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Post by dbl on Sept 26, 2014 1:41:02 GMT
Thanks for the timely tip OO! Sadly, the season for roadkill junior pheasants is in full swing around here, although the most productive place I know of is the busy A458 above Mallwyd, thanks to the commercial shoot around there.Though you would have to move fast to avoid joining them...
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Post by Simon on Mar 8, 2015 8:15:25 GMT
With a shoulder still in repair and Sonia not having fished for nearly 4 months, we decided to join this new club this year. The river was still high but very clear with a strong flow but easily wadeable. Due to the very strong wind from the south we decided to fish the field above the aqueduct to get some protection. On a new river we where at first not sure of the flies to try, eventually a small GRHE came to the rescue with both Sonia and I catching and losing 1 brownie. As the river drops the the river will only improve. This was a very short visit as it was a trial for my shoulder after the operation. All day due to the weather conditions in North Wales we were treated to the most amazing cloud formations, theses are known as lenticular clouds which are formed by hot and cold air mixing over the mountains. Took loads of photos, hope these give some idea of the show we had. Simon.
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Post by orangeotter on Mar 8, 2015 9:54:28 GMT
after your call I did see the clouds, never seen anything like it before.
As you know, I've also joined Ceiriog Fishers so look forward to some exciting trips.
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Post by phil on Mar 8, 2015 10:50:35 GMT
Hi Simon
Amazing images.
Be interested when you get to fish the Ceirog. Looks a lovely river. I driven by or over it a number of times.
Phil
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Post by springerman on Mar 9, 2015 8:49:31 GMT
Simon, Great photo's. Marvellous thing cloud formations and so many other aspects of the sky above us. At home we had some great red sun rises this winter. Hope your shoulder improves quickly and that both you and Sonia have a great season. Are you making any nets this year? I don't intend to make any more at present. Good Luck. Ian.
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Post by fishingcane on Mar 9, 2015 10:07:16 GMT
I too was out on the Ceiriog yesterday for a couple of hours - hooked one really nice fish - very silvery - may have been a sea trout, which eventually threw the GRHE! Can't wait for the next trip.
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Post by orangeotter on Mar 11, 2015 15:19:14 GMT
Yesterday saw my inaugral Ceiriog trip, much longed for. Although I needed to fish part of the day, the main objective was to 'recci' as much as possible, although 'fishing cane' kindly drove me around some time ago to see the parking places. I spent 1 1/2 hours driving about and selected 2 places to fish later on. On returning to the first I was choked to see a car already there so moved to the park by Chimney Farm only to find a second car. This was all getting a bit too much but as I looked up the river I saw the familiar casting action which could only belong to a fellow Tenkara brother - on walking to him I discovered our regular contributor 'dbl' so all was instantly forgiven. David kindly gave me valuable info' on various beats before heading for the Dee which is only a short distance away. We can see from his post today that he was successful, well done David. I tackled up and fished the same beat where I'd met him, plus going beyond but to no avail. Screaming sunshine and a cold wind but hey, I was out fishing with only a week of the season gone. The picture is just upstream of where I met Dave and you can see that it's no pussy cat, especially with a few inches of water on. Unfortunately there is a lot of trailing branches but a few less now ! Having an appreciation of this beat I decided to move to where Simon and Sonia had fished a couple of days earlier, ie, from Pontfaen bridge down to Chirk Viaduct. Super water but not too many pools - this will be great as the season progresses, classic Tenkara water. I reached one fast stretch which had a quieter edge and was mighty pleased when something took my favourite GRHE sk, this turned out to be a decent trout of maybe 10" but came adrift as I started to handline it. Gulp !. A little higher up there is a long deep run which yielded a small trout and another long range release - but on such a day, to contact 3 trout wasn't a bad outcome. I found my Rhodo invaluable due to the canopy in places but a 12ft line + 3ft tippet was'nt a lot of fun when I only had approx 9ft extended - maybe I need to reduce by a couple of feet. The lower beat is quite wide, being only a short walk from the Dee but naturally becomes narrower and streamier as you progress upstream. All in all, I concluded that the Ceiriog is to be an exciting new mistress and together with the Alyn will offer challenging fishing. This combined with the Dee is all I could want and all within a half hour from home - superb !
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Post by Simon on Mar 21, 2015 16:52:42 GMT
As the shoulder starts to recover and back to work on Monday, fishing is starting to pull me towards a river. Sonia was busy on Friday morning so a quick trip to try another section just above the weir. Again the water was crystal clear and dropping about 1cm a day after the heavy rain last week. Crossing the river was no problem right where I parked the car letting me fish the bank against the road. Making sure I was enough above the weir I Fished a PTN upstream across and down. No bites and than as the Nymph started to lift at the end of the run a brown around 1.5lb struck. This was the only fish of the morning, I left with a sore shoulder but a smile on my face.
Simon.
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Post by dbl on Apr 7, 2015 21:20:17 GMT
I joined a CADAC work party on Sunday, and trotted over to the adjacent Ceiriog for a late afternoon session. A blank, but it helped decide me on an upstream beat for today's session. I chose the viaduct beat as there is a pool there that I am fond of, and I also wanted to try my little ESO zoom rod on the tree lined sections around it. The winter floods have been kind to the pool, getting rid of some of the more irritating snags but leaving the fish-friendly topography unscathed. To add to my good fortune a prolific hatch of olives (I guess) started upon my arrival and soon the scattered convoys were being ambushed by aggressive little trout, rising swiftly from the deep, seizing their prey and turning down out of sight, but not before having their positions marked by me! I had on an 8' long #3.5 level line, no more than 4' of tippet and a SK. Not ideal, and I did put on a dry later, but I took about 8 WBT from the pool, not large, between 4 and 9" most being about 6". I also missed several more. The short rod and line did put some water out of bounds, but it also kept me out of tree trouble most of the time and the fish were not as spooked by my looming presence as I feared. The rest of the beat was much harder to read. Much of it is very streamy. Eventually I did tempt about 4 more small trout from the short deeper runs by using a small beaded green caddis. The light rod lobbed it out rather well, even in very tight spots, though I did use a very light touch. The weather was perfect, although an upstream breeze got up much later on, and it was a very satisfying introduction to the little rod!
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Post by flatsghost on Apr 8, 2015 7:24:39 GMT
Well done on christening your new rod David it sounds as if you had a fun session. Amazing how much enjoyment there is in catching Lilliputian WBT and that rod will have earned it's keep in those tight spots. As you say it only takes a gentle flick to get the rod performing which is what I found as well. Tight lines Glyn
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Post by custheyder on Apr 8, 2015 18:18:25 GMT
Fantastic stuff. Really enjoying reading how people are getting on with the tiddler rod and fishing places that were out of bounds before.
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Post by orangeotter on Apr 14, 2015 14:19:29 GMT
Just returned from a 3 hour session on the upper river - scored 9 with several others lost. I'm pretty chuffed about this but it's strange that runs which scream fish just don't produce and yet less attractive ones do - we obviously don't view them with fishy eyes. I was pleased that the 2 largest went 11" and the others from 8 down to 6". The water clarity under ever increasing sunshine allowed me to see several rise from the bottom to take my SK, fabulous.
Due to a NE wind there weren't many flies about, just a sparse olive trickle and strange to say my beloved GRHE let me down, worse than that, I left my best 2 in the branches. I tried a pattern which has always done well when olives are on and that took all the fish. I call it my Tenkara Duster and for what it's worth you can see it the sales section, among a collection I tied in 2013. I've made them in the past for members who did well with it. The hackle is simply grey barred hen grizzle and the body grey hare or whatever you have. Might be worth a try but I'm sure you have others just as effective.
Once the temperature reached 21 degrees I called it a day, but a good result for early season.
Tight lines all !
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Post by custheyder on Apr 14, 2015 14:49:36 GMT
I've found similar results early season. Runs that look awesome just didn't hold fish but the less spectacular were stuffed. My though processes has gone along the lines of the following:
The recent heavy rains and heavy rains of winter have produced some very fast and turbulent water through the main pools and in the main water courses. I think the fish have moved out of those in winter to the quieter waters where there has been less pressure from the rapidly rising waters. In my case, upstream and into the smaller feeder streams. Perhaps later in the year when it warms up and oxygenation plays a bigger role and the water levels drop they will move back into the main water course with it's pools, falls and pots I would expect them to be in.
Great to hear you're catching well early season.
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Post by Simon on Apr 16, 2015 11:16:55 GMT
15th April. Having to pass Chirk every day to and from work at Telford while on light duties, I eventually finished early enough to have a few hours on the river. Due to the time restraints I parked up to fish the Aqueduct field, it was now 1530. The weather was overcast with a cool breeze. I walked down to start fishing under the bridge as I had not tried here before. The water was crystal clear, using my Tenkara rod with a black weighted spider I started to cover the runs. One nice trout decided to take the nymph at the end of the run, no others here followed. Moving down the river I had to admire the very professional no fishing signs, good signs mean that the river is looked after! About 100mts down stream, also fishing with the same nymph upstream, I hit the Parr! After 10 or so of each I decided that I’d had enough. So I made my way downstream towards the Aqueduct. There were caddis and a few up wings to be seen, sitting watching a pool fish started to rise! A quick change to a size 18 olive KH resulted in another 6 fish, all fish today were between 6 to 8 inches. Quite a few of the runs require a good clean out as there are many sub surface branches. As Louis pointed out the views were outstanding, I had to take a picture of the scene. Worked out OK, one to keep. In all I was on the river for just over 1.5hrs, the fish are there and hungry, now I’m really looking forward to a longer trip soon. Simon.
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Post by orangeotter on Apr 16, 2015 17:45:11 GMT
terrific day Simon, I like the beat but have yet to fish in lower water - hope I can repeat your feat.
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