The month of May has been a fantastic one, on the wild streams of the Wye and Usk. Both my clients and me, have thoroughly enjoyed all the days out in the wilds of Wales. Some of the secretive streams, are hard work to actually get down to, but, when you’re there, looking upstream, you get that hunch, it’s going to be a great day. You see a rise. There are mayfly lazily fluttering around. The weather is perfect. The clients anticipation is electric. Kit check done. Glasses and cap donned. We’re off …..
The river looks welcoming, as we wade up stream, I don’t miss a trick. Mayfly shucks, a kite souring on the thermals, a bullhead darts from one stone to another on the river bed, and there it is, twenty yards up stream of us, just where I thought a trout would be lying…. A splashy rise. The cast is tricky, but certainly doable …..
The heat obviously got to the streams last week, with the weather in the scorching category !!!! The heat soured to a staggering 31 degrees centigrade. My booked client days were put on hold, due to the streams temperatures approaching 19 degrees, and that, is too toasty, for fish welfare, and in fact for angling to be enjoyable too !!! I must be honest, over 24 ish, and it’s time to just have a chill day, or do some cutting back on some private beats I have. Just some light trimming on the pools, means that if I take a client there, then the beat is fully workable, and most of it fishable. I do leave pleached young trees, dropped in nice trouty pools, to add protection, and a lattice of branches, that’s great for young trout to hunker down in, but a heron, or otter will have difficulty getting to them…. And on top of that, when they’ve been there a while, algae, and nymphs also enjoy this new environment. It pays dividends in the end, doing such work !!!
As I’m writing this, it’s been raining pretty heavily since just after lunch…. It’s that gorgeous smell of petrichor. Fresh, clean, washed countryside, lapping up the precipitation …. Just a fantastic thing, and, I must say, I do get an over whelming sense of relief, when we get rain in the summer these days !!!! Last season, summer trouting was tough going, from mid June onwards, but I’m lucky here, as we have the deep, cold reservoirs to fall back on, and, some cracking outflow rivers, that obviously stay lovely and cool, regardless of the ambient air temperatures …. I’ve relied on the Afon Elan, and Afon Claerwen on several occasions, and neither have disappointed !!! Ok, it’s mountain goat tactics on the little Claerwen outflow, but it’s still great fun, getting your dry fly nailed in those plunge pools, on a balmy summers evening ……. Real adventure fly fishing !!!! Fun, fun, fun !!!!!!
With a cuppa in hand, I’ve just inspected my rain gauge in the garden, and, I must say, we’ve had more than I thought over the last few hours…. Fantastic !!!! Tis so nice to get rain in the month of June. With climate change a real and present issue now, having these weather anomalies is nice. Well, I say nice very loosely, the winter storms that seem to be a regular thing these days aren’t so nice, especially for the beloved Elan Valley, when Storm Darragh thought it would be “fun” to flatten many thousands of the pine trees in the Cwm Elan !!!! That storm caused complete devastation, which can still be seen above the Penygarreg Dam …..
Tomorrow, the refereshed tributaries of both the Wye and Usk, will probably be carrying a bit of colour. I think this intermittent rainfall is due to continue its rampage across the majority of Wales, well into tommorrow. But, by Wednesday, refreshed, rejuvenated rivers will welcome me, and my client……..
Over the years, I’ve built up an on board data base of which tributaries in the Wye and Usk catchment fine down quickly, and those that seems to hold their water longer, and are slower to come down to a wadable, fun level, without that soupy, muddy flow to it. As lots of folks will know, my favoured tactic on the streams is the dry fly ….. I’ve learnt which insects are top of the menu on each stream. I’ve studied the emergers, watched the sub imagos and the plight of the spent spinner. What weather certain upwings prefer, and, where they’ll be positioned over the stream. It’s like a huge jigsaw, and a lot of the time I’ll get all the pieces to fit, but sometimes, Mother Nature, reminds you who’s the boss !!!!
The rain has stopped for a while…. High up in a tree I can hear a lone blackbird singing his song. It’s nearly the end of the day. But, one last chorus is always on the cards hey. The rooks and jackdaws battle it out for noise supremacy….. It’s a right raucous affair, and yet, in minutes few, silence will fall on the landscape…. The evening will welcome in the night !!!!
Well, that’s me till the next blog guys and gals, enjoy all that June has to offer. This refreshing rain has been a superb start to the month, and as I think about the devastating fires last month up in the Cwm Elan, I can imagine that this rain will encourage the new green blanket of growth, to hide the black, burnt remains of what that fire did to this glorious part of the Elenydd.
If you’re out on the river, some may be enjoying the last of the mayfly, whilst others, it’s all over for another year. Danica, and her graceful flight of joy, will be all but a distant memory. Those magical wings, those savage splashy rises, the spent spinners. The end of the day ……… The river season, so precise in her programme of events, and yet, on the other hand, just total organised chaos. I absolutely love it. Catch you soon folks, oh, and the tightest of lines ……..
