Feedback & Reports

I had 2 concerns about fishing this and the Llynfi Dulais beats: 1, the recent Llynfi pollution spill but the WUF Office confirmed that the incident had only affected the Pontithel beat, and 2, recent reports that the river was choked with trees and guarded by impenetrable barbed wire. I found fish, and found few more downed trees or little more barbed wire than is common on many of the Wild Stream beats I have fished. A good challenge.

1 Trout

Upstream nymphing. Light wt tackle. Stream v overgrown, challenging casting, in fact casting impossible. Access to stream also challenging as bank fenced off with barbed wire and no formal access points that I could find. A rather frustrating day.

2 small Perch on olive bead head nymph, lower end of beat was from Llynfi Dulais entry was very cloudy

2 Other

River level low, river blocked in some places. For the first time fishing a river quite pleased with my one brown trout caught on a nymph in quite a deep pool.

1 Trout

3 x trout 6-10 inches, Parachute Adams. A couple of hours on the upper section (campsite busy at the bottom end). A few mayfly spinners around, but generally rather slow with very few rises on a hot afternoon.

3 Trout

Not terribly easy access if not wading all way in stream. Good value!

4 Trout

First time on this beat. Hot day, started a little after 7pm. Water was very low and slow. One trout about 7" on a pale watery at the bottom end of the beat but much of the following stretch up to the junction pool with the Dulas had holiday makers from the caravan park paddling and playing with their dogs so wasn't really fishable - couldn't really blame them with the heat. Above the junction pool the stream was even lower and moving so slowly as to appear almost stagnant in places. Lots of fallen trees (one root bowl blocking the channel was enormous, at least 6' across) meant that the stream was a series of muddy pools and I climbed over three significant obstructions before giving up and heading back. One of the obstructions was so thick with twigs and rubbish accumulated that I imagine it must make a pretty effective dam and cause flooding in the winter.
A handful of grayling in a larger muddy pool above the final obstruction were just interested enough for one to sip my pale watery meaning I ended the evening with a final fist, about 6".

WUF Note: Thank you for the feedback, from your tip-off we have since been through this beat and cleared these obstructions, the 'after' pics are now in the page gallery.

1 Trout, 1 Grayling

11 x trout 8-14 inches, Monnow Gosling. I'm having to fish mornings at the moment (I'm on aged parent care duties afternoons), so I went up the stream licketty split with a big dry fly, missing out most of the difficult and tight bits in the middle of the beat. It was a very humid and cloudy morning with rain threatening, just right for mayfly fishing, and almost all fish taken in the fast run-in to pools. Bank-side bushes full of mayfly and today's hatch just beginning at midday. Most trout were around 10 inches but one 14 inch fish made an unexpected treat.

11 Trout

10 x trout 6-11 inches, 2 x out of season grayling 12 and 13 inches, Goldbead Hare's Ear nymph and Rusty Klinkhammer. This one seems to be in the process of waking up. The weather was more suitable today, a warm night being followed by cloudy skies. Casting a single nymph upstream in the runs was most effective, but the sight of the odd rising fish in slow pools had me changing tackle now and then.

10 Trout