Feedback & Reports

Morning was difficult with down stream/cross river wind that always seemed to blow as I was about to cast. Started by the hut, but no joy and no sign of fish rising. Headed down to the bottom of the beat by the bridge and had a 12" trout from there. Tried all the usual places on the way up river but only managed 15" Grayling from the pool down from the hut.
After a break for lunch again fished through the pool by the hut and nothing going. Repeated my steps from the morning and headed to the bottom of the beat. By now cloud had set in but luckily the wind had died down.
Fished differently this time and had more success. 2 Brown Trout (best 15", though skinny), 1 8" Grayling and a Salmon Parr enjoyed grabbing a skating fly in the fast water.
Nothing else until I again ended up in the pool below the hut. Have had nice fish from this run before, but wading is somewhat difficult with flat rocks that can be very slippery and the fast water makes seeing your feet difficult. Didn't see the fish take the fly, just heard it. Almighty splash and the line went tight. Took a good few minutes to get the fish to hand, a fat 18" Grayling. Wondered up back to the hut and thought I would give it one more chuck there as it is unusual to not catch from this pool. Nothing rising at all but managed to find one 8" Grayling who was looking skywards. All fish caught on various sizes of Parachute Adams. Two Salmon seen in the very top pool. Fantastic day out as always, thank you WUF!!
Note for WUF - booked two rods but second could not make it last minute so only 1 rod fished.

3 Trout, 4 Grayling, 1 Other

A very hard day. No fly = almost no rises. The wind probably didn't help fly emergence either. About half of the few fish caught were risers, the rest not. Nothing on nymph. Virtually all fish were taken on size 20 dark or pale HE emergers. Trout from 9-13" and grayling from 10-15". Sadly, the largest of the grayling had probably the most serious, likely FEB damage on both flanks, that we have seen. Hopefully he will repair. A plucky fellow for sure.
We also caught a lot of small 3-4" grayling which, it is to be hoped, is good news for future stocks. A lovely beat as always.
P.S. We would strongly recommend, if parking at the middle of the beat, and after fishing The Grandstand, to avoid attempting to walk up the old path alongside the river to access the upper part of the beat. The felling of the trees two years ago, and consequent absence of tree canopy, has let so much light in that bramble growth is rampant = serious trip and wader hazards! Instead, by-pass this by walking back to the car park and taking the track upstream instead. If the owner / river keeper don't do some strimming / spraying here soon, this will quickly become a very productive and very large bramble patch!! Tight lines.
(WUF: Noted)

8 Trout, 7 Grayling

Lovely stretch of the river. Fished the upper part all day catching on pellet and meat. We caught a barbel first cast and steadily until the sun came up over the hill, when the action died off. Picked up again late afternoon until dusk.
Barbel caught between 4lb and 8lb, chub to 4lb, all in perfect condition. Boat traffic fairly quiet and the majority were considerate.
All in all a great day and we shall be back soon.

10 Barbel, 6 Chub

Nice to be out again. Fast streamy water on the beat in the low flows didn't offer much in the way of holding for salmon but may do in higher water.
Following several flotilla of canoes I left the water after an armada of less-than-stable paddleboarders all fell in at the various ripples. Part and parcel at this time of year.
Perfect place to practice some casting.

Water v low and strong sunshine with some rising fish. Hard to get close to the deeper channels and pools without spooking. Some fish rising. Really nice beat. To get to water safely, walk 50 metres up the path, don't descend by the bridge.

1 Trout

Arrived at midday to discover that two rods from the holiday cottage had already fished the whole beat! Nice guys - but was a bit concerned as to how I would do.
Headed downstream as that was what had been fished first.
Not a natural nymph man - but rigged up two nymphs on 12ft tenkara rod and a dry fly rod as back up.
First pool fished I ran nymphs through a dozen times or so then all hell broke loose - grayling on both nymphs! Got them in eventally but only after second joint of rod snapped and I managed to grab tiny top section. Will claim duo landed on smallest rod ever.
Changed rod over to nymphs and eventually ended up with 5 or 6 on nymph.
In evening headed above bridge with a GSB. Did not get above shallows above high undercut bank. Had at least another 6 grayling on dry fly. So a dozen+ grayling all 8 - 10 inches except one on GSB that was about 14". Sure I should do better on this beat - need to master nymphing.

12 Grayling

River very low water good hatch around lunch time. 4 fish within half hour on small black gnat, the other two taken on blue winged olive. All fish released in water.
Abercynrig is a pleasant stretch of water with good access and easy wading.

6 Trout

Spent time in the morning carefully baiting swims both from the bank and by wading out. In the afternoon we got the centrepins out and waded. The flow was manageable but the substrate demanded some care as it was slippery. We shared the bank with the cows and provided them with great entertainment when we crossed the silt and mud on leaving the river! We caught a beautiful Chub by this method. During the early evening we changed to standard feeder tactics which yielded 3 Barbel (to 8lbs) and 2 Chub (largest 5lbs 8ozs). Incredibly beautiful scenery and lots of interesting wildlife. Look forward to a return visit.

3 Barbel, 3 Chub

My second time to Doldowlod, and this time I took a friend who had never fly fished before.I did warn him that as I'm self taught that my casting tuition would be up to much. I chose Doldowlod because of the relative ease of wading and the fact you don't have to cast far on the lower end of the beat.
We nymphed and indicator nymphed using loads of different flies and didn't get a touch until we reached faster water, then it seemed that a gold head copper john was the only pattern I could get a take on.
Overall we found it hard going and I guess that the sun in the morning didn't do us any favours.
I tried my best to get him is first fish on the fly and he lost a couple, but alas I failed. Despite this Andy enjoyed himself and will probably try again next year.
PS. Next time someone fishes there can you please tell me what method to use on those very fishy looking gullies? I'm sure they're full of fish, but I can't seem to buy a bite from that area!

3 Grayling

Float fishing with bread on Beat 2.

2 Chub