Bank Holiday Bliss

I sure was looking forward to this weekend. The rain had freshened the rivers up, the weather forecast was looking good and it was Mayfly season!

I came armed with a booklet of vouchers from 'The Wye & Usk Foundation' and promised myself a couple of trips to some small stream fishing beats, reports as follows:

Llynfi Dulas - 23rd May (Middle Beat)

A return to this venue a few weeks after my first visit saw the river with slightly more water and colour than before.

I arrived early (7.00am) and planned to fish till early afternoon to try and avoid the bright, sunny conditions forecast for that part of the day.

This river is certainly one of the smallest I've ever fished and stealth is an absolute must to get the best out of it. My approach was to search out all likely gullies coming off some faster water and any other likely depths using a small weighted PT nymph.

The first fish came after about 40 Min's from tight against the bank close to some tree roots, always a possible hideout for a wary trout and a guaranteed place to loose a nymph or two on a sub-surface snag up.

As typical with this sort of stream the most likely looking spots tend to hold quite a few trout and so it was with the next gully I came to, taking 6 other fish without moving a step.

The fly hatches on the day weren't spectacular...with only a modest hatch of Mayfly and only a few fish taking advantage.

This stream really thins out above where the Triffrwd Brook joins but still holds some surprisingly sizable fish.

The session ended about 1.30pm with a total of 14 fish, the largest around 12". I came away feeling reasonably happy with my results compared to my initial visit here, although I'm still convinced that on a day with even more water and colour and with lower light levels this river could produce a 'glory day'.

River Edw - 25th May (Cregrina - Beat R14)

This was the one I was itching to have a go at after my visit on the river last weekend. I'd originally planned to have a go on the lowest beat (Aberedw) but there was all ready someone parked up when I arrived at 2.30pm so I decided to head up to the Cregrina beat and fortunately it was empty.

A glance over the bridge before fishing I noted that the downstream section looked very 'mountain stream like' with fast flowing water, boulders and quickly dropping runs, where the river above the bridge was slow and almost canal like. I posted my vouchers and headed to the beat start.

It was immediately apparent this lower section was going to require some delicate footwork to avoid a slip or two but really once you've acclimatised yourself to the terrain you can soon make headway and there are no hidden potholes to catch you out.

10 metres up and I was soon holding my first of the day, a fish of about 7", again the small Tungsten head PT nymph I'd tied the previous week done the job. Just as before on the Edw every likely looking swim had obliging fish in it and some of the larger pools were crawling with them...this one below in particular...where I either caught or lost at least a dozen fish!

I got up to the bridge and made my way through the upstream section. As I said, this bit is of total contrast to the lower section and to be honest somehow loses the 'magic' of what the Edw is about for me.

I trawled my way forward looking for something that looked 'fishy' but never really found it, other than the odd small fish rising (2 taken on a Klinkhammer). This was not the water I'd come to fish so I headed back down while there was still a little light in the day to take a couple more and leave still full of that 'Edw Magic'.