Slack lines
Blog, news and reviews from Snowdonia Fly Fishing Guides
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It's not unusual to catch out of season wild spotties when fishing for grayling. This beautiful specimen of a river Dee wild brown trout was quickly released unharmed. 
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Had a few hours on the river Dee yesterday, for most of the time it was lashing down with rain and a biting cold wind was blowing but the colder weather encouraged the fish to feed. Most were smaller grayling and 'spotties' but all were lively and good sport The weather here is amazing. After a long, very cold winter and cool wet spring we've had weeks of unbroken hot, sunny weather. The rivers and lakes are low but surprisingly productive with brown trout, sea trout, grayling regularly being caught along with the occasional smolt.
I love summer fishing, there's not a lot better than standing waist deep in a river, fishing a dry fly, with the sun beating down. The last few weeks have seen spectacular hatches of aquatic and terrestrial flies and the sport has been excellent. Long may it continue. Whilst I love fishing the rivers in the region I equally enjoy taking a walk up into the mountains in search of truly wild spotties (brown trout). This stunning large upland lake is full of wild brown trout that only get to see an artificial fly on my rare visits. This isn't a long thin lake but the reflected hills give that impression.  I usually tie spiders on #12 or #14 hooks but occasionally tie up a few on size 18's. these are tied in a range of colours and all have a starling hackle. Dead easy to tie, perfect for tempting wild brownies and very effective on heavily fished waters.  As we approach the winter solstice I'm beginning to look forward to early March, with longer days and the start of the trout season. I always enjoy getting back onto the upland lakes to chase a few wild brownies.  Well the brown trout season is over for another year and here's a couple from my last day caught on a mini streamer pattern.   Wild, beautifully marked, river Dee spottie caught on a size 14 orange spider.  Wild brown trout are probably the fish I enjoy catching the most, very closely followed by grayling. For their weight brownies put up such a spirited struggle and they have the most beautiful markings. This one fell to the charms of a small dry caddis pattern.   Lovely little river Dee wild brownie caught on a #14 PTN.
This beautifully coloured, hard fighting, river Dee brown trout rose to a March Brown dry fly.  A stunning river Dee brown trout caught on a size 20 Pale Watery pattern and returned to fight another day.  Well that's it for a few month, the end of another grayling season. It actually ended at the end of October with the onset of some of the worse floods ever. The Dee, my home river for grayling, was in flood almost constantly for several months and when the floods receded many rivers had suffered substantial damage. However I'm confident the rivers will bounce back quite quickly. I was out a couple of times this week on different rivers and it was good to see a few fish rising and fry in the margins.
Looking to the rest of the year I'm hoping it will be a good brown trout and sea trout season and that the grayling are on form come the summer. Even though the fishing was tough today and few fish were rising this stunning example of a truly wild (no stocked fish here) brown trout exploded out of the water to claim an elk hair sedge. After putting up a scrap it was returned unharmed  This beautifully coloured Snowdonia wild brown trout succumbed to a CDC emerger pattern. These feisty hard fighting fish always put a smile on my face, their spirit is indomitable and on light tackle make excellent sport.  |
guided fly fishing
Guided fly fishing trips on rivers, streams and upland lakes in Snowdonia. and surrounding areas of North Wales.
Fishing for summer & winter grayling and wild brown trout.in the spectacular, tranquil countryside that is Snowdonia National Park. |
Fly fishing and casting lessons
Fly fishing and casting lessons for beginners. Casting fault analysis, single handed spey, slack line and presentation casting tuition for more experienced fly fishers.
Develop your watercraft skills on freestone rivers and upland lakes. |
