Feedback & Reports

Total catch: 6 WBT 6-12" and 1 surprise sea trout smolt 7".
Good hatch of Mayfly and olives during the day, but most action was in the evening when there was a terrific Mayfly spinner fall on one of the upper pools.
This is a long beat, but you don't need to venture more than halfway down to find great fishing. The fish are pretty spooky, and generally you only get one chance – so cast carefully!
Will definitely be back.

6 Trout, 1 Other

A truly stunning area and piece of water – was like being in Slovenia in a couple of places. Horrible conditions but we had some great sport. Actually, Dolgau outfished Craig Llyn by a long shot and we saw some huge fish cruising around. You had to be ultra-stealthy, but when you were you could really get them nearly every time. Pool just above the bridge fished really well and we had 8 out of that one alone; 5 browns, 3 grayling. Biggest grayling would have been just under 50cm! The biggest trout wasn’t far off that too.
We picked up some nice fish in almost every pool with a nice mix of trout and grayling. No hatches to speak of, sadly, but we did get some nice fish on the dries with the rest being on small nymphs fished on long and fine leaders.

14 Trout, 7 Grayling

Started around 10am in bright sunshine, light upstream breeze and water low and clear. One or two fish were rising under the cover of overhanging trees but we decided to target the faster water with nymphs until the evening. We landed several fish to 15" which were all very well conditioned (2 taken). I lost another 15" in a fast run but the one that really got away was from a very deep and very fast gutter - I honestly thought I'd hooked bottom until it gradually moved upstream, a couple of shakes of the head and the line parted. This river breaks my heart everytime I fish it - but it keeps me coming back! Fabulous fishing in a fabulous location. Great company and fond memories too.

8 Trout

Got to Upper Bigsweir at 6pm courtesy of three accidents on the M4. Clearly, should be grateful that I was just stuck in the jams and not the cause of any of them!
Fished from 6pm to 10pm. Saw one fish in the Triangles at 9.45pm and covered it but no takes. Nice little stretch and will give it a go again later in the summer.

Saw a couple of fish move but only caught a lovely 3.5lbs sea trout.

1 Other

Perfect day warm but overcast. Two browns 6" and 8". No rising fish so caught on gold head nymph. Three other fish lost one I would say was much larger but not seen.

2 Trout

The river was in great shape. Overcast conditions lingered on until early afternoon. Five fish early on from the lower half of the beat, all coming to weighted nymphs. Moving on to the upper stretch from about 11.00am the occasional fish started rising. A further nine fish taken on a Blonde Wulff and many others missed. All fish in the 8" -12" range and in perfect condition. Interesting to see Mayfly hatching from mid-afternoon and being totally ignored.

14 Trout

Evolved into a beautiful bright day when cloud cover burnt off enabling good viewing of kites and eurofighters. One decent bottle green salmo nigripinnis; it's not the black pectorals or vomerine teeth thats remarkable John Beer but the irridescent bottle green colour that has faded in the bottled specimens in the nhm. All largely caught on wet flies. As ever the larger fish turning over in the middle of the llyn were well out of range; perhaps the boat would be handy next time. This place is always worth a visit.

19 Trout

The sun was shining so we headed west for an evening's fun hoping for a mayfly hatch. And what a hatch! I have not seen so many spinners dancing since the 70s. The trout must have been sated on them as they didnt seem too bothered although Usk trout are usually more circumspect than their tarty Wye cousins. Those fish that were fooled had been practicing too - of 12 fish hooked 10 came off, leaving us with two lovely fat 13 inch fish, both returned. Bigger ones were lost and much bigger ones were just far too wise to be hooked. As dusk fell - we fished till 10 - the bats seemed to appreciate the ephemeropteran extravaganza rather more than the fish. No silver tourists sighted although we did give the salmon rod a trundle.

2 Trout

Arrived a little late to take full advantage of a prolific morning hatch. Afternoon became very bright and sunny and the fishing difficult. A lovely scenic beat though. No fish caught.