Feedback & Reports

Beautiful weather and excellent conditions despite bright sunshine at times. Some grayling rising throughout the beat. 30 grayling landed between two rods with the largest three fish a shade under the 2lb mark (also 3 small out of season brown trout). Lots of mink footprints on the bank! Most grayling caught on CDC emerger (size 14 olive) and on size 20 copper tungsten nymph. Great day out on the water - I will be back next year for some more grayling action... and of course the spring for some trout! Thanks WUF!

10 x grayling 10-16 inches, 9 x out of season trout 6-10 inches. Low clouds on the hills and a strong wind blowing downstream all day, colder during the afternoon. The Irfon was much higher than I expected, from more rain on the Cambrian hills I suppose, but running clear. Nothing much rising, but nevertheless it turned out to be a dry fly day. I spent much of the afternoon parked in one spot and dealing with a shoal lying under a very powerful run, over a distance of about 15 or 20 yards, not more. I had great fun trying to bring them up and working my way through a little box marked "traditional grayling dries." Put on a new pattern, one or two grayling would rise, then the shoal would become nervous and no more rises. Put on something different and there would be one or two rises again. Grayling Steel Blue, Red Tag, Treacle Parkin and Yellow Bumble all got the odd fish or two. So did John Storey with its forward-pointing wing, the only one in this collection of size 16 artificials which actually looks much like a natural fly. The white hackled flies, Green Insect and Grayling Witch, designed for the chalk streams, as usual in my experience didn't work here. Best of the bunch was Orange Otter, a fly which has built a reputation over 70 years for bringing up non-rising grayling (and trout), and which accounted for some nice ones at the end. Personally, I believe that the graylings' interest in Orange Otter - and many of these fancy flies and flame tails - is not much to do with imitating fly life, but something to do with exciting curiosity and even, perhaps, aggression. Anybody who fishes nymphs much with an indicator will have had the experience of a grayling rising from the bottom of the river, grabbing a bright orange egg-shaped indicator and taking it down to mouth for several seconds. At times our wild grayling, bless them, can be as curious and naive as newly-stocked rainbows.

Good bags of sizeable grayling on all rods (promptly released) and few Brownies, one over 2lbs (equally released in good shape). Water clearing out after spate, good hatches after 14:00, persistent when lull of wind.

The day after fished Wye at Doldowlod, very disappointing for colder water and windy condition, minor hatches, but we spotted a wonderful coloured cock salmon around 20 pounds (1 meter long!, no kidding!)

10 x grayling 8-15 inches, 10 x out of season trout 7-13 inches, fishing various dries all day. A drop of 10 degrees from the previous day, cold downstream wind, lowering clouds and weather front coming on. Very few fish rising and during the morning everything I had a go at turned out to be a trout. A few grayling turned up after lunch, but very much the junior class, fish of 9 and 10 inches. Only the last 3 grayling around 3 o'clock were decent ones, 14 and 15 inches. So why didn't you fish a nymph instead of persevering on the surface, I can hear you ask? I am not quite sure except that we are going to be bugging of necessity when the real cold weather arrives and fishing that way through the winter without any choices...I do like a few days with the dry fly in October if I can possibly get them!

The weather had cooled off considerably from the previous few days of Indian summer, although there were still fish rising to sedges and stone flies. Six fish caught; four grayling from 12" to 16" (the latter estimated at around 1.75 lb) and two out of season trout. All fish were caught on dries, mostly traditional patterns (double badger and red tags). Tried Czech nymphs in the rougher water, but didn't manage any takes.

Bright, very hot but a nice breeze around the middle of the day bringing plenty of leaves off the trees plus, no doubt, accompanying food to titillate Salmonid taste buds (in contrast not many falling leaves at Ty Newydd yesterday)! Not much fly life but some irregularly rising fish on and off during the day. Both rising and non-rising fish were all taken on olive and HE emerger patterns, and on Grayling Steel Blue; 27 grayling and two trout. Lots of grayling in the 13-15" class and L also lost a clonker which put a serious bend in his cane rod and silk line - absolutely gutted! But what a cracking day - let's hope for continued relatively stable weather and more good grayling days this autumn.

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.