Oliver Burch's Game Fishing Monthly Report - May 2025

On the last day of April two visiting anglers from Worcestershire fished up at Llyn Bugeilyn, a remote pool stained dark with peat, and around 1700 feet above sea level. They reported seeing hen harriers and caught 16 trout between them. Some very small brown beetles were blowing off the land into the lake. Beyond the natural life, it’s rare to see another soul up there because even now it’s wild country. This is the virtually uninhabited upland area where most of our Welsh and border rivers have their sources; I believe Bugeilyn is actually on the Dyfi side of the watershed. In 1931 Frank Ward in The Lakes of Wales wrote of it: “The Shepherds’ Pool lies, dreary and remote, on a desolate tract of elevated moorland north of Plynlimmon, and 7 miles south-east from Machynlleth. The mountain views on the ascent to this lake are very fine. It is boggy land around and the water is peaty, but holds many fine trout. One of 43/4 pounds was taken here in June, 1929, on a Wickham’s Fancy, fished dry, with a 4X cast (by Mr Francis H. Awdry). Sporting rights are held by Mr JM Howell, and fishing is private.” Well, you can buy a day ticket from the Wye and Usk Passport scheme now and it certainly is an experience although most of the trout are much smaller than the giant caught by Mr Awdry. Try Bugeilyn with a 10 foot 5 weight rod, a floating line and a team of three old-fashioned dark wet flies like Kate Maclaren, Bibio, and Mallard and Claret, fishing your way step and cast along the margins.  Watch for attacks on the bob fly and you might pay special attention when you get to the edge of lily beds.

Gary Smith from Talgarth fished another Welsh mountain lake famous for its brown trout; this is Llyn Craigpistyll which comes via the Aberystwyth AA ticket. He caught 10 trout while buzzers were hatching. Frank Ward again: “East or west winds are favourable. It is difficult to exaggerate the beauty of Craig-y-pistyll, which lies at the head of a magnificent gorge leading to the Leri Valley.” He added that the lower Leri river in those days had good sewin runs after August. Andrew Penton from Haverfordwest reported using an F-Fly to take a good brown from Pond Rhosrydd and 5 more from Frongoch, but had difficulties with the Aberystwyth AA signage to find the parking places.  

Meanwhile and further to the south, both the Usk and Wye were busy with visitors. GM from Shrewsbury reported 8 trout from the Usk Town Water while Dafydd Williams from Caernarvon had 12 at Fenni Fach above Brecon. Rhian Bray from Redditch had half a dozen more at Glan yr Afon. Over on the Upper Wye a Bwlch angler reported 7 trout from the Rectory. Mark Atherton from Worcester fished the same beat for 16 trout on dries and emergers. Regular Alastair Sayell from Newent fished on Llangoed and Lower Llanstephan on the 3rd May, describing a stiff downstream wind and limited fly life. Nevertheless, he accounted for 13 trout. Joe Alexander caught 13 more from the Edw at Cregrina. Seth Johnson-Marshall had an evening session on his private Middle Usk beat and caught 7 trout on a CDC Olive Emerger. This bag included a 20 inch fish weighing 3 pounds 3 ounces, one of 19.5 inches at 3 pounds 1 ounce, and another of 18 inches at 2 pounds 8 ounces. On the 6th Joe Alexander caught 9 trout from the Hundred House beat of the Edw while olive uprights and large brook duns were hatching. He was out again on the 7th, this time on the shrunken River Cammarch. He caught 5 trout and expressed some worry about chicken manure piled within 150 yards of the river. Was this in fact legal to do this he wanted to know? Probably it was, even if far from ideal for when the rains eventually come and the contents leach toward the brook.

Despite all the recent criticisms, the Lwyn On Reservoir in the Beacons was still proving popular: Ionut Baruta from Cwmbran reported 4 rainbow trout, Chris Williams from Hengoed 5, and Lee Williams from Merthyr Tydfil 6. Andrew Francis from Swansea was much less happy with the Usk Reservoir; “Poor day not much showing. On arrival several cars with frost all over been there all night when getting to the water there our Eastern European friends where campfires blazing and about 12 rods in the water between 3 no wonder this place has lost its appeal. Shan’t be wasting my money again there’s plenty of alternative waters to fish.” Mr Francis caught two trout but his report makes depressing reading in several ways. Quite a large proportion of tickets for this water are sold to anglers with East European names these days and I fail to see the relevance of that in itself. However, there are rules about fishing times and methods which apply to everybody. The Passport office have the report now and I presume Mr Francis has already reported this claimed use of extra rods to owners Welsh Water Co? Kelvin Grenfell from Pontypridd with a companion also fished at the Usk Reservoir and described having a fabulous day with the bailiffs very friendly and helpful. Thomas Fry from Ystradgynlais was another who fished the Usk Reservoir and caught 6 trout.  

The weather seemed to be stuck in the same high pressure pattern we had been seeing for weeks, with cold early morning starts leading to hot afternoons and clear skies most of the time. Sometimes there would be a cold wind from the north or east, but hardly a sign of rain, so most rivers stayed low. In fact the Elan tributary was now receiving compensation water as agreed from the great Caban Coch Reservoir in the mountains west of Rhayader. Extra water donated from the Birmingham supply is always welcome in conditions like these, although it comes from the bottom of the dam and turns the whole Wye cold. Despite the difficult conditions, a second Usk salmon was reported during early May, this time a 15 pounder from just above the tide at Llangibby.   

We next had a short-lived change in the weather with a thunderstorm and heavy showers on the evening of the 11th, which refreshed the rivers just a little. Gavin Davies, who fished with a friend at Llwyn On was another with criticisms to make about the reservoir’s management: “2 fish caught on the bottom using worm first thing in the morning then nothing all day, was a few in our area and also not catching, can’t be stocking the res and they telling you they are, they should put video evidence ov them stocking on the net so anglers can see for themselves for proof.”

Nigel Hughes from Truro had a 2.75 pounds Usk trout in a bag of 3 from Buckland on the 12th. A Quill CDC Emerger was the dry fly used. Andrew Kelton from Churt in Surrey caught 8 more from the same beat that evening: “Another brilliant evening rise, with fish rising everywhere from 7.30 to 9.30. Size 14 Jingler seemed to work best, both in back eddies and stronger streams. Three fish of around 16 inches, one of 19 inches (3 pounds) and a clonker of 21 inches (3.5 pounds).” Pawel Buzcek from Ludlow had recorded catching 7 trout from Dinas. Among other observations W from Ludlow had this to ask about the Skenfrith beat of the Monnow, where he caught 2 trout on the 14th: “This beat is a stretch between two club waters and if I knew anyone to ask this to, I would like to know if either stock fish?”  It’s an interesting question, although not one to which I know the answer. The clubs mentioned must be Garway Fly-fishers and Tregate Angling. Rhian Bray from Redditch recorded 16 trout caught at the Rectory while Callum Price from Brecon with a friend had 5 trout at Gromaine and Upper Llanstephan. There was also an accidental by-catch of 6 shad, which are in both rivers now. W from Ludlow hiked his way up to Llyn Dulyn in the Snowdonia mountains on the 15th. This “Black Lake” under the care of the Dolgarrog Fishing Club is a very unusual mountain tarn, 33 acres in extent and 189 feet deep. Have a look at the photographs. W recorded a brown trout and a char, the last catch being a record in these pages I think. I can’t recall that we have ever had a char to report before. Two anglers from Bath fished up at Llyn Bugeilyn on 15th May, caught 20 trout on dry flies and watched an osprey fishing successfully. Tom Harland and a friend from Peebles fished the Tees at the Raby Estate and reported 30 trout on the 16th and 15 more on the 17th.

Alastair Sayell of Newent fished the Usk Town Water on the 16th and took 21 trout, mostly on heavy nymphs. A visitor from the West Country, Ben Garnett, fished the same water with a split cane rod on the 18th and gave a nice description of a busy riverside scene in the sunshine, which the trout didn’t seem to mind too much. It’s surely a friendly place, Usk Town. Stuart Bourne from Llanigen took 9 trout with various nymphs at Ty Newydd on the upper Wye. Nick Reeves from Solihull fished the upper Wye at Craig Llyn and remarked on the fact that the river had more flow than he had expected and was very cold. He contrasted this with the reduced and warmer state of the flow above Rhayader and deduced correctly that this was due to cold compensation water being released from the Elan valley dams. The upper river was quite clear then, but at about the same time I was looking at the lower river near Ross which had developed a thick green stain of algae. I was rather shocked to measure the temperature already up to 19 degrees. Several heavy spring salmon were betraying their presence with angry slaps to the surface, but clearly were not in a mood to take. 

Anglers continued to report decent results from the Llwyn On reservoir: Paul Vaughan from Rhonddacynontaff with 6 trout, Ryan Jones from Dowlais Merthry Tyfil with 4, and Mark Payne from Blackwood with 4 rainbows and 3 browns. A Worcestershire angler took 5 trout from the Usk at Buckland, but found himself in contention with anglers who seemed to be poaching, either deliberately or accidentally, from the opposite bank. That matter has been taken up with the Passport Office in the case that ticket holders were involved. Anthony Nash from Birmingham had 16 trout from Buckland the following day. George Pratley from Stockbridge (a famous fishing address if ever there was one) reported a creditable 6 trout from Dinas. However, the same angler was unable to fish on the Wild Stream beats of the Edw at Hundred House or the Cammarch Brook in subsequent days due to the threat to his waders of liberally strewn barbed wire.

Over on the main upper Wye, Martyn Birch from Hengoed took 7 trout from the streamy water at Ty Newydd. Dan Cristian Oprea from Redditch caught 12 trout at the Rectory and Mark Harris from Swansea caught 14 at Gromaine and Lower Llanstephan. Luke Eldridge from Tandridge found the Lugg running low at Lyepole, but took 8 trout. There were more good results from the Skenfrith beat of the Monnow: Kevin Marlow of Hereford reported 4, Stephen Sidaway from Warwick caught 5 with a Goldhead PTN and Peter Thomas from Kidderminster reported 14 taken with a dry fly. The last catch was taken from one particular area where a number of fish were rising and I did wonder again whether stock fish have moved in from a neighbouring beat. I managed to wangle a few hours to myself on an overgrown part of the lower Monnow about this time and found the river low but otherwise looking quite healthy. The mayfly were already up and some explosive rises occurred as the fish began to latch on to them.

Simon Howells visiting from London with two friends had a series of days on our rivers, starting at Gromaine and Lower Llanstephan on the 19th: “Wye low as we’ve ever known, bright sunshine…”  They did well to catch 25 trout, which they followed up the next day with 35 from Penpont on the Usk, where the water was equally low. Craig Llyn on the Upper Wye was good for another 15 although conditions were described as really tough, and finally the group took 9 trout from the Usk’s Dan y Parc, three of which were 2 pounders. Simon Evans of the Foundation described a thrilling afternoon and evening on the Usk at Ashford House despite difficult dry fly fishing in the low water. A spinner fall began well into the evening and I gather he fished it with a sort of scrunched up Jingler. After losing a very big fish in the Willows he scored a 2 pounder followed by a skinny fish of 20 inches and a plump one of 19 inches. See also Guy Mawle’s remarks on large Usk trout below. SW from London took 24 trout on nymphs from the Dinas beat. Seth Johnson-Marshall of Afonydd Cymru had an evening session on the upper part of his own beat at the Rectory, where in the Rock Pool there was a mixed hatch including various olives, sedges and true mayflies. His usual CDC emerger pattern did not seem to work so well, but Charles Jardine’s Duck’s Dun did, and with it he accounted for 11 of the more modest sized Wye trout. Duck’s Dun is a very useful generic pattern and not just for olives; I can remember a large Monnow trout which was spotted feeding steadily on grannom one spring, but which accepted a Duck’s Dun without a moment’s hesitation.

M. Daniel from Llanelli enjoyed himself on the Usk Town Water and shared some nostalgic memories of the old days, when he bought his tickets from Sweets Tackle Shop. By this time the weather was breaking up and turning cold with showers and he described a “massive hatch of iron blue duns in the morning, was fantastic to see.” Iron blues are famous for hatching in the sort of cold and wet weather nobody else likes. He caught 14 trout. SW of London also had 12 trout from the Town Water. JT from High Wycombe with a couple of friends had a bag of just 3 at Dan y Parc, but this included a 2.25 pounder taken on a small dry sedge. Callum Price from Brecon complained that his fishing was spoiled by two kayakers constantly playing in the upper section of the beat. I am not clear if he asked the trespassers to leave. Meanwhile on the Wye Philip Bullock of Churchdown with a friend caught 16 trout to 13 inches during a big spinner fall late in the evening at Ty Newydd.  Two Mr Morrisons, senior and junior, shared a catch of 20 trout to 1.25 pounds on the Rectory. In the North RT from Peterlee caught 6 trout on dry flies from the Strathmore Estate water of the Upper Tees and Maize Beck. On the 25th GM from Shrewsbury was another who enjoyed himself on the Usk Town Water, catching 14 trout: “One of my favourite all time Usk Beats.”  Daniel Cristian Oprea took his turn on the Upper Wye at the Rectory, taking 11 trout and remarking that he thought the level had increased slightly after showers upstream. Nick Fenton from Bridgend reported 7 trout the Beacons Reservoir. Jeffrey Neasham from Newcastle on Tyne caught 12 trout on the Raby Estate water of the Tees. Mark Harris of Swansea had another large catch of small trout on nymphs from Gromaine and Upper Llanstephan. 

As is traditional in Britain, the Spring Bank Holiday weekend at the end of the month was threatened by forecasts of wind and showers. Nevertheless, and also according to tradition, come Saturday morning the roads out of London and the Midlands filled up with holiday makers heading west. One of my sons had his fiftieth, so we had a sort of family holiday, renting a grey stone farmhouse in the Radnorshire hills above Hundred House. It was a long, low building, parts of which dated back to the 15th century, and probably once housed animals in one end and the family in the other. Racing black clouds seemed surprisingly close overhead and the inevitable kites wheeled about the ridges, but somehow it didn’t actually rain yet. We had some fishing on the Wye but afterwards it was cold enough indoors to light the log fire. Driving back over the moors after dinner at the Roast Ox, range after range of mountains showed up in a strangely lurid red light under the clouds, but still the rain held off. Only on the Monday when driving for home down the narrow Edw valley did proper rain finally come and the wipers had work to do for a time. By Tuesday, most areas of the catchment had received a proper soaking. The rivers rose only by an infinitesimal amount, but the salmon seemed to know something. After a gap of more than 5 weeks, Bigsweir at the bottom end of the Wye reported an 11 pounds fish on the 26th and Wyesham had another 11 pound silver fish on an Usk Grub the next day.

A near neighbour of mine, Jon Ryder of Woolaston, had this to report about fishing the Clettwr stream at Erwood on the 28th: “I absolutely love this beat, but the directions desperately need updating. The white posts leading to the start of the beat haven’t existed in over a decade and the path is now so overgrown and blocked with trees that, had I not been before, I think I’d have given up. As it was, it’s been about 3 years and it felt much harder. I had to slide / fall down a shallow bit of escarpment as the path finally disappeared into a thicket. It took me 30 minutes to get to the start. A lot of people won’t be able to make the walk in (or won’t want to risk tearing their waders) and the fishing itself requires a bit more clambering and hands and knees approaches. Better to make that clear in the instructions than risk people being disappointed and annoyed.”  Jon fished as far up as the old mill in the woods and caught 5 fat trout to 10 inches from a stock which probably doesn’t get disturbed very often. From what I can remember from my last visit his expressed concerns about the access instructions are justified, but once he reached this wild stream he did enjoy himself: “…it was an excellent day and I really do think this is the best beat I’ve ever fished in the UK. If you can manage to scramble in and some slow stealthy approaches, then this really is worth visiting.”

Elsewhere, Jonathan Dabernig from Porthcawl fished the Cregrina beat of the Edw and caught 8 trout on dry flies during a steady hatch. A New Malden angler had 7 more with dry flies down at Aberedw. A visitor from Shrewsbury caught a dozen trout from the top of the main Wye at Ty Mawr. A Hereford angler with a friend queried the access instructions to the Serenity House Lower Irfon beat, where they caught 8 trout. If I remember correctly it is the first (of two) field gates to the right you take some yards after crossing the railway line and so down to the river. CT from Cardiff fished the Taff Fechan with nymphs, the river being slightly coloured after rain, and took 15 trout. Mark Harris of Swansea fished the Rectory again, taking 11 trout to 1.5 pounds, also experiencing coloured water and a temporary rise there of nearly a foot. James Robertson of Folkestone reported 13 trout, mainly on dry flies, from the lower end of Skenfrith during a late afternoon mayfly hatch. On the 29th Wyesham reported another salmon of 16 pounds, taken on the fly. Encouraging as this may seem, there were still reasons for concern about the lower river. On the same day at Ross I saw a river stained with algae, a temperature of 18 degrees and the irrigation pumps working hard. As we approached the end of the month, no more significant rain was forecast.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague has now produced a 300 page ruling on the United Kingdom’s decision to ban sand eel fishing in English and Scottish waters. During the hearing the UK claimed the ban is necessary to allow stocks to recover from a period of overfishing on an industrial scale. The EU argued that these bans were “discriminate and disproportionate.”  Denmark, the main country involved in industrial sand eel fishing to produce feed pellets etc, claimed that stocks are still plentiful and the fishing ban is unnecessary. The ruling is somewhat complex, but essentially states that the UK needs to change some of the paperwork, but the bans on sand eel fishing in English and Scottish waters can stay in place. It was pleasing to report the result of this spat, because the essential message behind it was that the UK does now have control over its fisheries if only it will at last have the gumption to exercise its rights. And of course it would be good news for sea trout, puffins and everything else in nature which likes to eat sand eels.

However, that sense of minor triumph lasted for a very short time indeed as close on its heels came news of our government’s disastrous agreement to extend EU access to our fishing for another 12 years, no less. It turned out that we still didn’t have the gumption to exercise our rights or to stand firm during negotiations. This just at the moment when a number of British coastal fishing firms, mainly family businesses, were ordering new and better boats on the assumption that they were about to regain access to more of our own waters. Is there something in the British character which makes our designated authorities so remarkably incompetent when negotiating with Europe? I spent a part of my working life negotiating, which I did on the basis that I was always prepared to walk away. Sometimes I did walk away, but I was almost always called back. Norway negotiates fishing rights access with the EU, but they do it regularly on an annual basis, not every 12 years. Norway cares very much about its fishing rights and it must be obvious by now that France cares very much to give its fishermen continued access to British waters. Shouldn’t we have an equal care for the success of our own coastal communities? Is it even moral when negotiating with a foreign power to sacrifice the interests of one community-based industry for supposed advantages to a quite different industry or community?

On the subject of rights and access, running a fishing club often involves committee members in some tangled and frustrating politics with farmers and landowners. Blessed is the club which has a good relationship with its landowners, because the opposite case can make life miserable. I remember the day when farmers used to be given the occasional salmon to keep them sweet. That seemed to be a happy arrangement, but more recently down on the Loughor we have had the experience of a recent farm purchaser actually building over a parking space for anglers’ cars which had been legally purchased for quite a significant sum of money from the previous owner. That one may well go to court. And recently Merthyr Tydfil Angling Alliance members were advised of difficulties with the parking arrangements at the Ysbytty beat on the Usk near Abergavenny. The club had purchased parking rights in the extensive car parks belonging to the Avara Foods factory just off the main Heads of the Valley road. The whole place works rather like a motorway service station with separate entry and exit ramps from different carriageways.  However, the Ysbytty beat itself across the fields is a quiet stretch of river with a couple of decent salmon pools and the trout fishing is particularly good in low water. Avara Foods unfortunately no longer operate the factory, which is moth-balled, but the security service is still on site and have apparently been instructing anglers to both enter and exit via the Heads of the Valley road, in the latter case heading straight into the oncoming traffic. That has always been a one-way entry only, and in the interests of safety the club is asking anglers to insist on leaving by the Pontypool road exit as previously.

This is just a thought. If you are one of the 50% odd of fly fishers who make their own flies and if you have your vice set up on a table under a window giving a good light, and if like me you due to deteriorating eyesight have invested in a magnifying lens mounted on a stand by the vice, do for heaven’s sake cover the lens up with a cloth, remove it from its location, or pull down a window blind while you are not working. I have recently heard of two fires, each caused by a fly dresser’s magnifying glass left uncovered when sun came shining in through a window. And of course there was the scorched sill caused when my wife left a small hand mirror propped up there, but I suppose you can put that one down to vanity.

Guy Mawle, writing in the 2025 edition of the Wild Trout Trust’s Salmo Trutta magazine, made some interesting remarks about Usk trout fishing. Over the last couple of years it has been slightly surprising to read that the WUF has come up with disappointing electro-fishing results for recruitment of juvenile brown trout in the Usk…and yet the fishing has been, frankly, rather good. Or has it? Dr Mawle has known the Usk for a very long time and wanted to point out that overall the numbers are down, even if the average size of fish has increased. This situation with average size of wild fish is familiar from other rivers and I know very well that what the WUF hopes to hear from anglers’ reports is not so much about the odd 2 pounder or even 3 pounder, but preferably about lots of healthy 10 inch fish growing on to keep stock numbers up. We have all been impressed by pictures of Usk specimens this spring as in previous years, but there have also been a lot of anglers’ reports involving maybe a brace of modest sized fish or even a blank. It’s still possible to catch dozens on a good day, but rarer than previously. Dr Mawle’s article introduces questions as well as well as answers, particularly on the matter of exactly why Usk trout are increasing in average size. Is it the growing practice of catch and release by anglers or even the increase in water temperatures due to climate change? It still seems that without enough suitable nursery spawning areas, the long-term future of the population may be at risk. Similar questions might be prompted by the sewin rivers further west where a decline in the sea trout run seems to have been accompanied by an increase in the size of brown trout.

Falklanders usually make at least one attempt to visit the “motherland” in their time, staying and maybe working for a few months before returning to a quieter life in the South Atlantic. I remember meeting one, working in a Surrey garage, who found it hard to believe that we had just gone to the huge expense of towing the hulk of the early steam ship Great Britain back for restoration in Bristol. “Whenever we wanted a bit of scrap iron,” he explained, “we would just row out and cut it off the Great Britain.” While natives of the Falklands might feel impelled to see London once in their lives, there was very little traffic in the other direction unless someone had work to do. The Falklands, generally and not inaccurately described as a sort of Scotland of the Southern Ocean, were just too away and difficult to reach for most casual trippers.

However, ever since the “unpleasantness” of 1982 the United Kingdom has, for obvious reasons, maintained a squadron of fast jets on the Falkland Islands. A lot of people are needed to keep a fast jet in the air. As a result there has been a steady rotation of RAF personnel coming to serve on the Islands over the years, representing a much larger turnover of visitors than would otherwise have taken place. I have met quite a number of RAF veterans who have served their time on the Islands, including two who were learning to fish here in the UK for North Atlantic salmon, but curiously enough nobody mentioned doing any kind of fishing on the Falklands. How did they spend their spare time one wonders? Occasionally a rumour would go round that Falkland streams, originally devoid of trout as with everywhere else in the Southern Hemisphere, had been stocked with brown trout in the years after WW2, and that some of these, naturally enough, had taken to going to sea. The angling was supposed to be quite wonderful, like Scotland but better. The late Peter Lapsley was one who experienced and wrote about it, but, apart from his book, rumours were more common than facts.

I had already guessed you would need to be a fishing fanatic with a lot of time on your hands to reach the Falklands, but one angler who has now taken all the logistical trouble to transport personnel and tackle far into the Southern Ocean is Finlay Wilson. His subsequent article with some remarkable pictures is in the May edition of Trout and Salmon. The landscape does indeed seem very like Scotland, although you might see penguins in the fields along with the sheep. The sea trout look as wonderful as you might imagine, and some might be relieved to hear also that you can fish for them by day. Anyway, I think I am going to write this one down on my bucket list, maybe even one line above Argentina.   

Oliver Burch

http://wyevalleyflyfishing.com