It was with a tinge of excitement I headed off for the Afon Tarennig on Saturday, permission had all been approved by a smashing chappy who lives high in the hills where the infant streams bustle with life and trout live on the absolute edge of existence ………. Interestingly the Tarennig is the first decent tributary of the Wye catchment, so I was keen to see just what it contained …….. armed with my usual weapon of choice, the six foot two weight!!!! Perfect …….. strewth the journey upstream was hard work, in and out of the stream, in places bedrock and huge deep pools, then gentle riffles further up . There was certainly a few little brownies, lightening quick and only a few inches long, but absolutely perfect in every way….. the special forces of the fish world, no other species could survive in this environment ….. well actually I lie , minnows were present but not in huge numbers like in the Arrow or Lugg ……..
The fishing was fun, small brownies as I mentioned, but caught fair and square on the size twenty Parachute Adams….. great fun, I think five or so to hand and one gorgeous little salmon parr too ….. it’s kind of nestled in a world of its own here and the only noise are the quite drone of cars and motor bikes on the A44 Ponterwyd road ….. the water is absolutely gin clear and I did do some stone turning, not a great deal of insect life, but some. I’m guessing the amount of surrounding Sitka spruce alters the waters ph and makes it more acid ….. a ph test would be most interesting here ……. But the half a dozen small fish I caught and released from here, like it as their home ….
A few hours there was plenty , so cut out about four bells and had the long tab back to my truck …… it’s a marvel of a stream, and I’ll certainly be returning ….. feisty little splashy takes to my tiny dry fly ….. Twas fun …. As Saturday swept into Sunday this callsign was on a roll and this time a different stream, the River Cammarch, a lovely secretive stream and a tributary of the Irfon ….. I headed for a lovely section a couple of miles south of Beulah ….. I’ve been before many times but it’s always nice coming here for the first time after a long winter …… and wowser some pools changed, but fun fun fun !!!!!!
She was running at a perfect height for dry fly work, with a slight tinge too …. When I got out of my truck, on the dash the temperature was reading seventeen …… dry fly heaven !!!!! A fun stealthy mooch upstream here, a tad tired as I’d done a hard gym session in the morning but again some fantastic splashy, dynamic rises to my dry fly …. Which incidentally was a small Para Greenwells….. it’s a great little fly on these wild streams and presented well normally gets a response ….. explosive too on a lot of occasions …. Today was just great, nine did make it to hand, with a few long range releases…. Pure bliss, and the weather was perfect…. A few spots of rain on the way back to Rhayader. Ahhhhhhh I remembered I had one bottle of Old Speckled Hen in the recesses of the fridge ….. yes !!!!! That’ll be most welcome when I get back to The Ponderosa …. A lovely couple of days on two totally different streams … it’s what I do …. It’s part of the adventure …… it’s escaping the mainstream !!!!! 😉😉😉🎣🎣🎣🎣
