Feedback & Reports

Not a day for fair weather fishermen, but the angler's obsession drove us to persevere through gale force winds and blanket rain. And what a return! Eight lovely fish between 12 and 18", mainly to a Copper John. An excellent beat, to which we will return !

8 Trout

Firstly, what a beautiful stretch of river... a fabulous place to go and fish. It is a shame there was still no sign of any fish....no trout rising despite some olives showing. I walked 'the planks' at Llanstephan and saw nothing at all. I will try again however in a few weeks.
One thing to say.... the drive down to the beat is too hazardous for most vehicles to venture down. There is a big drop on corner at the top which will ground anything but a 4x4. Also it is open for anyone to go down to the river. This is fine if the 'anyone' isn't a poacher but I couldn't help wondering if an apparent lack of fish in the deep pool just off to the left of the entrance was to do with ease of access for unscrupulous poachers.
WUF Note: This beat is well patrolled so the lack of fish seen is probably more to do with the cold early season conditions. The "Leaning Willow" opposite the hut is not thought of as the best pool for trout. The Ferry, Upper Heirag, Bridge Pool and Spring Pool are all regarded as better for trout and, when in season, grayling.

River was probably still a tad high for the fly (11" on the gauge at Fownhope on Thursday night). However, I had a lovely day, certainly the best of the Easter weekend weatherwise, and it was good to blow away the casting cobwebs.
I also took the services of Mick (the Ghillie), who I couldn't recommend highly enough, particularly if on your first visit to the fishery. Lovely guy and knows the beat inside out.

Beautiful, sunny spring day but cold wind and water low. No fish showing.

A great place to spend the bank holiday great weather plus the bonus of a full bag all made for a great days fishing happy days

6 Trout

Lovely day, fish active around midday. 2 caught, 3 lost (one of which was a good fish and snapped the 4lb tippet).

2 Trout

Two fish caught on worm with popup.

2 Trout

Blank for salmon. Still, it was good to be out on a sunny Good Friday casting and seeing how the pools have changed. Perhaps I was being optimistic, so early in the year. After a somewhat leisurely lunch, I returned to find a grannom hatch in full blast. For a while every trout in the river seemed to be rising. As it was, I rushed to put a trout rod up and just caught the end of it. Three trout 11-15 inches on F-Fly. By 2 o'clock it was all over and the river seemed completely dead once more. Many thanks to owner Barry Paraskevas for the invitation.

3 Trout

Dore was really low and gin clear. Walked the beat and didn't spot any fish. Fished some of the deeper pools but nothing doing. Note that this beat is really overgrown, and casting is near impossible, even roll casts difficult in most places. A French leader could do the trick, but I wouldn't go anywhere near this beat between April - October, and it is likely to be even more overgrown.

What a great beat this is, stunning surroundings, easy access, well kept but still very natural, with nice solid benches along its length, really first rate and obviously full of fish judging by the catch returns. However I struggled today, not sure what, if anything, I was doing wrong but I failed to catch. The river was fairly low and very clear with bright sunshine most of the day, the only cloudy spell came late morning just as March Browns started coming off in quite some numbers along with a few smaller flies, sadly this was very short lived only lasting a few minutes so the trout didn't have chance to respond.
I'll definitely be back for another go.