Grayling, grayling and some trout

With the river levels in the upper reaches of the river being so,low due to lack of rain in the past few weeks myself and a friend Lee decided to get an exchange ticket which our club has with the Glamorgan Anglers  on the lower reaches of the river Taff.  We were both using our 10ft 3# rods with French leaders fishing a team of nymphs as the water on the lower reaches are very deep, slow and fast.  After a 1 mile walk down river we came to where we were going to start off fishing.  A large bridge with a deep, long and fast run underneath it.  I started fishing at the bottom of the run whist Lee fished the top half as there was plenty of room for the two of us.  I knew the run was pretty deep so opted for a 3ml ptn with a silver tungsten head for the point fly and a 2ml ptn on the dropper so that the nymphs were fishing two different depths.  I started fishing the slack water just in case there were any fish lying off the main current and within 3 casts my indicator shot under and i was into my first fish.  A quick thump and bump shaking its head and it was off down river.  However i could handle the fish and not let it take too much line as it wasn't too big a fish.  I quickly eased it out of the faster water it had run into to tire the fish out and within a minute the fish was safely in the net.  A nice 1 1/4lb trout to start the day off nicely 


After the commotion which that little trout made i didn't get one knock in the slack water afterwards except for the bottom   So i decided to switch directly into the main current itself and work my way a little bit up river.  My first cast into the main current and my indicator shot under however nothing on the end of the line. Now that i know that there was fish there i placed my flies there a few more times before my indicator shot under.  However this time i could feel something on the end of the line and it wasn't the bottom.  I was into a fish and it was fighting quite hard.  A nice 1 1/2lb grayling.


Around 10 casts later i was into another 4 grayling around 1 lb.  After catching these fish i called Lee down to where i was as he wasn't having much luck in the upper part of the pool and he was more than happy to have a go.  However as Lee was making his way down the pool quietly so that he didn't spook off any fish in the process another angler walked from one side of the river to the other splashing and making a commotion in the pool which we are fishing and spooked the whole pool and we didn't have  another knock or fish in the pool.   As myself and Le made our way into the next runs the first thing we noticed was canoeists in the next two runs so we skipped them two and marched on up river (but not before Lee had a few words with them first ) and came to a deep , long and fast pool which just screamed out big trout and grayling so we both stuck to our heavy nymphs.  Myself and Lee placed our flies in every square in of the run and not a single nudge or even an attempt for any fish to attack our flies until i came to the top of the run with a tree over hanging the main flow.  I placed my flies above the tree in the main flow and let the nymphs work the depths underneath and my indicator shot under but as i struck i could see the fish turn on its side and shot away   So i stood back and stayed still for a few minutes just in case i spooked any more fish whilst striking into the previous fish.  After a few minutes of standing still bord senseless i noticed a little rise in the fast water which i missed the fish in next to the tree.  However i only seen it rise once even though there were quite a few BWO's and brook dunns coming down river.  I placed my flies back up above the tree in the main current and let them come down river working different depths of the water.  As my flies came to the point where i seen the fish rise my indicator slid under slowly so i struck.  At first I knew that i was into a fish as i could feel it moving  and thought that it was another nice grayling as i hadn't seen the fish.  So i put a little more pressure on the fish and all of a sudden as i put pressure on the fish it started shaking its head very violently and sped off down river with nothing that i could do but hold on.  At this stage the fish had still stayed down deep and hadn't shown itself so my automatic  thought was that it was a small salmon/grilse as all it wanted to do is go down river shaking its head.  However Lee helped me land the fish and whilst playing the fish in calm water it rolled on its side and Lee said its a big trout I was gob smacked   Not long later it was safely in the net and weighted in at 2 1/2lb.  But we had a theory to why it fought so hard and that is that it had a tail like a shovel  

After catching that fish myself and Lee worked our way through some more runs shallow and deep with just the one decent fish which Lee caught weighing 2lb aswel as some small grayling and salmon parr until we came to yet another very long, deep run around 200 yards long which was wade able out to around half way.  We both knew that there was enough room for the both of us so Lee decided to change from heavy nymphs to klink&dink and fish the bottom half of the run whilst i stuck to my nymphs except for the exception of me changing my nymph size from a 3ml to a 3.3ml to get down a little deeper.  I knew that it was going to be a good run as when i was switching to my heavier nymph Lee had already caught two grayling   My first few casts were in the slack water just off the main current but not a touch so opted straight for the faster water.  My first cast in the main current and i was straight into a fish but it sadly came off.  Another cast and another fish.  A 1 lb grayling    This carried for 2 hours whilst working up and down the run twice catching grayling up to 1 3/4lb   Before we knew it it was time to pack up as the light was starting to fade slowly over the mountains.  However i will definatly be heading down there in the winter season looking for shoaled up grayling and trying out some more new water 

Lee fighting a 2lb trout





Some of the pools 




Some more fish 





Video of canoeists ruining some very good runs and disturbing the bottom of the river.

A new stream

I have had my eye on a little stream in a little sleepy village for quite some time now and last week I had the opportunity to fish it for two days straight. The main river which it runs into has hardly any wild trout population mainly salmon and sea trout. I have seen one or two wbt in this little stream whilst on looking off the road bridge once before. Anyway my better half was going to take the car for an MOT test and it was on the way so asked her to drop me off and pick me back up later in the day. The stream is very urbanised with stone cages at the side of it to prevent flooding but i thought i would give it a go anyway. I was using my little 7ft 3# hardy featherweight with a size 10 olive extream klinkahmmer to start off with. 

I placed my fly in the slow water at the side of the fast water as straight away a little fish rose to my fly but did not hook up. So i ut it past the fish a few times and a few times it rose but did not hook so i moved on. Working through the runs and little pocket water the same was happening. Fish rising but no hook ups so i tore off the size 10 extream klinkhammer hook and put on one of my size 14 klinkhammer/emerger patterns to see if they would be able to take the smaller fly a little better but stuck to the same colour (olive) as they obviously liked it.

Within a few casts i was into a little fish but sadly came off. So i moved onto the next runs. I don't know why but for some reason due to the floods which we have had lately i have been sticking to the side of the fast water. Forgetting that after floods the fish like to stay in the fast/pocket water for more oxygen so gave it a go instead. In one pool alone i managed to catch 5 fish in the fast water and it was the same all the way through the stream aswell as missing a lot of strikes too 

But i will definatly be fishing it a lot more (now that i know there are fish there to catch) and as far as i am aware i am the only one to fish it for a long time as a lady said to me that i am the person she had ever seen fishing it and she thought there was no fish in it. Then i catch a fish in front of her 

the urbanised part of the stream 




Then after half a mile or so its goes high up into the mountains and as wild as you get get 







The thriving fish 

Good day on the stream

As the sun was shining and the river/stream levels had dropped in the past few days i thought i would give my hardy featherweight 7ft 3# a walk on the local stream today. I started off a little late in the day at 12:30pm. As i got to the water i could see that the water was Gin clear and not a lot of fly on the water or in the air too so I knew it was going to be hard fishing. I opted for a size olive 14 Klinkhammer tied on a partridge extreme klinkhammer hook. in the first few pools I didn't rise a single fish in the fast of flat calm at the side of the fast water in the runs and got a little frustrated. So i carried on fishing through the day on the same fly picking off the odd fish or two aswell as the odd splashy rise as I plodded along but it didn't matter as i was out in the county side with a clear mind and not a care in the world  After working through the pools i came to a pool called the crossing pool (for obvious reasons) there is a lot of pocket water above which i have only fished once before in my life and normally walk straight past it up into the mountains but not today. As I didn't have much time on my hands i fished all the pockets and fast water and it payed off beautifully with lots of wilder than wild brown trout as every time i placed my fly at the side or in the fast water there was a trout there to have a taste of what i had to offer  (as you can imagine I wasn't complaining) but then i had the dreaded phone call with what signal i had on my mobile phone due to being so high up in the mountains to say that i had to go from my beloved stream and wild brown trout to go to a bbq 

How i wished i had stayed on my beloved stream and carried on fishing until the light faded but it wasnt to be. But like the great Arnold said. I WILL BE BACK 


Plenty of these about  



My fly went from this at the start of the day

To this at the end of the day

Some mouth watering pocket/boulder water full of wild brown trout