Feedback & Reports

My last foray for a few days !!!! Opted for one of my favourites , the Clywedog brook , again !!! lol …
I arrived at the brook at half seven, reasonably cool then,. My fishing today went on up past the weir about a hundred yards…. Had plenty of sport by then in fairness . Great fun on the dries again , with a sneaky, very very slow wade upstream …..Good takes on my Iron Blue and Greenwells, superb stuff.
Lots of insects on the go from eight ish, with fish looking up then too … Also plenty of horse flies, why is it they always want to land on you when you’re concentrating watching your dry fly come down a trouty run !!!! I dip tested the water temp with my thermometer, reading13 degrees under the canopy , lovely job ….
Seems like the pending thunderstorms due tommorrow are causing quite a stir, even chatting about it on the radio on my short journey from Rhayader to the Clywedog brook …. Jeeeeeeeez, British folks and the weather hey …lol !!!!
Good sport again here, with careful slow wading, managed a dozen to my net , maybe one or two more, on my usual tiny dries, great takes too, and a few of them risers today also … great fun ! The usual stamp for here, with one cracker of eleven inches. Three more self released themselves, so polite of them !!!!! They’re always feisty little strong fish here to be honest …. Superb stuff !!!
Tis noticeable when you. One out from the stream , from under the canopy , that heat hits you like a brick, quite literally ….When I returned to my truck, the dash temp was reading 27 degrees…. I was like a camel at a watering hole, supping my cold Diet Coke from my cool bag… absolute bliss, much needed.
A fun few hours again ….. got out at half one, a total buzz of four or five days solid on the streams, loved it ….. Would be nice if we do get a drop of rain tommorrow, these rivers need it now…. Lovely job !!! Home time and something cold and amber coloured in a pint glass I think !!!! Topper !!!!

12 Trout

A really early start ... up at Sparrows fart, five bells, two leisurely coffee's, a bit of watering the garden then off to the Clywedog, beat the heat !!@
Parked up just before half seven .... fished dries as usual .... ha ha ....Great fun here.....a slow slow wade here ... five hours to the top of the beat, getting out at half twelve ....If you don't mind casting kneeling and fishing tiny delicate dries, etc etc then at the mo this beats is for you ... if not, try something bigger like Llanddewi.... Both are mega low at the moment and require stealth to the max !!!
Usual hiding holes had me Savage rises to my dry ........Actually by half eight some steady rises ....and some olives seen around nine !!! Fish definitely in the faster stuff, although in the deep pools, had two nice surprises on my dry ....lovely stuff!! One came up leisurely like an old carp and just engulfed my fly, superb stuff..... Great scrappers on this little brook ..
Otter prints at the bottom end, fresh too .... in fact first two pools were as lively as a dodo !!!!
Thirteen made it to my net .... a fun fun session, sizes being the usual for here,best around eleven inches, but the colours on these fish, staggering !!!
Watched a kingfisher struggle with what must have been a young trout in its beak .... looked huge in comparison to the bird ..... A lovely chilled out wade up stream on a favourite beat ..... just the best of summer hey !!! Let's hope for rain Thursday, certainly need it !!!!!

13 Trout

River very low and clear, and a lovley stretch to explore. Caught 5 small trout biggest 7" . No signs of rises so eventually changed to a slow sinking ant that worked well. Be nice to go back with a bit more water.

5 Trout

Well , what a super little stream! Dont know how I missed this one for so long and have driven over it many many times on the way to the Rhayader AA's running waters (great fun btw!) and thought better give it a go after reading of JA's exploits this year !
So , nice one JA : ) .
Parking is just great ,one of the best, loads of room though the main gate into the field was padlocked and meshed till about halfway up . Look up to your left though and you'll see a gate into the wood there , adjacent to that is an easily scaled gate into field.
Rather socked in and well fenced initially (mainly slab rock water down in there anyway) but soon gets easier and accessible.
Then its riffle ,run, pool on up and some surprisingly deep pools too ! No real issues moving around and upwards either. Great.
Water pushing through v nicely , though carrying some colour still by the looks after the recent rain no doubt.
Quiet with any fly etc on top (dog days are here !?) but speculative casts with a 16 cdc & elk got good interest.
I got on just fine with a 7'6" 2 wt.
Lots of tiny olive nymphs on the stones and loads of midge larvae , which I suppose is a good or not so good thing ? A few caddis.
A beautiful place and just amazingly peaceful, even the ever present sheep seemed not to want to exercise their vocal chords at all.
Fantastic , that'll more than do me....
Only got up to just past the Elan pipes today (which are huge & very impressive btw..all that water rushing its way downhill to my tap sometime) and had 7 very fit little jewels to hand so v happy with that . Much looking forward to a return asap and then get further on up too.

7 Trout

Strewth, nice to have a bit of warmth today, in fact almost balmy when I was kitting up at ten bells by the bridge ..... makes a nice change from a few days ago !!! Looked a my truck dash, 16 degrees .... ohhhhh we're positively spoilt today !!!
The little Clywedog was low low low !!! And clear as gin .... Tricky stuff ... very tricky in fact, but still fun... tricky conditions keep you sharp I always think, and mother nature let's you know who's the gaffer !!!lol..
Managed eight to the net, over a slow four hour wade upstream, sizes the usual for here seven to eleven inches .... one cracker slipped my hook by a well know pool I always manage to snaffle one out of .... The perfect honey hole you could call it !!! Anyway, after the doom and gloom of the election, Tarka brightened things up .... fifteen yards away ... I stood stock still.... didn't even blink ... would have made a fantastic photo, he looked at me twice,the air was still, so I imagined he couldn't scent me !! Talk about splashing around I nearly felt like saying I need to teach you some rivers etiquette boy !!!! Ha ha ... eventually he snorted and was off like a shot, fantastic ....Friday feeling back, all is good in the world.... A few lovely brownies, an otter close up, kingfishers up and down , on a favourite, shrunken brook ......Back to The Ponderosa and I'm ready for an early weekend beverage !!! Cheers !!!

8 Trout, 1 Other

Strewth a warm one, when I tackled up by the Bridge parking area down in the field !! Reading 24 degrees at half nine ..... dam warm !!!! My first priority was to dip test the river with my thermometer ..... Reading 14 degrees .... creeping up steadily !!! Truth be told we need rain in these wild streams now!! I'm a slow stealthy wader so tend to target pretty close quarter,dry fly trout .... anything else, and at the mo you'd be scuppered ... low and very very clear!!!!
Great fun as always, but I think my last session here till we get rain ..... A dozen to the net and probably another 6 or 7 coming off today .... gggrrrrrr ... I'm putting it down to low water and fish going barmy when hooked .... and they're off !!! Still good sport and in that dozen, three belters, in awkward places... hence that's why they're big!!! Probably pushing twelve maybe thirteen inches , two of them ... fab stuff !!! All fish on the dry fly as always.....Lovely confident splashy takes too !!!!
Watched a kingfisher on his perch for an age, only two yards from me .... superb to see ... Tarka must have been busy, lots of fresh prints in the bottom of the beat . Quite there too, in lots of the pools !!!
Well, was nice to cut out by the weir ....a lovely four hours.... albeit hot and sticky!!! Cows sitting tight under the oak trees on way back over thr fields....A welcome cold can out of my cool bag and a Yorkie bar ......Sorted !!! A great session on one of my favourites.... Back when we've had rain !!! Happy days ......

12 Trout

Nice day on the Clewedog with the river still running at a decent height. Fished from about 11.30 to 3 with the Tenkara rod.
Started with a small nymph as it was on from last trip. Switched to a Gnarly Tenkara fly when the nymph was taken by a tree and ended up fishing it dry which worked well later on. Plenty of Otter prints and saw several Kingfishers.

14 Trout

Looked at the Ithon River level, last night ......sitting nicely at 0.112m .... Great i thought, means her tributary, the Clywedog should be perfect, and she was when I parked at the bridge at bang on ten to midday!!!
Had a can of coke and my lunch, before starting and watched wasps come and go out of plastic tubing, that's near the parking area, well actually behind it if I'm bring honest!!! Fascinating things to watch, i could just see the small nest, just a bit bigger than a tennis ball ...... that'll soon be treble that by September..... Great to watch them go about their business....
The fishing today was cracking.... dry fly all the way as always, with my summer small stream fishing.... superb fun !!!! Lots to the net, and a good few slipping off to be fair !! Eighteen made it to the net, some nice chunky twelve inch fish, but the average about seven or eight inches I'd say ...lovely takes to my dry , just never tire of it !!! A slow mooch upstream.... superb stuff....
Got out by the weir at the top at four bells ....The River is running at perfect dry fly height, clear but certainly not deep !!! Fish small dries, cast accurately, and wade slowly is my motto here and in fact on most if not all the wild streams if you want success.....
The cows are a bit feisty in the field , but hey ho !! And tarka had been on the rampage I'd say in the lower part of the beat today .... pools that last week had two or three fish in them .... He's a real explorer, seen his prints at the Bridge and right up the top... Doesn't seem to dampen the quality of fishing. OK, fish aren't huge, but there are some nice surprises here .... five of mine today were over ten inches .... so that's good for a little trib. Right, another adventure tommoz ....maybe one of the Usk tribs, they always seem a little left out !!!... Home time and a bottle of Rev. James !!! Oofffffffffff .......

18 Trout

This is probably the best wild stream I've bean ever. Plenty of fish, most of them cought with pheasant nymph, 2x dry fly.
Easy access to the river, wading is easy as well. Hope will get a chance to go again soon.

7 Trout

A fun, if not a little rushed this afternoon, as I am taking the .22 out later for a bit of bunny bashing ... Rabbit Madras imminent !!!! Mmmmmm !!!
Anyway, the usual quiet areas when I started at midday!! Otter activity again !!! .... A rather annoying wind too .... gggrrrrrr !! Other than that, great dryfly sport, again !! Forgot my secateurs ... darn it !!! But managed snapping quite a few annoying boughs hanging over the brook !!!! A nice happy medium if you know what I mean, not to make an unsightly mess, just nip off annoying new growth!!! There is quite a bit, but better do a bit than none at all I say.......
Fish looking up still, and keen to nail a well presented dry !! Para greenwells and small Wulffs doing the biz today.... River at a nice height, with that Ithon tinge to it, and still a few mays flying about by two o clock ....
Eleven maybe twelve made it to my net, a couple of really nice eleven Inch fish too in that tally ...A futher four or five came off after a brief tussle !! Must admit, the fish go barmy here when hooked , big or small, great fun on the six foot, one weight rod !!!
I do love this little secretive overgrown brook, warts and all !!! Tis a firm fav along with the Edw and the Arrow I'd say..... cracking stuff .. Didn't see Tarka during the three hours I was there, but plenty of fresh prints in the bankside silt !!
A cracking few hours, as always on the streams, out with the rifle later , hopefully bag a few bunnies .... Then a bottle of Rev. James is waiting for this callsign ...... Happy days !!!!

11 Trout