Feedback & Reports

Arrived to find the river slightly higher than I anticipated and rising, but we decided to crack on anyway. Stuck at bugging the whole day, first fish was an out of season WBT followed at regular intervals by a few grayling up to 12". All taken on a pink shrimp deep.

1 Trout, 6 Grayling

Blanked! I lost a fish at the net but hard going rained all day and lots of leaves coming down which made things difficult.
The new sign on car parking space says lower canon bridge not upper could be very confusing if its first time fishing this stretch!

A cloudy, wind-free day. No insects and just a few solitary rises - took a fly rod but barely worth a cast. So spent the day, as planned, trotting for the first time for over fifteen years. Was reminded from start to finish that managing a centre-pin reel is a lot more difficult that I had remembered! Found grayling though, from a few 6 inch graylets to several very fit 14-15 inch adults; most fish, as has been the case throughout the season on the upper river, were 8-11". Also six OOS trout of 6-10 inches. Left wondering why it had taken me so long to get back to fishing with other than fly rods.

6 Trout, 20 Grayling

12 fine grayling including PB. 1 WBT, 1 parr. All on small weighted nymph beneath Klinkhamer. Waders sprung a leak in crotch, had to endure long, moist drive home, smiling nonetheless! A memorable day; thanks WUF.

1 Trout, 12 Grayling, 1 Other

Found trout more eager than grayling with 4 and 3 respectively to weighted nymphs and a red tag. Trout in good condition considering time of year.

4 Trout, 3 Grayling

Only 1 Grayling on a small bead headed pheasant tail. May have been better off trotting. My first time at Cefnilysgwynne, so called the owner Richard, who was very helpful and explained that the central parking would be unsuitable without a 4x4 due forestry work. There is a parking spot down a short path off the main path leading to a field through a gate. Unfortunately another fisher not realising the consequences had parked in the path so I had to park further away and walk back through a quagmire.
Still worth while, as the river was gin clear, with Salmon showing. Before leaving I sat on the bank for 20 mins and watched a redd for 20mins. I counted at least 20 salmon, some around 20lb in water less than 1ft depth. Fantastic to witness.

1 Grayling

20th Nov. River conditions looked good, weather conditions were great but turned out to be a bit more difficult than expected. In the good conditions had 2 Barbel, best 9lb 4 oz, one around 10am, the other on the last chuck. A bit of Chub action in between with 4 Chub, two of which were good 4 lb'rs...
21st Nov. A bit colder and plenty of rain otherwise as per previous day no action at all except for a short period in the late afternoon when 4 Barbel were taken in 4 casts. Best fish at 10 lb 2 oz...
Although not necessarily the most prolific W&U stretch I've fished. this is a really beautiful and peaceful fishery that in my opinion is diverse enough to offer opportunities in most conditions...

6 Barbel, 4 Chub

29 x grayling 6-16 inches, 6 x out of season trout 6-10 inches, long trotting. 2ft 3in on the Llanstephan gauge now, clear and dropping slowly. Salmon hanging around waiting for spawning. Still relatively warm with total cloud cover. Fishing days are pretty short now with darkness coming on fast by 4.30.

29 Grayling

With the river carrying over a metre of floodwater, it was a difficult day. Two barbel around six pounds and three chub responded to our pellet and feeder tactics and it was a real pleasure to be fishing. A chat with Colin rounded off a very enjoyable session.

2 Barbel, 3 Chub

12 x grayling 10-16 inches, 11 x out of season trout 6-15 inches, long trotting. Gauge watching is getting to be a nerve racking business. Dry for a couple of days now and the Irfon slowly dropping off, nice and clear. That's looking hopeful. But then about 6 hours of moderate rain during the night before fishing, ending around dawn. Would this bring the Irfon up into a spike of muddy high water, or would it be absorbed? I went anyway, and the river continued to run down (around 0.65 at Cilmery) and remained clear. Another dark day with odd showers, warm and with an upstream wind, which is the right kind for float fishing. In fact about 2 in the afternoon there was a concerted rise to dark olives for about half an hour, with fish coming up right next to me. Oh for a dry fly; they didn't want maggots at that moment! As I had been lazy and left the fly rod in the car, I missed out on this opportunity. There are times when the fly rod will beat trotting hands down and I'm sure this would have been one of them.

12 Grayling