A hectic week nearly comes to a close….. A seriously full on ten days, with clients, and growing my portfolio of wild rivers to fish on …. A very successful week of gaining permissions, and of course a decent whiskey dropped of at Christmas, along with vermin control on a landowners patch, keeps the rapport strong, and at the end of the day, tis rewarding to help out farmers with a booming population of rabbits, grey squirrels and even mink in the rivers !!!
Clients have had a ball the last week or so, but I must admit, with the very very changeable weather, winkling out brownies in the Elan Valley has been pretty tough….. I really had to pull out all the stops, a couple of tricky days, but we got into fish in the end. It’ll be nice when we get into September, let’s have some settled weather to end the season on. Mind you, the season goes on till October 17th on the big wild reservoirs, which is superb, as the fish get really feisty and aggressive in the dark leaden, cooler, rolling waves of the big Elan waters …. Just that extra couple of weeks is nice, before concentrating on the Lady of the Stream !!!!
To be honest, when we have had days that are like November, remember the poem, “The month of the drowned dog”, well , it’s been exactly that, drizzling, hoofing winds from the South west, and overcast and mild….. I’ve had some sublime days on one of my favourites, Nantymoch Reservoir, with trout smashing traditional wets, and only yesterday, hammering a claret bumble and a sedgehog too…. Lovely splashy takes to the big dry flies !!! I did miss loads too yesterday, but I think I managed well over two dozen fish to the net. Sport was just plain fun, simple as that . I love the wild, almost Jurassic feel of the Nantymoch landscape, it cleanses the soul big time !!! And, watching the fly pasts of Hercules, and F15 fighters was impressive, I thought wow, photographers up at the “Mach Loop” would have been in for a very busy, fun couple of hours, fantastic and exhilarating to see Britains Top Guns ripping through the clouds and navigating through the mountainous Elenydd !!!!
Looks like this next week is very “up” and “down” weather wise too …. I’ve a feeling another sortie up to “The stream of the pigs” which is what Nant-y-moch means in English …. Or possibly another favourite of mine, the hallowed Llyn Bugeilyn. Just love the solitude of both these locations if I’m honest ….
Actually, as I’m writing this, we are enveloped in low cloud, and that persistent annoying drizzle…. As Peter Kay says, that fine rain, the stuff that gets you really soaked !!!!! lol ….. I must admit, we need some proper stuff, heavy old fashioned rain, all day, to give these rivers a good flush through, some, like the River Ithon, Edw, Cammarch and Arrow, benefit greatly with a good flush out, that old brown smelly algae can settle in the slower deeper pools, I’m sure the trout detect this rancid stuff, and certainly it affects fishing on some of the rivers I fish. I do feel for the invertebrates and stone dwelling fish, like bullheads and stone loach, they have to endure this excessive algal growth, and the decay of it too. A lot of the time, from stuff leaked into rivers from “man”, causes this river inbalance. Modern farming, and the cursed chicken farms that seem to be all along the River Wye system …. Here’s a question, why are they always positioned right by a river ????? …. These planners must be thicker than the avaerage “ whale omelette “ firstly to pass these farms to be built, and secondly to be built right next to a fragile ecosystem such as a river !!!!! Whats wrong with the top of a hill, miles away from any water source !!!! Yep, your thinking, Joe should have been a town planner !!!! I’m sure there’s some dodgy dealings that go on to pass these monstrosities and then of course, they bleed putrefying crap into our rivers, quite literally !!!! As we all know, the nets closing in, it’s not acceptable, and folks aren’t putting up with it any more !!!! I for one report any ominous smell in a river, odd milky coloration, or even a sudden bloom of unnatural algal growth …… The more vigilant we are, the more this precious environment is saved ….
I’ll wrap this little blog up, a local recce of a river is called for, basically for a risk assessment for future clients, approach routes, wading suitability etc etc, bankside obstacles, the list goes on !!! Not trying to sound dramatic, but with an ever changing river, Tis nice to just make sure all the safety boxes are ticked, prior to guiding a client. These freestone, spate rivers are more changeable than the wind, and have no real consistency like their cousins down south, on the sedate, consistent easy wading, chalk streams. Ahhhhh in fact on some, you can’t even wade, and have to make do with walking on the nicely mown banks…… lol !!!! I’d much sooner rough it here, in this land I call home, of rock, heather, mountains and countless wild feeder streams, tributaries and rivers . It’s what I do, the effort may be great but boy is it worth it…. The Elenydd and beyond gets in ya blood you know, it’s a kind of magic !!!!! Enjoy your weekend folks, and be safe cookies out there…. If your casting a line, enjoy, and may the bend in your rod be plentiful ….. till next time, cheerio !!! 👋😉😉🎣🎣🎣🐟🐟🐟🏴🏴🏴🏴
