The upper beats of the Welsh Dee are the first to clear after a flood, and fishing at Llandderfel is often my preferred haunt during such conditions. I’d mentioned this to Graham, and he persuaded me to show him how to fish for grayling on the Bala Angling Club beat at Llandderfel.
Our first opportunity to have a Llanddderfel fishing trip fell at the end of October when, after the autumn floods, a dry spell allowed the river to drop to a fishable height (0.44m Bala gauge).
Grayling fishing at Llandderfel – 28/10/23
It was a mild (14oC), overcast and breezy day when we met in the car park at 10 am. After a quick catch-up, I explained the plan for the day was to cross the bridge and fish down the right bank from A to C and then wade across to the left bank and fish from D to E.
Fishing the Glide at A
Walking down to the river from the access gate on the B4410 you are greeted with a gentle glide A. It contains two features that often hold grayling:
- a deep pocket behind the large rock at the head of the glide, and
- the channel close to the far bank that flows into a tree-lined pool below.
Graham selected to fish glide down into the tree-lined pool with a team of wet flies, leaving me to fish the deep pocket at the head of the glide.
To fish the deep pocket, I set up my 10ft 3wt nymphmaniac fly rod to fish three nymphs spaced 18” apart on 4lb fluorocarbon (point: #12 olive & copper tungsten jig-back nymph; middle dropper: #14 black pheasant tail nymph 3mm silver TB; top dropper: size 16, hares ear nymph with a 2.5 mm gold TB).
Staring at the tail of the pocket, I fished upriver towards the large rock. After catching a small grayling on the hare’s ear nymph, a bigger grayling fell for the black PTN.
Next, I fished down the glide towards Graham but didn’t have any takes on euro nymphing. However, while wet-fly fishing, Graham caught two small graylings.
Fishing Pool B
After explaining how I usually fish this pool, I gave Graham first dibs on fishing it with a team of nymphs. Surprisingly, he’d fished halfway down the pool before catching a lovely grayling, which put a smile on his weathered face. It had fallen on the black PTN, which also caught two smaller grayling.
I followed Graham through the pool fishing with the team of nymphs I used earlier, and the following video covers the grayling I caught.
Fishing pools C and D
After a break for lunch, we fished Pool C with nymphs and spiders but just caught some juvenile grayling. I didn’t have much luck fishing Pool D until I reached its tail, where a lovely grayling fell to a black PTN.
Next, we wade across to the left bank to fish the fast run at the head of Pool E.
Euro Nymphing Pool E
After describing how to fish the fast run at the head of pool E, Graham caught two lovely grayling while fishing the run with a team of nymphs.
When he’d finished, I fished the fast run and caught three more in the slack-fast water seam that fell for the hare’s ear nymph.
We finished the day fishing the fast riffles downstream but didn’t add any more grayling to the tally. So, pleased with the day’s fishing, we headed home.
Grayling fishing at Llandderfel – 6/11/23
While the Welsh Dee was still at a fishable level (0.55 @ Bala gauge), I squeezed another trip to fish Bala & District Club beat at Llandderfel before another bout of wet and windy weather rolled in.
The weather wasn’t great for fly fishing; it was cold, wet, and windy. So, I decided to go to my favourite spots on the right bank below the bridge because they often produce grayling.
On my way downriver to fish the glide A, I scanned the water for signs of rising fish, but with nothing showing, I decided to begin by nymphing. I set up my 10ft 3wt Nymphmaniac rod to fish a team of nymphs spaced 18” apart on 4lb fluorocarbon (point: #12 olive tungsten jig-back nymph; middle dropper: #16 peacock quill nymph with a 2mm TB; top dropper: #16, claret nymph with a 1.5 mm TB).
Starting at the head of the glide, I fished the nymphs across and downriver in a zig-zag path towards the tree-lined bank, but sadly, I didn’t get any takes. Therefore, I moved downriver to fish the pool below the tree-lined bank (point B).
Two small grayling were caught by fishing the clear water between the weed beds; the quill nymph on the middle dropper tricked them.
To ensure that the nymphs were clipping the riverbed in the deeper section of the pool, I replaced the lightweight quill nymph with a heavier black pheasant tail nymph (#14 with a silver 3 mm tungsten bead).
Shortly after the switch, I had a solid take, and the rod bent around into a…
bigger grayling that took off into the main flow.
Carefully, I got the grayling under control and guided it safely to the net; it had taken the black pheasant tail nymph.
Fishing on produced another nice grayling…
After a break for lunch, I walked downriver to fish the tail of Pool D, where I saw a couple of fish rising on the edge of the deep water near the far bank. I couldn’t see any flies hatching, so I decided to fish with a team of wet flies.
Grayling fishing at Llandderfel with wet flies:
Quickly, I set up a 9ft, 5wt rod to fish a team of wet flies spaced 3ft apart on a 3lbs copolymer (point: #14 black hopper; middle dropper: #14 pearl-butt bloa; top dropper: #16 orange tag brown midge).
Employing a reach cast with an upstream mend, I placed the wet flies a few feet above the rising fish. The first drift was ignored, but on the second, a fish swirled, my line tightened, and a grayling darted into the main flow.
After a short struggle, I guided the grayling safely to the net, which had fallen for the orange-tagged brown midge.
Fishing the remainder of the pool produced two smaller grayling that fell for the midge and black hopper.
While I’d been fishing the tail, two anglers had walked down the left bank and were fishing the head of the next pool. I crossed over to the left bank to find out how they’d been getting along.
They were also having a good day and had caught several grayling while Euro Nymphing the pools below the bridge from the left bank.
My legs had started to feel cold. Therefore, to warm them up, I walked downriver to the pool at the end of the beat. Initially, I fished the pool with the nymphs, but I didn’t get any takes. Therefore, I switched back to fishing the wet flies, which was more successful.
I caught three grayling in the tail of the pool, one of which turned out to be a beauty; all were tempted by the March Brown spider.
As if someone had turned off a switch, the fishing went dead at about 4 p.m. when the light began to fade. Therefore, pleased with another great day of grayling fishing at Llandderfel on the Welsh Dee, I went home to thaw out.
Once again a couple of great videos Andrew which should anyone’s pulse racing and a wish to be on a river. The Bala AC stretch is where I had my PB at 52 cms about 6 years ago and don’t expect to beat it. It was autumn and I had a great morning on the wets with 7 or 8 fish in the 45cm+ and the big one was the last of the morning. I returned the following day and not a touch.
Great to hear that you enjoyed the videos. That stretch still holds a few big grayling but they are not easy to find and catch.
Cheers, Andrew