Feedback & Reports

I had been looking forward to trying this beat for the first time, always excited by previous catch returns from other anglers but then again this is the Wye and have too often been left frustrated by this beautiful river. And so I was again with AB to witness on his second trip up here to try for the Grayling. One brown trout took a pink shrimp and the Grayling preferred a silver beaded black and red nymph( this was to prove the fly of the weekend) fished as a pair up stream. Also lost a clunker in shallow water before the first fall at the top of the beat leaving ripples of water at the scene in the aftermath that could be seen for some time. There are some fish people catch that have their photograph taken, I think if I'd netted whatever this fish was I would have had it painted in oils! Gutted.

Began the day fishing deep with weighted nymphs, managed to pick up 1 around 12 inches at the top end of the beat. In the pool below the island fish were rising mid day to 1.30pm, I switched to a single grayling steel blue size 14 on the point landing 5 within 30 mins. Missing a few along the way all then went quiet, returning back to the top of the beat making my way home I had my usual last couple of casts, picked up 3 in half a dozen casts. Fish varied in size between 8 and 13 inches all returned safely, great end to a very good day.

9 Grayling

Another great days fishing as a guest of Shaun Watkins, we were lucky enough to be invited to fish Dolgau beat as a guest of Richard Gipps, where Shaun was lucky enough to hook into a beautiful salmon in double figures in the top pool of this beautiful stretch of the river Wye. The grayling and trout came from both beats. Both beats are superb grayling holding stretches of river, the wading is pretty easy with wading boots and sometimes a staff. A definite must for anybody interested in winter grayling fishing.

1 Salmon, 4 Trout, 11 Grayling

difficult windy day flyfishing with dry and nymph fly (not the best)
excellent recept at doldowlod caravan park

3 Trout, 7 Grayling

Fish rising everywhere from 10.30 to 6. Couldn't tempt many on the flats: very picky, rejecting size 20-12 of most fancy and imitative patterns in my boxes delivered on some 3lb sight free extreme. Some were keen for cdc pale watery imitations but generally very wary. In the fast water however they were happy to take a large humpy and klinkhammer confidently with some fantastic takes and many good fish lost, a great days fishing!

12 Grayling

Beautiful sunny day with the hills and trees stunning in their autumn glory. Designated parking on signed hard-standing by admin. chalet.
River seemed lowish and clear but I don't know this part of the river. A few rises and caught some grayling in klink (Bob's bits) and some on nymph. One stonker about 2 1/2 lbs.

1 Trout, 6 Grayling

17 x grayling 10-15 inches, 5 x out of season trout 9-14 inches. A slow morning after a cold misty start and, although pale wateries were hatching, nothing was rising. Use of a team of nymphs only produced unwanted trout. However, things livened up after about 1 o'clock and the grayling, mostly in the 12-14 inch range, were all taken during the afternoon on a dry Grayling Steel Blue. This part of the valley looks absolutely gorgeous in the sunshine at the moment - wonderful colours.

17 Grayling

Day 2: a little colder today, bright and sunny.most of the fish caught on nymphs mainly because I missed so many takes on the dries! grayling to 16" and the trout was 12". Lost a couple of decent grayling later on fishing around the rocks.

1 Trout, 9 Grayling

Day 1 of 2 on a new beat for me, and what a lovely place it is! Well kept and the campsite manager is a really nice guy. Grayling to 16" and trout to 12" most fish on nymphs but had a few on small dries.

5 Trout, 15 Grayling

When we arrived we found that the owner was guiding a party of salmon anglers, so we spent most of the day on the lower part of the beat. Fish were rising in short bursts of about 5 minutes, followed by a lull of up to 30 minutes. Most of our fish were caught on small dries, size 20 midge or griffith Gnats, but also caught on gold bead nymphs between hatches. The fish were a good average size of about 12-13 inches but no lunkers caught, although we did manage to break our leaders on 2 good fish, either due to incompetence or faulty leaders.
We met up with the owner later in the day who apologised for the fact that we had to share the fishing with his party. He then showed us all the best lies for grayling and even gave us a couple of his favorite patters to try. This was very much appreciated and I hope that we will be back to fish this fabulous beat many times in the future.

15 Grayling