Fly Fishing at one of Wales Premier Waters
I have had some trips lately but had to deal with some personal issues to deal with, I had been to Blithfield Reservoir and had some very visits there, It was time for a change and a choice between Llyn Brenig and Clywedog Water was on the cards. I like both these fisheries but elected for Clywedog, as I had not fished this much and I fancied a trip to this picturesque setting in Wales. Clywedog is high water and in this warm climate would be cooler, I would recommend a trip, it’s one of the top welsh waters.
Having done my chores, I set off at 940 am. This would be a good time as hopefully, the traffic will have cleared and I could get to Clywedog by around noon, this would give me 7hrs which was enough for me. I loaded the car, checked all kit and set off, the Sat Nav was playing up so it took a few minutes to find the location and set the journey destination.
Journey There and Tactics
All good plans come to an end, I was doing fine but about 40mins into the journey came to road works on the A483, the traffic was crawling and I got delayed by some 20minutes before I cleared this. The rest of the drive was flowing with the odd driver who was hell-bent on slowing us all to a ridiculous speed instead of the Road limits. I arrived at Clywedog at around 1220pm and quickly paid up and loaded my boat. The Fishery Manager Gaz Dixon, one of the top rods for the welsh team game some tips. The fish were high up, he suggested a tip line and a washing line set up. The fish were right off the jetty up to the sailing club past Dinah’s point and the cages.
I set the new boat seat that I had assembled .
When you get to the jetty, there’s a sight to behold, some massive trout lazily swimming around the boats.
As I was setting up my rods, the first a floating line with two dries some 6ft apart, Point fly being a black hooper Sz 10 and dropper being a claret Sz 12 bits. These are two of my favourite dries and always seem to get me some fish. The second rod had a 10ft slow Airflo tip line within a washing line set up, point fly was a coral booby, middle dropper sz10 Uv Cruncher and top dropper was also an Sz 10 Red Holo Diawl Bach with jungle cock. As I was doing this, I spoke to some three boats who had come in for lunch two boats had not had a take, the third had one fish each, the signs were ominous.
Time To fish
I had some lunch and a few cups of coffee and water, it was time to get out amongst the fish. The wind was a gentle 8mph, from the jetty right across the cages, Dinah’s point onto the sailing club. Perfect I thought, so I set up the first drift some 300yds before the cages without a drogue. I intended to drift through the channel of cages and Dinah’s point. I did several drifts and raised a couple of fish on the 1oft tip set but no offers, I was expecting more action. On one drift I had a fish on the point fly, I had changed the booby to Magma red blob. The blank was broken and I could feel at ease.
The Wind changed 180 degrees so I started my drifts accordingly in the opposite direction, always starting near the sailing club and free drifting towards the jetty. On my third drift, I changed to the dries, the hopper for a fulling mill orange foam daddy. As I got some 200yds past the cages, I had a fish on the bobs bits and successfully landed and released it. Sometime later I had two more offers but having hooked them lost them instantly, they had not taken the flies full on. A few drifts later, I changed to the tip line and changed this to Di3 and replaced the Magma blob that I had a fish on, another landed and returned. Great to use barbless flies, all three fish released in the net without boating them, something I avoid if possible. During my drifts, I heard the unmistakable sound of chinook rotary blades, and right enough a few seconds later this massive helicopter came via the dam area and flew straight over my boat. It was thrilling but the sound and downdraft of the blades are just mind-boggling, you can feel the raw power.
That was three boated in an equal number of hours, not bad in these tough conditions. I changed rods for the dries set up, It was rock hard, hardly any fish moving or being caught. I saw Russell Owen one of the management team and a two-time world champion, a top rod, he was out fishing and had some fish too. I carried on drifting but doing a mix of free-drifting and drifting with a drogue, I landed two more fish, one on the foam daddy and another on the 10ft line on the coral Blob that I replaced the Magma with. Whilst drifting, I saw another awesome sight, a huge rainbow trout must be more than 20lbs fin perfect jumped clean out of the water several times ahead of my boat, I’m sure he was winding me up. Catch me if you can? Needless to say, he was right.
I had two more fish on the foam daddy and lost a couple more that were hooked but came off as they had not taken the fly full on. In between this, I managed to get some refreshments and coffee to keep the energy levels. You must make sure you hydrate yourself and also eat to help with the days fishing. It was about 6 pm and I made my way back to the jetty and unloaded the boat, I was the last boat in and gave my fish numbers to the bailiff who was there and pleased he could go home early as the water was open till 745pm for boats. I killed one of the last fish as my other half wanted one, having loaded the car up.
Home Time, time to say farewell to Clywedog
I drove halfway on the lake road, stopped and had some coffee before the homeward bound journey. It had been a hard day ( six landed ,Five released and distached one)caught and landed was not bad for today’s conditions. The seat was great Light and sturdy especially with the turnbuckle attached to the bottom of the butterfly clamp.
Would I come again? Most Definitely, Clywedog is a topwater and one that should be visited if just for the setting and scenery.
