Feedback & Reports

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

Nice day on the Clewedog with the river still running at a decent height. Fished from about 11.30 to 3 with the Tenkara rod.
Started with a small nymph as it was on from last trip. Switched to a Gnarly Tenkara fly when the nymph was taken by a tree and ended up fishing it dry which worked well later on. Plenty of Otter prints and saw several Kingfishers.

14 Trout

Looked at the Ithon River level, last night ......sitting nicely at 0.112m .... Great i thought, means her tributary, the Clywedog should be perfect, and she was when I parked at the bridge at bang on ten to midday!!!
Had a can of coke and my lunch, before starting and watched wasps come and go out of plastic tubing, that's near the parking area, well actually behind it if I'm bring honest!!! Fascinating things to watch, i could just see the small nest, just a bit bigger than a tennis ball ...... that'll soon be treble that by September..... Great to watch them go about their business....
The fishing today was cracking.... dry fly all the way as always, with my summer small stream fishing.... superb fun !!!! Lots to the net, and a good few slipping off to be fair !! Eighteen made it to the net, some nice chunky twelve inch fish, but the average about seven or eight inches I'd say ...lovely takes to my dry , just never tire of it !!! A slow mooch upstream.... superb stuff....
Got out by the weir at the top at four bells ....The River is running at perfect dry fly height, clear but certainly not deep !!! Fish small dries, cast accurately, and wade slowly is my motto here and in fact on most if not all the wild streams if you want success.....
The cows are a bit feisty in the field , but hey ho !! And tarka had been on the rampage I'd say in the lower part of the beat today .... pools that last week had two or three fish in them .... He's a real explorer, seen his prints at the Bridge and right up the top... Doesn't seem to dampen the quality of fishing. OK, fish aren't huge, but there are some nice surprises here .... five of mine today were over ten inches .... so that's good for a little trib. Right, another adventure tommoz ....maybe one of the Usk tribs, they always seem a little left out !!!... Home time and a bottle of Rev. James !!! Oofffffffffff .......

18 Trout

This is probably the best wild stream I've bean ever. Plenty of fish, most of them cought with pheasant nymph, 2x dry fly.
Easy access to the river, wading is easy as well. Hope will get a chance to go again soon.

7 Trout

A fun, if not a little rushed this afternoon, as I am taking the .22 out later for a bit of bunny bashing ... Rabbit Madras imminent !!!! Mmmmmm !!!
Anyway, the usual quiet areas when I started at midday!! Otter activity again !!! .... A rather annoying wind too .... gggrrrrrr !! Other than that, great dryfly sport, again !! Forgot my secateurs ... darn it !!! But managed snapping quite a few annoying boughs hanging over the brook !!!! A nice happy medium if you know what I mean, not to make an unsightly mess, just nip off annoying new growth!!! There is quite a bit, but better do a bit than none at all I say.......
Fish looking up still, and keen to nail a well presented dry !! Para greenwells and small Wulffs doing the biz today.... River at a nice height, with that Ithon tinge to it, and still a few mays flying about by two o clock ....
Eleven maybe twelve made it to my net, a couple of really nice eleven Inch fish too in that tally ...A futher four or five came off after a brief tussle !! Must admit, the fish go barmy here when hooked , big or small, great fun on the six foot, one weight rod !!!
I do love this little secretive overgrown brook, warts and all !!! Tis a firm fav along with the Edw and the Arrow I'd say..... cracking stuff .. Didn't see Tarka during the three hours I was there, but plenty of fresh prints in the bankside silt !!
A cracking few hours, as always on the streams, out with the rifle later , hopefully bag a few bunnies .... Then a bottle of Rev. James is waiting for this callsign ...... Happy days !!!!

11 Trout

After a load of early gardening and oiling the shed, was time for a quick cuppa, then off to one of the wild streams ..... I saw last night a couple of booked beats, so I plumbed for the Clywedog......
I got there at ten to twelve, looking lovely and a perfect height to be honest !! Tackled up my usual six foot, one weight for here.... tis just the job ... mayfly on the go from half one and fish smashing them, although Tarka had done his usual rounds, and there were quiet areas along the bear .... You gotta do your leg work here and be prepared for some quiet pools !!! I saw the Otter briefly up by the Elan Pipes .... the other week, he was more towards the parking area .... cheeky monkey !!!
As mentioned before, put the graft in and you'll hit plenty of takes !!! A few risers caught , but mostly prospecting today... fun to be honest ..eighteen ish maybe more to the net, and a few long range releases... Great fun.. only wee fish today, ranging from seven to perhaps ten inches, all nailed my dry fly offerings .... Para Greenwells and DHE....I favour the smaller flies , even when mayfly are about to be honest..... apart from the big patterns really snarl up my furled leaders, ha ha .... I find my tactics still work, fishing smaller .... they'll still smash a well presented dry !!
....and , alas, they did today....A cracking four hours sport ..... tis a brook you got to graft in, but hey its an absolute cracker .... and yet another sighting of the Otter, this is becoming a regular occurance !!!
Back home, and a well earned can of Thatchers Gold !!! Happy days ......

18 Trout

Parked up at the designated parking spot for this cracking little brook ..... I'm sure the area is used for Powys road maintenance teams cause there's a huge array of plastic road warning signs etc etc .....
Last time I was here the otter had been on patrol, and he'd been on the "go" today ...... again !!! Areas were as quiet as a mouse particularly up to the pipes, although I'd picked up three or four by then but unusually quiet .... but fresh otter prints gave the game away , didn't spot him today but he wasn't far !!! River is sitting at a lovely height,with that slight "Ithon" tinge to it ..... but clear enough to watch thr trout come out of knowwhere and smash my dry fly !!! Just the best !!!
Dry fly sport was really fun if you put the leg work in..... This is a beat that'll give you a good workout !!!
I think twelve or thirteen trout, and two plump ten inch grayling, like peas in a pod !!! Both hammered my dry fly !!! Think I went right to the top of the beat, over a five hour session here ..... superb fun as always.......Fish between six and ten Inches today, nothing huge but all absolutely nailed my dry fly offerings !!! Four fish that were risers, the rest prospecting ......
Mayfly on the go ....And quite a few too.... lovely to see ..... Must admit watched a few on the water .... didn't seem to be getting harassed..... lucky !!!
Well, looks like a weather warning for tommoz heavy thunder storms by all accounts, probably be thr rivers out for a few days ...was nice to squeeeeeeeeze in this session !!! Back here soon, maybe the Elan Valley tommorrow, choices choices !

12 Trout, 2 Grayling