceful, even the ever present sheep seemed not to want to exercise their vocal chords at all.
Fantastic , that'll more than do me....
Only got up to just past the Elan pipes today (which are huge & very impressive btw..all that water rushing its way downhill to my tap sometime) and had 7 very fit little jewels to hand so v happy with that . Much looking forward to a return asap and then get further on up too.

7 Trout

Strewth, nice to have a bit of warmth today, in fact almost balmy when I was kitting up at ten bells by the bridge ..... makes a nice change from a few days ago !!! Looked a my truck dash, 16 degrees .... ohhhhh we're positively spoilt today !!!
The little Clywedog was low low low !!! And clear as gin .... Tricky stuff ... very tricky in fact, but still fun... tricky conditions keep you sharp I always think, and mother nature let's you know who's the gaffer !!!lol..
Managed eight to the net, over a slow four hour wade upstream, sizes the usual for here seven to eleven inches .... one cracker slipped my hook by a well know pool I always manage to snaffle one out of .... The perfect honey hole you could call it !!! Anyway, after the doom and gloom of the election, Tarka brightened things up .... fifteen yards away ... I stood stock still.... didn't even blink ... would have made a fantastic photo, he looked at me twice,the air was still, so I imagined he couldn't scent me !! Talk about splashing around I nearly felt like saying I need to teach you some rivers etiquette boy !!!! Ha ha ... eventually he snorted and was off like a shot, fantastic ....Friday feeling back, all is good in the world.... A few lovely brownies, an otter close up, kingfishers up and down , on a favourite, shrunken brook ......Back to The Ponderosa and I'm ready for an early weekend beverage !!! Cheers !!!

8 Trout, 1 Other

Strewth a warm one, when I tackled up by the Bridge parking area down in the field !! Reading 24 degrees at half nine ..... dam warm !!!! My first priority was to dip test the river with my thermometer ..... Reading 14 degrees .... creeping up steadily !!! Truth be told we need rain in these wild streams now!! I'm a slow stealthy wader so tend to target pretty close quarter,dry fly trout .... anything else, and at the mo you'd be scuppered ... low and very very clear!!!!
Great fun as always, but I think my last session here till we get rain ..... A dozen to the net and probably another 6 or 7 coming off today .... gggrrrrrr ... I'm putting it down to low water and fish going barmy when hooked .... and they're off !!! Still good sport and in that dozen, three belters, in awkward places... hence that's why they're big!!! Probably pushing twelve maybe thirteen inches , two of them ... fab stuff !!! All fish on the dry fly as always.....Lovely confident splashy takes too !!!!
Watched a kingfisher on his perch for an age, only two yards from me .... superb to see ... Tarka must have been busy, lots of fresh prints in the bottom of the beat . Quite there too, in lots of the pools !!!
Well, was nice to cut out by the weir ....a lovely four hours.... albeit hot and sticky!!! Cows sitting tight under the oak trees on way back over thr fields....A welcome cold can out of my cool bag and a Yorkie bar ......Sorted !!! A great session on one of my favourites.... Back when we've had rain !!! Happy days ......

12 Trout