Feedback & Reports

Fished the Upper Irfon beat for a couple of hours on the Kilsby House rod. Some lovely water. Many small fish including grayling but most quicker than us! We had a decent trout on for 10 seconds but ended up with two 6” grayling and a salmon parr to hand. Many small grayling in evidence in some parts of the beat which is great news.

2 Grayling, 10 Other

Usual feeder methods used. Fished throughout day but canoeist very inconsiderate. The best fish came to pellets as the bright conditions faded.

4 Barbel, 2 Chub

Was great to head off to this gem of a lake , to get my regular Bugeilyn fix . Got there seven in the morning , to be greeted by a flat calm surface and hardly a whisp in the air ! Things could be tricky to say the least . . . . . . . Tackled up with my five weight rod floating line, and my team of home tied small wets, also taking along my seven foot four weight split cane rod , just for a bit of fun . Initially working the westerly shore , I managed to pick up two cracking fish, quickly admired , then returned . By eight , there was a much needed breeze , which pit a nice ripple on the lake , improving sport no end . I worked all the Westerly shore , right down to the bottom end . By the lone pine tree , stuck in some heather was a cats whisker fly . . . . Eeeeeeeeeeek . . . . . Who's been using such a monstrosity of a fly for such a legend of a lake , I think that deserves an exclamation mark or two Mr Birch !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Takes were confident , surprisingly not too deep down , and as always scrapers right to the net , the point fly , my own Kate Maclaren variant being the favourite of the morning , and in total caught ten crackers , in excellent condition , all released back to their fabled home . Next visit , I'll hopefully give some of the flies I'm attempting , from Emrys Evans ' Plu Stiniog . It's a cracking book , and a chap I would have loved to have met , and learned some tips from the Cambrian Angling Assoc Legend . He could snaffle out a trout or two on the Wild Lakes around Blaunau Ffestiniog , awesome country side and some great fishing too !

At half twelve , the sun was high and burning the backs of my hands , reaching a steady 23 degrees , I gave around the boathouse one last blast , managing to pick up my last feisty little brownie . Happy with a tally of ten on such a difficult day , I chilled out for a while , before packing up , enjoying the views on a slow bimble back along the track, before hitting the main drag and heading back to the Pondarosa . Will be back very very soon , hopefully on a more windier cloudier cooler day, but thanks as always Llyn Bugeilyn for another fun few hours !!!!!!

10 Trout

One coloured fish 12lb in Mill stream with Japanese Lure for Cherry salmon.

1 Salmon

As expected river very low and clear. Fish spotted but not willing to feed in the strong sun all the same a good day, not at work We managed two small barbel and two chub to 3lb spent a good amount of time watch a large group of small barbel below the bridge.

2 Barbel, 2 Chub

Given the unusual wind-free weather forecast, I decided that I must try to cash in and so went to Abernant for the day, and fished the evening, hoping for spinner fall, on the Gwent AS waters , on the Usk above Gilwern. It proved to be a most interesting and productive day in spite of unabated sunshine and 26 degrees. There were very few risers in the morning , some midge and the odd pulse of sedges and PWs. I started fishing duo and had three fish on a small HE nymph (Louis Noble's Special One) and rose a couple on the HE parachute. Having also seen a rise, and thought that the fish must be looking up, I changed to a single HE emerger (size 16/14 HE parachute or size 18 HE Duck's Dun) and had seven more grayling, mainly 8-10" but two of 12 and 14", and a 12" trout. A good start! Using the same flies in the afternoon, I ended up with 31 grayling on the day. Most were 8-10 inch fish, but a couple more 12 -13" fish were added in the afternoon, when more of the fish caught were dimpling risers, but the majority on the day weren't rising at all. At this time of year and into the autumn, these flies work for me because grayling are often feeding on small surface-active nymphs. I have also found that 18-20 sizes of this HE parachute are very effective when fish get on to midge. The Usk proved very interesting. To my amazement, when I arrived at about 7.15, I found the river literally covered in dimpling rises. The river was covered in ants!!!!! Unfortunately I had only met the end of the rise (curses!) as they had all passed through by about 7.45 and the rise stopped. In spite of a break off and having to set up the front end again, I managed to catch four lovely 12-14 inch fish. The fly I used was surprisingly (?) totally refused once the rise ceased. I couldn't rise a fish with it. After that I had a couple on Paul Procter's rusty spinner. Not a bad day, though being greedy, I'd have really wanted to have fished the whole ant fall. A fellow GAS member saw flying ants in Cardiff yesterday and fish rising at Chainbridge on the way home. Amazing how synchronised across such a wide area, ant-flying is. Anyone lucky enough to have caught all of this ant fall (grrrrr!) must have filled their boots! I mustn't complain though - a great day out and about.

3 Trout, 31 Grayling

16 Rainbows, mainly on Pheasant Tail Nymphs. Damselflies and Daddy-Long-Legs on the south side at the deep end.

16 Trout, 2 Other

Method used was dryfly and Nymph.
River on the bones! Very very low.There were stretches where virtually the whole of the riverbed was dry. Never seen it like this before and I have fished this river since '72.

A wonderful day for a picnic in the Black Mountains, but not the weather to try to catch trout; brilliant sunshine and very hot. So it was T shirt and shorts, with thigh waders. 4pm - 8pm.

As expected, the water flow was at least 8 inches below what might be adequate, but under the canopy the world was much cooler, and there was always plenty of shade. I put up a size 16 Tups, since there were plenty of pale wateries in evidence, and edged my way up the beat; casting blind into likely spots, but also covering an occasional rise.

While the Tups looked just the job, the T shirt proved an error of judgement - not just because of vulnerability to stinging nettles and brambles when adopting an occasional approach on all fours; but more tiresomely I proved highly attractive to horse flies! And I only succeeded in scaring the fish. Then near the top of the beat I saw a few ovipositing females, so changed to a Sherry Spinner at 6.50pm. It appeared rather a mouthful, but in the space of half an hour attracted three small trout, who more or less hooked themselves with greed.

This is an outstandingly beautiful beat, to which I hope to return. The access and wading are comparatively straightforward, and all but the odd corner is fishable with an 8ft rod.

3 Trout