Wales (not Whales) :)

A summer holiday to Mid-South Wales was a perfect opportunity to try a spot of fishing. I was expecting to do mostly fly fishing and had bought a new rod/reel/line from a recent trip 'up north' to Ted Carter's, incidentally where I had bought my first fishing rod many years ago. The chap there was extremely helpful and recommended a relatively inexpensive fly rod and tackle. The holiday house we had booked was on the river Towy (near Llandovery) and had fishing rights so it was a big draw and promised much fun at the bank. It was tricky finding local tackle shops, everything in Wales seemed to be 40mins away by car from where we were staying. I did find a couple of places that gave some helpful advice on flies to use although it was very inconsistent. They all seemed universal in the advice that I should try spinning on the Towy. So I tried several spoons and mepps Droppen 6g spinners but with no luck. I also tried trotting prawns down stream under a float along with a range of flies. The nearest I came to a bite on the Towy was when I ventured out after dark, headlamp strapped to my head and got a possible take on a double dropper fly tackle to a white feathery lure. It is hard to say if this was a take or not as the river bed was quite shallow and it was easy to snag. Still there was something spookily fun about fishing a river after dark, under cover of the stars and a full moon with the fly.

Having exhausted my range of options on the Towy, I tried a couple of other options. First I made two trips to Spring Water Lakes, which is a caravan park with fishing lakes between Pumsaint and Lampeter. This place was recommended to me by a couple of the tackle shops. The owners were very friendly and helpful in their suggestion of tactics and flies. I purchase a couple of sinking lures and a dry daddy long legs fly. I spent two enjoyable sessions there with a couple of follows from trout and one take from a small silver fish but sadly did not bank any fish. I got some great advice from the owner on fly casting and on his suggestion switched to using my heavier hardy dry fly line (no 6) on my new fly rod which helped my casting no end. The weight of the line was now pulling the line out on the forward cast. I'm surprised this was such hard work with the new kit I had bought as I expected this to have been matched quite carefully. My suspicion is my lack of practice at casting was more likely the culprit than poor kit!

Not disheartened by the lack of success, I was recommended to try the Usk reservoir by the owner of the holiday let. This was not cheap as the day ticket was £17 but this included an adult and child permit for up to 6 fish (should you catch them!). The reservoir allowed fly fishing, worm (under float) and spinning. I made two trips there and had considerable success on worm the first time. My catch reports are here:

Usk Reservoir, worm under bubble float for Trout

"Tuesday 27 August, 2013

Beat: Usk Reservoir (Booking Office), Fishing Type: Adult & Child 6 Fish Permit, No. Anglers: 1

Blustery to dead still, lots of fish porpoising/showing when still. Overcast to broken cloud - warm water temperature. Fished 11am - 3:30pm. Nothing on the fly rod but 5 Rainbow trout (1-2lbs in weight) on multiple garden worms (on a size 10 hook) 5 foot under orange bubble float, 12lbs main line to 30cm 4lbs hook link. Lots of additional bites and nibbles, fishing 5-10m out from bank. Returned 3 fish. Kids thoroughly enjoyed safe and easy fishing near fishing permit booth/car park end of reservoir.

"

A brace of 1.5-2lbs Rainbow Trout from the Usk Reservoir - taken on worm (not fly)

... and the second time when I blanked:

"Friday 30 August, 2013

Beat: Usk Reservoir (Booking Office), Fishing Type: Adult & Child 6 Fish Permit, No. Anglers: 1

Warm but very blustery and overcast with driving rain most of the time between 12.30pm - 4.15pm. A couple of bites on bubble float/worm near ticket booth but none caught. Too windy for fly casting. Nothing on spinner."

Overall, despite only catching on one day and failing to catch with the fly, it was an enjoyable holiday fishing adventure. I certainly improved my fly fishing technique. Sadly there is not a great deal of fly fishing in Cambridge but I shall certainly explore options. There are some crazy notions of catching carp on the fly!