There were a couple of halibut and some rockfish landed this past weekend but for the most part the big ocean swells kept the best fishing holes safe from fishermen. More big swells forecast through at least Wednesday.

Grayling On The Rise

After some recent heavy rain it was going to be a close call as to whether the planned fishing on the River Wye & River Irfon was going to be a bit of a struggle. Myself and fellow club member Nick had arranged to visit both these rivers on Saturday and after walking along both rivers on Friday evening I was hoping that some of the colour would drop out overnight.

When we met in the morning the Irfon was looking almost perfect but the Wye was still carrying quite a bit of colour but the level was was OK to enable some relatively safe wading on the gravel areas.

The plan was to fish the Irfon first then head to the Wye in the afternoon giving it a chance to improve a little...those plans went out the window when we spotted rising fish in one of the pools we were observing on the Wye, too much temptation to resist so we carefully waded in and began to pick off the rising fish one by one. It turned out to be quite a large pod of Grayling and on a big river like the Wye this could be in excess of a couple of hundred fish.

We later headed on to the River Irfon where the Grayling were also eager to feed of the surface and dry fly tactics were again taking many of the Grayling...Grffiths Gnat & Caddis patterns doing most of the damage.

Sunday afternoon I returned to the River Irfon but this time a fair bit further upstream and found the river in perfect autumn condition after a heavy frost overnight, Grayling were again willing to take flies off the top so I started with a size #18 Griffiths Gnat which had been very successful the day before but the Grayling were reluctant to take it so I switched to a caddis pattern tied by Nick and given to me the day before.

It seemed to make the difference with many decent sized Grayling finding it irresistible. It floated extremely well in the faster turbulent water and Grayling were taking it with some aggression.

A very successful weekend on rivers that a day before would have been almost impossible to fish.

Some nice halibut off of Dillon Beach yesterday, and a few others from McLure's Beach. Some good fishermen got shut out on Ten Mile. The rockfish were demonstrating the effects of the full moon by not biting well at all. One boat had three; another had 15 fish for two fishermen for five hours of fishing. A great white shark was spotted by a few of the fishermen off of Dillon Beach. It was cruising around with its dorsal fin out for an hour or so. Maybe it isn't the best weekend for spearfishing the bar.

There was a good bite on the bar until the wind dropped the water temp from 60 to 53 degrees. Fish up to 34 pounds were caught on Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday the wind worked its magic. The forecast calls for warm weather so they could be biting again by this weekend. Another seabass hooked and lost off of Ten Mile beach on Monday.

One of the better halibut bites of this year on the bar right now. I hope it lasts past this bit of wind they have predicted for the next couple of days. The divers and the fishermen with live smelt are doing as well as you legally can. Sardines on Ten Mile beach as well.

Memorable End To The Season

I was itching to get back to some small stream fishing after a few weeks of flooded rivers and other commitments that keep me otherwise occupied. I had to visit Fishtec in Brecon early on Saturday morning and decided to fill the rest of the day indulging in my favourite passion.

I choose to target a small Usk tributary that I'd never fished before although I had previously walked along parts of it and spotted fish rising fish so anticipation was high. Conditions were absolutely perfect with plenty of water still in the river after the recent floods.

This river had everything I liked in small stream fishing...fast riffles, deep pools, plenty of cover and as I soon found out a good concentration of wild brown trout.

Nearly all of the likely looking places yielded some pristine wild brownies with some fish measuring up to 15". Moving up stream was slow due to the sheer amount of 'fishable' water and the willingness of the trout to take what I offered.

The trout were some of the prettiest I've had the pleasure to catch with many red spots and also bright red markings on the tip of the Adipose fin and the lower side of the Caudal fin.

After working my way through a few different fly combinations I settled on a duo method comprising of a #18 klinkhamer with a #16 tungsten bead head pheasant tail nymph below fished at depths between 12"-36" depending on the depth of water.

All this as well as a spot of Grayling fishing on the River Irfon and a short spell Salmon fishing on the River Wye (no hook ups unfortunately) made for a very memorable weekend.

Quick update: Dr. Steve Werlin freedove the bar and speared three halibut weighing 25, 19 and 17 pounds. He was back by 10:00 AM. The fishermen are catching them as well, with fish up to 28 pounds weighed in so far today.

Not too many fishermen venturing out in the thick fog yesterday, but at least one of them that did go out caught a 39 pound white sea bass while trolling on Ten Mile. He thinks he caught it somewhere between Abbot's Lagoon and the towers. Brown water and balls of baitfish there in 30 feet.

The rockfish bite has been on the slow side but still catchable. The average take has been half to full limits. There's been some halibut off of Dillon Beach, the bar and Ten Mile. Some dogfish shark pestering the fishermen off of Dillon Beach, as well as a few thresher sharks.

A few halibut and some limits of rockfish over the weekend. The halibut came from the bar and off of Dillon Beach, the rockfish from reefs off of Ten Mile and 150'+ of water in front of Bird. Good weather forecast for the next few days which hopefully will warm the water by another degree or two. Lots of what will be sport legal dungeness crab being caught and returned. Let's hope they stick around for the opener.

Yesterday there were two halibut caught on the troll near Millerton Point and two caught off of Dillon Beach on live bait. Nothing for the divers on the bar.

There were a few salmon caught over Labor Day weekend but most fishermen went without. Halibut fishing was good until the cold, clear water moved in on the bar. The divers are still seeing and shooting some but the fish are buried in. The forecast calls for some better weather this week which should warm up the water and hopefully the bite as well. Rockfishing is good if you can find a rock that hasn't been hit repeatedly in the last few months. For success, go farther. A school of white seabass was reported near Marshall but none have been caught that I'm aware of.

Steve Nordall of Vacaville caught this 25 pound salmon yesterday. His was not the only fish, as there were a few caught off Tomales Point (50 feet of water near the bottom and 210 feet of water 100 feet down) and some caught on Ten Mile. The Ten Mile fish were accompanied by a few halibut as well. There was an 8+ foot thresher shark caught near the north parking lot. Rockfishing was slow for most people but good if you could find an overlooked rockpile that hadn't been fished for a while.

There's been a few halibut just south of Hog Island off Pelican Point. Live bait has been the key to catching. The weather has been bad offshore since last weekend so there's not much else to report. Five more days to fish for salmon. With luck, the offshore winds have messed up the easy eating offshore and sent a few of the salmon in to the beach. I guess we'll find out tomorrow.