‘Twas sheer bliss to be faced with being up on Claerwen a few days ago, well five to be exact and in the the thick of some superb dry fly sport ….. almost tooooooo good, with so many Heather fly landing clumsily on the dangerous waters of Claerwen reservoir these defenceless insects were being picked off by the resident brownies …..
Same happened on Craig Goch reservoir two days after that, on the Tuesday …. Another sublime, almost surreal afternoons sport …. As good as the mayfly or bracken clock I hear you mutter ….. definitely I reply with a sense of conceited passion !!! The rises were crazy on both lakes by three in the afternoon on the respective locations ….. The difficult thing to predict was where to place one’s fly …… I opted for the single guy, out away from the pack …..an easy picking, but boy were the takes aggressive, splashy and violent …… some big boys out in the middle off Claerwen too ………..mopping up the easy pickings !!!
So the idea was with my dry fly, always prominent away from the natural insects…….I imagined it would be taken quite confidently …. It worked a lot of the time in fairness , bibio pomonae or the Heather fly just kept on coming … this teddy bear was in for the long haul and the feeding frenzy on both the Sunday and the Tuesday were fantastic, and quite a sight to see so many splashy good rises on both lakes …… as good as the Cochybonddu hatch without a doubt …. This little beetle, also know as the Bracken clock will be out in full force mid June ish ….. you have to be there to witness the spectacle …..Claerwen in particular comes alive …. As do I’m guessing the other mountain llyns, Gynon, Carw, Gwngu and the Cerrigllwydion lakes …… a mass of trouty venues … all superb fun and all worth the effort to tab out too ……. A blissful expedition out in the moorlands of mid Wales, what’s not to like, ohh and hopefully some sport when you get there !
A few beauties caught on my dry hawthorn fly, lots of long range releases, but so much fun and some good fish on both days too, strong wild brown trout feeding heavily on a natural source of food, great to see, and great to see so many fish rise in each of the lakes too, an absolute joy and brilliant for future sport too, and the future of Salmo Trutta in our wild waters of the Elan and Claerwen valleys ….. superb, you just can’t beat it ….. dry fly sport is just the cream of our sport, happy days 😉🎣🎣