Feedback & Reports

Glorious sunshine all day but it didn't stop the grayling from feeding. Approx 20 grayling up to 1.5lb and 3 wbt up to approx 1lb. The grayling were well spread out and appeared in all the likely spots. Majority of fish taken Czech nymphing (didn't seem to matter what pattern) with a handfull of fish on the dry (red tag and black klinkhammer)in the evening.

A lovely relaxed days fishing on the Irfon. Cloudy with a sporadic breeze, a little drizzle. River falling with a bit of height and colour. Eleven brown trout (mostly 8" plus, a few up to 12"; and 11 grayling (12" to 16"). In total 22 lovely fish all returned safely. Few sporadic rises. All but one fish (GRHE) caught on dries, mostly traditional dry Adams (14), and a few on a black klink. Didn't seem interested in nymphs or bugs. Good views of otter on opposite bank. Can't wait for my next visit.

8 x grayling 11-16 inches, mostly around 14-15 inches; 7 x trout 6-10 inches, on a small Klinkhammer and the good old Red Tag. The grayling were still spread out in the steady flows in the middle of pools; the trout in the fast water above. A nice dry fly day, fish about evenly split between the old and the new fly pattern, although it slowed down a bit as a weather front with associated cold wind arrived in the afternoon. As seems to be the case with many grayling days this year, there weren't that many fish rising naturally. It was necessary to prospect here and there in likely places to bring them up, and of course go after any oncers which were seen. Interesting, too, that in the morning the fly was being taken with great confidence when fish did rise, with a hook-up almost every time, but by afternoon the fish had become nervous and were playing with the fly, coming short and boiling under it etc. Funny creatures, grayling.

I chose the Irfon Cefnllysgwynne beat to fish on advice from the WUF Office as a beat with reasonably easy wading, and so it was, thank you WUF much appreciated. What they did not say was that having used the recommended parking on the right bank I might have to clamber 10ft or more down a cliff edge bank to enter the water and then wonder how to get back, but I guess they like to leave some surprises for anglers to enjoy.
Considering the gale force weather we had been experiencing, the Irfon was in excellent condition with water levels within the bounds of normality and quite clear too. The abundant hatching insect life was also unexpected with both large and small flies (please don’t ask what species) rising from late morning.
Casting to a rising fish I caught a 10” Grayling followed by small trout on a Black Spider (#14) and then two more small trout on Tungsten Head (Orange) Hare Ear nymph (#16). No fish taken.
I stayed at Kilsby Country House, in Llanwrtyd which I can thoroughly recommend as providing excellent B&B accommodation and a fishing friendly place to stay with lots of helpful advice.

A memorable day on this water, not least for the blustering gales making the fly landing on the water a rather hit or miss affair. The river seemed to be fining down after a spate and I was rewarded with 8 x grayling to 1 lb plus 1 trout ¾ lb plus a lunchtime visit from an otter swimming through. The fish responded to dark olive Klinkhammers and gold head Hare’s Ears in the gravel runs, taking firmly and enthusiastically. This is a lovely water with endless pools and runs and I fished and moved all day without reaching the upper boundary and still had a long walk back!

Highlight of the day was the two otters playing in the first pool I fished - one of them drifted passed me within 10 yards just looking straight at me.

On the fishing had 4 grayling averaging a pound, 3 on a klinkhammer the last one on a PT nymph.

7 x grayling 13-14 inches, 2 x trout 10 inches and 16 inches. I had promised myself a nice early autumn dry fly day on the beautiful Irfon...just like the one I had this time last year. And the conditions look good: warm and cloudy, a bit of a breeze, and I didn't think the low water would be a problem here. However, it's always a mistake to let God know your plans, isn't it? In fact nothing was hatching and nothing was rising. I managed to persuade one grayling up to an Orange Otter, a fly which has a reputation for persuading almost anything up to the surface. After which a number of fish flashed underneath this and one or two other patterns, but always came short. Having messed about like this for a couple of hours, I finally saw sense and changed the dry fly rig for a double nymph set-up, and the rest of the fish came from fishing along the bottom of gravel runs and deep dubs.

A beautiful piece of water that held plenty of promise, but in spite of a very good and varied hatch throughout the day, there was no rise, apart from a constant stream of tiddlers that would rise at anything. Tried nymphs, wet and dry, and caught several 3 - 4" fish and one very feisty brownie of about 7". Saw one good fish of about 2lb glide out from the bank to the deep water in middle - so there are fish there!

Took a 10" trout and a 13" grayling on dry fly (Griffiths gnat) in the first hour, then struggled the rest of the day until evening. Between 5 & 6pm, got some interest from a group of grayling. Took three of them, all about 12" and lost one. Very fussy eaters though... ignored everything at size 14 ... inspected and rejected everything at size 16 ... took a size 18 klink.

D.C. 4 trout and 4 grayling biggest to 8-10 inches. G.C. 5 parr. Only managed to fish about a third of the water available, so will have to come back and try again. Lovely secluded spot with plenty of wildlife.