Feedback & Reports

High level of water, almost impossible to fish, but I have tried it...no touch, no fish.

7 Grayling upto 1lb 9oz, most over the pound mark. 2 small Brown Trout, 1 Salmon Parr of 6''.

All fish taken in 2 hours before the river got coloured up, on bronze maggots on the bend by the church. Most swims were flowing too fast to present a float very well.

Arrived to find river really tanking through and high. Could not hold bottom even with 6oz leads! Decided to fish margins but despite using all methods-including deadbait for pike we could not tempt anything. River was probably not really fishable, but having come, we gave it a go.
Thanks Wye & Usk for a brilliant autumn's fishing, will be back next June!!

Blank. A bad miscalculation this trip, as the Arrow rose and coloured during a wet night and now a gale was blowing. The forecast hadn't been so daunting, mentioning only "showers" and "strong winds." It was not unfishable and I struggled on with it till lunch-time, meeting a mink at the top end. Having touched nothing at all, I gave it up until the level drops a bit.

I then went home to repair a set of waders in the garage. The latest advice is that once you have breached the airtight seal on your tube of aquasure or other glue and used it once, keep the tube in the refrigerator to slow down the inevitable chemical reaction between glue and air. Heat the tube up before using it again in a pan of hot, not boiling, water. The wader discussion never quite seems to end. My pal RE of Swansea, who has been doing some research, suggested "Why don't you tell them about Diver Dave?" So I will.

Briefly, Diver Dave is a retired professional diver living in Scotland. His claim to fame is that he owns a 20 year neoprene dry suit, from which, after lots of hard wear and some judicious repairs, he could still emerge like James Bond wearing a dinner suit, possibly a bit rumpled, but definitely dry. Diving suits are made to a very high standard, but Dave decided anglers are very badly served by the wader manufacturers and opened his own repair centre - see www.wader-repair.co.uk. There is lots of information on the site, but Dave himself gave some more on the phone:

Bad design is a much bigger problem than punctures. He claimed to see a fundamental flaw in the construction of most waders - thick material combined with light stitching and light taping is a recipe for trouble.

He loves Simms G3 and G4, because he gets so much work to do on them. Same for Hardy EWS. Didn't have much good to say about Platinum and Scierra either.

He did have some cautious praise for some Vision and Snowbee models as standard.

Diver Dave tests for leaks with carefully calibrated air pressure, which does away with all that business of spraying on alcohol and looking for black spots. He replaces tapes with his own version and uses his own glue. Maximum cost for a full rework is 45 pounds, after which he guarantees the product leak-free for 12 months.

RE has sent off a set of Vision Flywaters and Hardy EWS to Aberdeen for Dave to give them the treatment. As he puts it: "45 pounds for a guaranteed dry wading year has to be a good deal."

We will see how it works out. It would be interesting to hear from anybody who has used Diver Dave's service.

Blustery day with a rising river - half a dozen grayling from graylet to a 2lb + fish lost on the surface after a good struggle. Although there were a couple of rises, all fish came to an 'orange tag' gold head nymph. Stunning sunset topped off a stunning day - not a soul seen.

A super day out but, sadly, no fish! Probably more a reflection of our lack of grayling fishing expertise rather than lack of fish. That said, it was very windy and the river was somewhat cloudy and rose in level quite rapidly whilst we were there; presumably due to rain storms up the valley somewhere! We gave it all we had; czech nymphs, beaded pheasant tails and even dry red tags, all to no avail. Definitely a beat to come back to. The extensive barbed wire fencing was a bit of trial at times particularly as stiles were few and far between and some broken. Nonetheless, a wonderful tranquil setting with some super runs - those grayling are in there somewhere and we will be back!!

16 chub up to 4lb on meat and pellets from beats 3, 4 and 5.

6 x grayling 8-18 inches, fishing nymphs under the rod top. Not an easy day, with a cold wind developing as time went on, but a couple of very nice fish at 16 and 18 inches were included in the bag. I packed up early due to the sudden development of the dreaded wader leak and ingress of icy water....very demoralising.

Reflections at the end of the first part of this grayling season on our rivers - and by first part I mean the time when we can expect the fish to be taking at the surface - September, October and normally a bit of November with luck:

The Irfon is always a good grayling river, but this year it was an absolute star. The fish were in wonderful condition, free-rising and plentiful. Maybe we will look back on 2011 as a vintage year, or maybe it will go on getting better and better? I only request, should you find the pools where the big grayling live and have a spectacular day...don't try and repeat it too many times in the same spot! They are a finite resource.

The upper Wye fished well too, when it was in condition. Apart from the WUF beats, a friend and I had an excellent day on the Builth Town water before the present floods - with larger fish than in previous years.

The Arrow and Lugg suffered terribly from drought this summer, and only just now seem to have come into condition with the latest flush of water bringing fish onto the take.

The Monnow also suffered from drought and, to my knowledge at least, doesn't seem to have produced many good grayling catches.

It has been, so far, a remarkably warm autumn. Anglers have been taking grayling on the dry fly right until last week, practically into December, although I doubt this can go on very much longer. Still, if you see those large dark olives and a sipping rise at the surface one afternoon, it's always worth a try with a dry fly, even in mid-winter.

Whether it is due to the warmth or lack of frost I am not sure, but trout in good condition and obviously feeding steadily have featured in catches more than usual. Do we conclude this will be a bad spawning year for brown trout or will it all happen later in the winter?

Water a little higher than I've fished before and very slightly coloured ("tea without milk"). Managed 9 grayling (including a beautiful 18" fish and four baby "Graylets") & 3 small WBT. Fished the top end of the beat with up stream nymph and bugging - new water to me but just as appealing as the lower end. Thanks WUF for getting me absolutely hooked on winter grayling sport!

Had a great stay at the Bell Inn. Caught no fish but enjoyed the beautiful afternoon.