Back to an old favourite this morning …. Quite a different day to yesterday , definitely a warmer wetter wind ….. I was hoping some top of the water sport may be on the cards, as it’s generally very very good here with a gentle westerly. I rigged up my Orvis rod and opted for a floating airflo polyleader with a tippet of four pounds , around ten feet, see how things go …. Last year a black klinkhammer worked wonders here, and it’s nicely visible at range too, the white post shows up lovely in the leaden waters of the Claerwen ……. I did see three hawthorns on the way up as I had a quick mooch by the Afon Claerwen, their flight is so clumsy and why were they blessed with those crazy legs, about as graceful as a breeze block flying through the air!!! If folks aren’t aware what a hawthorn fly looks like, they’re the black glossy flies that trail their legs behind them and land haphazardly where so the wind takes them !!!!The River or Afon Claerwen is basically the outflow of the reservoir, still great fun on a summers evening wading up here, when the other streams are cooking, this little baby is a lot cooler and sport can be great fun on a little one weight rod !!!!
From the off when I got there sport was fun, albeit I was glad I took a flask, concentrating on a dry fly at range is hard going especially when there’s a westerly ripple and intermittent drizzle !!!! The caffeine fix seemed to keep me on the ball, and a break from the water is always nice ….. still lots of fluffed strikes today, way to late, like grease lightening these wild brownies, certainly good fun …. Sizes ranging dramatically from dark spotted twelve inch fish to buttery fat brownies of seven inches that look very much like River Arrow brown trout !!!
Was most satisfying to connect with a thumping little brownie that splashed up to my dry …. Timing is everything , a dozen made it but at least as many were missed or threw the lightly hooked fly …. Total fun and , on a fly fishing scale this type of wild fishing is up there with the best of them !!!!! Also a ginked bibio was successful ….. gasp, shock, horror, I hear some of you traditionalists bellow out !!!! I tell you what, it’s a cracking fly on the top with a bit of a wave …. Yes it’s difficult to see but strike if you have a hunch it’s been taken ….. worked well for me … they’ll then smash it if it’s retrieved fast too !!!! So the simple little bibio is a double edged sword in a trouty ripple ….. a fun few hours, it was time to call things a day at three, I felt a scoop was called for at The Crown …. Which incidentally was bustling and as busy as last bank holiday Friday ….. lovely job , cheers folks, enjoy the Royal festivities this weekend, and stay safe ………….😉😉🎣