Wowser, what a week on the streams I’ve had. Just the best sport ever, combined with the immense variety of being fortunate enough to be able to fish so many different streams locally, with some on my Fishing Passport season permit, and others on the Rhayader and Elan Valley Angling Assoc. Club waters…….. To be honest, I’m actually spoilt for choice, and I do have lovely stretches of the Upper Wye to fish also, from near Llangurig, right down to Builth Wells….. sublime water too, and of course we have the grayling fishing during the colder, bleak months of Winter….. bbbrrrrrrrrr !!!!
But, the here and now, the little wild streams really have been on fire the last week or so, superb surface sport, with both the mayfly duns and spinners ….These little stream trout become wild, aggressive and untamed for the big fluttering mayfly … It’s quite a spectacle to watch a trout miss one, then bow wave through the pool following its flying antics, then, as soon as it alights on the water, bang, gone in an instant !!!!!
The Edw, and two lovely brooks of the Ithon have been superb, along with some of the wilder tributaries of the Wye catchment. Lots of getting close to rising fish. I do love that splashy rise, ahhh great, there he is, I need to get closer !!!!! There is quite technical water between me and the rise, it’s faster, swirling. I back track, make a mental note with a reference point from the bank of where he rose last, I’m out of the river, that pool tail is going to drag my fly something chronic !!!! I’m above where he rose, I inch into the water, get in position, I check my back cast, it’s limited, but aren’t they always on these wild, unkempt streams…… I get my cast out with some snaking in the line, to give me that extra two foot of drift… I’m tensed, ready for the splashy rise to my ginked up “Wulff” dry fly. It’s in the zone …. Bang !!!! He’s got it, I strike, he’s on, and I joyously bring a tubby ten inch stream trout to my net, briefly admired, then away he goes….. superb stuff !!!!
With a lot of the smaller streams, I do favour fishing smaller dries…..It seems to work for me, two reasons, one is I do like fishing the small six foot rod with a silk furled leader, the big mayfly patterns really seem to snarl up the furled leaders, with the twisting action, and being in a small stream, a lot of the time, I’m casting tight under alders etc etc, so an accurate cast, that’s bang on the money is called for, so I do favour the parachute dries for that kind of close precise angling. On the bigger more sedate pools, I’ll fish a Mohican May, or a big Wulff pattern …. Especially if better, more determined rises are evident !!
Midday sessions, right up to half five, have been cracking angling times for the wild streams, seems the activity is at its most, generally when temperatures are hovering around eighteen degrees, with dappled sun and just that lovely feeling of a good dry fly day in the making !!! You just sort of know don’t you, when everything is right, that brisk walk down to the start of the beat, the anticipation, watching the water as you bimble down, ahhhh there’s a rise, at that pool head, cracking stuff !!!!
I’m always amazed, and a little saddened by the plight of the mayfly …. Such a joyous, hallowed act it performs, and yet, as a vibrant insect form, free with wings, its life is short lived…… The trout and the mayfly live in perfect harmony if I’m honest. As a nymph, Danica Ephemaroptera stays hidden away amongst the river bed, where it thrives for two to three years in its little nymphal body, doing what it does best, keeping out of the way of bullheads, trout, and minnows !!!!! A born survivor, even with some of our rivers struggling with pollution, that doesn’t seem to be administered or reversed by the water companies !!! Time will tell, but with more and more people savvy to the river polluting problems, the proverbial net is certainly closing in on the Water companies to clean up their act…..
Another week has started, some rain possibly due in today, we shall see, would be nice in fairness, it does keep the rivers topped up and healthy. I did have a quick session up at Claerwen Reservoir yesterday morning, and managed to winkle out half a dozen cracking fish ….. The conditions were very early spring like, a brisk North westerly wind, overcast, and a good wave, perfect for nipping back a deadly, two team of wet flies!!!! I’ll bring this blog to a close, and hope everyone has a rather spiffing, not too taxing week. If you’re getting down to the river, enjoy that dry fly sport, in fact revel in it, it’s short lived, and in the cold, desolate months of winter, you’ll be thinking back to those summer months flicking out a dry to a rising trout….. It’s what keeps us alive, keeps us going…. The anticipation, the fun , the variety……. Till next time folks, be good, and if you can’t be good, stay out of trouble………. Tight lines my angling afficianados………..😉😉🎣🎣🐟🐟🐟🐟🏴
