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Monnow & Honddu - 18-19/09/2010


Nicholas S

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After getting a taster for fishing in Wales the previous weekend (See September 12) I decided to make a weekend of it and invite my friend Alan over to join me on a trip that I had been excitedly looking forward to all week. Early Saturday morning I picked up Alan from the train station and before long we were making our way to the river. I decided that we should try a stretch upstream of where I had fished the week before and one that I had heard was particularly nice. The river here is especially varied with deep slower sections interspersed with fast riffled water. Conditions were ideal and with a few fish rising Alan stuck to fishing the dry fly for most of the day and doing very well catching some lovely WBT steadily throughout the day. The Grayling proved a little harder to trick into taking a dry and repeatedly left us very frustrated! I was trying out a new rod which is too long for the small streams I fish around Bath and I was looking forward to putting it through its paces on a larger river. It’s suited to fishing with heavy nymphs so whilst Alan scoured the top of the water for rising fish I explored the deeper faster water. With so much water to go out two fisherman can comfortably fish side by side without interfering with each other or spooking the fish. The fishing was once again quite challenging but we caught relatively steadily throughout the day thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to fish a prime stretch of this lovely River. The final fish of the day was the most special – I had casually cast into a particularly non-descript piece of water only to get an immediate bite from what turned out to be a cracking Grayling of 1lb11oz, equal pb! Final tally for the day was 9 Grayling and 4 WBT. I’m still getting familiar with the Monnow and particularly with fishing on a large river. However it’s exciting stuff with the constant thought that your next fish could be something really special.

 

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After a hearty pub dinner we camped the night and woke up at the crack of dawn to have a go at a tributary of the Monnow; the River Honddu.

 

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I had heard great reports about the recent fishing on this picturesque mountain stream and waking up so early was for once not arduous in the slightest. The river is situated in the most spectacular surroundings right on the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park. It is an archetypal mountain stream running fast of the Beacons tumbling and gurgling its way all the way into the Monnow – not something either of us were used to but with so many ‘fishy’ holes it was difficult to show restraint as we walked down river to the downstream extent of the fishing rights. The day turned out to be surprisingly tough with the odd deeper bend yielding a couple of fish but with large sections of faster water producing nothing despite there obviously being fish in residence. Fishing very fast riffled shallower water is difficult and I have subsequently learn that success lies in being very selective in your casting, only picking out the minute areas where the flow is reduced and as such a fish is likely to be holding station. However, it was a brilliant days fishing in truly spectacular surroundings and on a river that changes its character constantly. I think I ended the day with around 15WBT to around 12 inches.

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Another great report Nick, I loved the pub dinner and camping out bit, real boys own adventure stuff. You obviously enjoy your fly fishing (and are very skilled) and go to great lengths to fish beautiful locations. Keep it up!

 

I'm still thinking of a LIF day on Friday so I'll look forward to your blog on the 29th.

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