Monday, July 27, 2009

Grayling On The River Ithon

With all the recent rain it was difficult to find anywhere to fish over the weekend. With the Irfon & Wye both out of sorts my first choice was the River Edw but when I got there the river was pushing through hard and this river can be difficult wading at the best of times, so I headed for the River Ithon about 10 miles away.



Looking over the bridge when I arrived I could see that the river was quite high with a fair bit of colour still in it...perfect!!!







Having fished this river many times I have found this tributary to the Wye fishes best in just these conditions so I tackled up and set off down river. Trout came immediately to spider & nymph patterns and a later switch to some heavy bug patterns in some noted grayling area produced instant results.







It turned out to be a very memorable days fishing in terms of quality with 4 of my 10 Grayling measuring over 15" and many trout up to 10" to fill in the gaps.







When this river is low it can be hard to find any fish and you can end up with a very frustrating day, but choose the right day and you can come away with a big smile on your face.



I also squeezed in a couple more outings...one on the river Irfon (still very high but running clear) & another on a very picturesque stillwater near Rhayader called Llyngwyn where you can always spot Red Kites flying overhead.







The Irfon was still pushing hard but had cleared adequately to produce a few Trout & Grayling to shortlined nymph methods and being out on a boat at Llyngwyn is just a delightful place to spend a few hours...catching some Rainbows is just a bonus.