Feedback & Reports

Dead baiting for pike, 1 take no fish landed.

The river was swollen and sub-zero temperatures meant I had to de-ice the rod rings every few casts.
My guest had cried off and so I fished alone from 10.30 - 15.30. The fishing was tough and I caught only in the slower deep water towards the middle of the beat. As ever, wading was difficult but particularly so in the high water.
I fished two heavy bugs (3-4.5mm beads plus lead under bodies) as deep and slow as I could. Success came when I managed to fish the flies at the desired speed (which, with the amount of water in the river, wasn't easy).
Grayling ranged between 12'' and 15'' and I caught several (unexpected) small OOS trout.

3 Trout, 5 Grayling

Another great day although very, very cold. Struggled with rods icing up until midday but managed 12 grayling and 6 oos trout to trotted maggot from the Stone Catch area between the 2 of us. Great venue in stunning surrounding with an abundance of wildlife. We will be back again soon.

6 Trout, 12 Grayling

Great stretch of river this. Though the trout were more obliging than the grayling. Three grayling, the largest of which was easily over 2lb, all caught from different swims. The trout were all in the 1 1/2 - 2 1/2lb range. Never had a catch of such large trout. Moved swims after catching a couple of trout in the same spot, seems they were shoaled up. Will be back if the weather warms up a bit.

6 Trout, 3 Grayling

A fantastic day on the river compared to Friday. This was like the days fishing you normally only read about for winter Grayling. Perfect river, cold and frosty to begin with followed by the warming midday sun. Cracking Grayling on Bead headed Nymphs, the biggest at 2lb 9oz. all in perfect condition.
Amazingly, on releasing, one sat in the stream with it's huge dorsal fin flowing in the current right by me. When I moved, it moved with me!!

3 Grayling

I had booked Abernant and took a peek at 10am. I shouldn't have bothered as surely a wash-off with the Llanstephan gauge over 3 foot! However, predicting a no-go I had booked Upper Glochfaen as a contingency and Abernant was on the way. 45mins further North into mid-Wales proper and a very different Wye at Upper Glochfaen.
I could see a very high debris line from the days before but the river was dropped and very clear. I fished for 5 hours and was very cautious with wading as per WUF instruction. Tried a variety of Grayling wet fly with teams up to three and also experimented with a floating strike-indicator. No fish caught, felt or seen, but I enjoyed the day and because I was looking at my feet a lot, I did spot what I presume was a Salmon Redd in fairly shallow water - quite impressive.
I very much prefer dry fly fishing and today exposed my lack of knowledge and experience with wet fly techniques. Perhaps time for a guided lesson?

Blanked, river was up and very cold... -3 air temp.

Staying at Michealchurch Escley for the annual Christmas pilgrimage, took this chance to try at Chanstone, normally it would be Turnastone but no longer available. Terrible freezing rain, challenging wading, difficult banks to negotiate. Did have three takes but missed them all.

Good river condition, but one small grayling caught only.

1 Grayling

This was my third attempt at fishing this beat. The previous two were complete disasters; first visit was about the same time last year and the river was literally about to burst its banks, completely coloured and impossible to fish. The second attempt failed soon after leaving the house as the car started to play up.
A rare case of me being organised and having already bought all my Christmas presents meant that Christmas eve was free. The car was better and despite all the rain we've had in South Wales I noticed the weather had been much better just over the border, so I decided to have another go.
Fortunately it was a case of third time lucky. I arrived to find the weather pleasant and the river looking amazing. I made my way to the bottom of the beat and soon after was delighted to have the first grayling of the day. Two more 8" Grayling and an oos trout came from the same pool.
The rest of the fish came from various pools along the whole length of the beat. The biggest Grayling was ~12" but most fish were between 8 and 10 inches, hard fighting and in immaculate condition. Trout came from shallower glides whereas most of the Grayling came from the deeper pools. All fish went for a size 14 gold head nymph.
This is a stunning beat and certainly challenging. I'm sure I spent more time picking my nymphs out of overhanging branches than actually fishing! Saying that I couldn't have wished for a better way to enjoy my last session of 2014.
Thanks WUF and Merry Christmas!

5 Trout, 9 Grayling