Last Sunday I went with a good friend Tim, along the Northerly dust track of Claerwen Reservoir. The walk is well over an hour, to a favoured area, just beyond the third spur as I call it ….. Later in the afternoon we had a frantic two hours sport, when Bibio Pomonae started to “party” …… Brilliant fun, with not just a single fly. With these early season excitable fish, I tend to enjoy fishing a small wet bibio three feet up from the point dry fly. Basically, it’s a primitive washing line tactic…. Works well, till the trout really tune in to the surface fly, savage takes to both the dry and the wet fly which sits just a few inches sub surface …. I think I netted around eighteen cracking fish, really dark brown, almost bronze beauties, near the top end of the huge reservoir. Totally sublime sport, takes some beating to be honest !!!!
Guided days have been fun too, with clients braving pretty awful weather at times, with that squally, cold Northerly wind that has been consistently in the Cambrian Mountains for nearly two weeks now !!!! ……. But more importantly, I’ve managed to get all my clients into fish, and in some circumstances quite a few too !!!! Always lovely to see a pleased, beaming client, as that first wild brownie of the day is brought to a waiting net, briefly admired, then slipped back into the deep cold water…… just the best feeling !!!
Mid week, I had a free day, so I opted to make things tricky for myself ….. A Grand Slam in the Elan Valley. Mission accomplished, as I fished firstly Caban Coch, then Penygarreg, and lastly Craig Goch reservoir ….. Not easy to be honest, with the cooler weather we’ve been experiencing, but I managed fish from each venue, with a tally at the end of the afternoon of nine fish. Hard earned and with exhausted legs, was nice to just sit in my truck, listen to some music, with a very slow drive back up from the top of Craig Goch reservoir….. just a blissful few hours in the best of wild Wales !!!!! I truly am spoilt to be honest ….. fab Stillwaters, and absolutely loads of wild streams locally, all full of little brownies, that are incredible fun on a one weight fly rod and tiny dries. Just the best of wild, adventurous fly fishing ……….l love it, I can’t get enough of it …….🎣🎣🐟
A morning on the River Edw was fun, only a couple of hours, eleven till one , on one of my favourite regular beats ….. The fish still not consistently looking up, but I did manage four on a dry, with a trickle of olives on the go from midday. Some more warmer days are needed, then these wild streams will be on “fire”…. It’s my forte to be honest, and although i enjoy a lazy easy evening, dry fly fishing on the Wye, I do like making life difficult and wading up these secretive streams, like the Arrow, Cammarch, Cilieni, Clettwr or Duhonw. You could say I’m a glutton for punishment, but I’ve always loved fishing for tricky trout in difficult places !!!! Probably the ex militatry side in me….. I do love combining a good workout along with my fishing !!!! lol ……😉🎣🎣🎣🏴
Even though the streams aren’t fully awake yet, I still had some lovely feisty Edw fish on the small dries…Fish are not in their feeding lanes yet……. They should be really on form in a couple of weeks . We could really do with some decent warmer weather, and interestingly, looking at the weather apps, the temperature is well below what it should be for nearly the end of April.
Was nice to finish off my hectic week with another client yesterday. Again, that biting cool northerly wind, but Bill fished Claerwen very very well, and with my trusted flies and tactics for this vast location, I managed to get him into fish …. Two of which, were of a nice chunky size for here. I can recall reading somewhere that it’s a fish a cast here, don’t be fooled folks, these are not easy fish. Yes, on the right day, when the Bracken Clock is present, or a good south westerly ripple is shimmering the huge expanse of water, they can be hectic fun, but these last few weeks, hard, persistent ringing the changes have been required, with sometimes a half hour window of opportunity at some stage in the day. Half a dozen fish for a client, is a good morning at this time of year, although on better days, if bibio are present, a red letter day can be had …..
So, the end of a busy busy week, this morning has been phone calls and emails confirming bookings, equipment , accommodation etc etc in Rhayader for folks staying a few days …… I thrive on being busy and organising admin and making sure folks have a really fun day….. After all, that’s what it’s all about, catching stunning brown trout, in equally stunning surroundings ….. Now, what could be better than that !!!!!!! 😉😉😉😉🎣🎣🎣🎣🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🎣🎣🏴🏴🏴
Ohhhhhhhhhh, and finally folks, enjoy your week ahead, a change in the weather is due, I’m hoping it’s not so dam cold here in the mountains. I’m mooching up two wild streams over the weekend hopefully, but I see some rain is due in ….. arrggghhhhhhhh, not too much I hope! Just some more client admin to nip in the bud today, then a quick gym session for this callsign…. Be safe out there, and the tightest of lines to all my fellow folk of the angle !!!!
