Fishing in June on 2 beautiful Welsh rivers – Dee and Conwy

After a very wet May, the “Sun Gods” decided to shine over North Wales, and the dry conditions caused the River Dee to drop to its summer level, where it remained until the end of the month.

Fishing in June on the Welsh Dee

The combination of bright sunshine and crystal clear water brought its own set of challenges for trout and grayling fishing during most of the day.

However, fishing early in the morning or late into the evening produced some good catches.

Trout and Grayling fishing in June

Fishing at Llangollen – 6^th June

For my first fishing expedition in June, I decided to fish the Welsh Dee at Llangollen. The river level had dropped to 0.55 m @ Manley Hall in the continued dry weather.

My initial plan was to fish the club beat below Pont Cysyllte Aqueduct near Trevor because I hadn’t fished there this year. Unfortunately, the car park was already full.

So I drove upriver to the Ddol Issa beat, which I also hadn’t fished for a while. Fortunately, the car park was empty, and I had the beat to myself.

It was a cool start to the day, and I hadn’t seen any flies hatching or fish rising. Therefore, I started fishing the Cottage Pool with a team of Czech nymphs (point: #14 pink-collared pheasant tail with a 3mm black tungsten bead; middle dropper: #16 red nymph with a 1.5mm tungsten bead; top dropper: #16, pheasant tail nymph).

In the riffle above the Cottage Pool, I caught a few trout parr on the red nymph. Then, at the drop-off zone, my line darted sideways, and the rod bent into a bigger fish that took off downriver.

Carefully, I got it under control and guided a beautiful grayling to the net, which had fallen for the red nymph on the middle dropper.

Fishing on through the remainder of the pool produced a couple more grayling but no brown trout.

The sun was beginning to burn the cloud away, so I headed upriver to fish a couple of small pockets of water that are shaded overhanging trees on the far bank.

I’d noticed a few olives hatching but couldn’t see any fish rising. Therefore, I opted to fish this section of the river using a ‘Klink and Dink’ fly set-up because this would cover any trout looking for nymphs and dry flies.

This proved to be a…

‘Good Shout’

Because, after missing a couple of small fish rising to the dry fly, it suddenly was pulled underwater, and on raising the rod a…

trout boiled at the surface and then dived deep into the main channel.

After a tense few minutes, I successfully landed the target for the day, a beautiful Welsh Dee brown trout, which had taken the olive nymph.

Fishing up through the remainder of the run produced a couple of small brown trout and several small grayling.

Takes dried up around 2 pm, at which point I called it a day and went home pleased with the day’s catch.

Fishing at Bangor-On-Dee – 17^th June

June continued to produce some lovely sun-bathing weather, which kept the Welsh Dee flat-lining at its summer level (0.45m Manley Hall). The river would have been down to its bones if it wasn’t for the constant release of make-up water from Llyn Celyn Reservoir.

With grayling fishing season now open, it was time to spend a day fishing for these beautiful creatures. On consulting my fishing diary, I realised that I hadn’t fished the Village beat since last year, so it was time to correct this oversight.

It was forecast to be a hot and sunny day, so I had an early start and arrived at Dukes Pool by 8 am.

In low water, grayling are often found in the steamy water at the head of the pool. I often fish this section with a team of nymphs but, today, I chose to begin by fishing a team of wet flies up through the fast run (point: #14, March Brown spider, middle dropper: #14, black hopper; top dropper: #14, Iron Blue).

Starting in the body of the pool, I slowly fished the wet flies up through the fast water. It was long before the line darted upstream and the rod bent into the first fish of the morning…

A beautiful grayling that had taken the black hopper.

Taking my time, I fished the wet flies through Duke’s pool and up into the shallow riffle. This produced several grayling and a couple of small trout. Each of the wet flies caught fish.

The sun was now beaming down onto the river, and take had dried up. Therefore, I headed downriver fish Twll Run, where the trees cast some shade onto the river. I took a short rest while watching the river for any rises but…

didn’t spot any surface activity.

Therefore, decided to fish up the fast run again but using a team of nymphs spaced 18″ apart on 4lbs fluorocarbon (#12 gold tungsten jig-back; #14 brown nymph 2 mm TB; #16 Hare’s Ear nymph 1.5 mm copper TB)

This proved to be a good move because, after a few drifts, my line darted sideways, and on lifting the rod…

it bent around into fish that took off downriver.

Carefully, I got control and guided the best grayling of the day to the net, which had fallen for the brown nymph on the middle dropper.

Fishing on through the run produced a few smaller grayling all of which fell for the brown nymph.

Then towards the end of the run, my line stop and I lifted into another fish, which didn’t feel like a grayling. Instead…

It was a lovely chub that had taken a fancy for the jig-back nymph on the point.

By early afternoon, the sun was burning down onto the river, and takes had dried up. So, I called it a day and headed off home pleased with the day’s events.

Welsh Dee Sea trout fishing in June

At the beginning of June, a few sea trout had been seen jumping in the evening on the beats around Llangollen. Also, there had been encouraging reports of some big sea trout being passing through the trap at Chester.

These reports tempted me out sea trout fishing at Llangollen on the 13^th of June.

It had been a hot sunning day, and the temperature reached the mid-20s. The heat of the day had started to subside in the evening, but it was still a mild night…

Ideal conditions for sea trout fishing at night.

At 11 pm, I started fishing the head of the Pipe Pool with a size 12 D silver stoats tail on a floating line and slowly worked my way downriver towards Duncan’s Pool. I only felt a couple of plucks at the fly while fishing through the Pipe Pool and the Hollybush Pool.

As I approached the tail of Duncan’s Pool, I was beginning to feel that the night was going to be a blank until the…

line was nearly ripped out of my hand.

The rod bent into a nice fish that went on a jumping spree. I was convinced it was a sea trout until a beautiful brown trout slid into the net.

After safely returning the brownie, I fished on for another hour but didn’t get anything else. At which point I called it a night and went home.

Welsh Dee Salmon fishing in June

Early in June, a few Welsh Dee salmon have been spotted moving through Llangollen, and a fresh 9 lbs salmon was caught at Dee Farm by Eric Bates.

I’ve been out fly fishing for salmon at Llangollen and BoD in June, but I failed to connect with anything, like many other anglers.

Hopefully, July will bring some success on the salmon front.

Fishing in June on the River Conwy

At the end of May, a few sea trout were caught at Betws-Y-Coed on the River Conwy. Hearing this news prompted Tim and me to start our Conwy sea trout fishing quest early this year.

Sea trout fishing at Betws-Y-Coed – 7^th June

On our initial trip to the fish the Gwydyr Fishery, we were joined by another friend, Buddy, who wanted to learn more about fishing this beat.

After the flood in late May, the river had dropped back to its summer level (0.7m Conwy gauge at Cwmlanerch) and was running clear.

While waiting for the light to fail, I set up a 10ft 7# Grey GR80 fly rod to fish a floating line tipped with a 9ft copolymer leader (10 lbs) and tied on a size 10D silver stoats tail.

At nightfall, I started fishing my way down through the Oak Pool, followed by Tim and Buddy.

After a few plucks at the fly, I felt a solid take and the rod bent around into a nice fish that made a few darts for freedom before being netted.

Before we headed upriver to fish the Hafod Pool, Tim and Buddy fished through the Oak pool but only had a couple of plucks at the fly.

While they had first dibs on fishing through Hafod, I changed my fly set up to a black and blue stinger on the point and a Mr. Fish (#10S) on the dropper.

Unfortunately, fishing through the pool didn’t produce any solid takes. All three of us made several fly and set-up changes while fishing until 3 am but all to no avail.

On the 29^th of June, I returned with Tim to fish the Conwy. Again, the river was at its summer level, but the occasional sea trout could be heard jumping in Hafod.

Annoyingly, the fish just seemed to ignore all our offerings until about 3 am when Tim briefly had a sea trout on until it threw the hook. Shortly afterwards, I had a solid take and…

the rod bent into a good sea trout that took off.

Fortunately, it stayed on and I guided my first sea trout of the year safely to the net, which had taken the black & blue stinger.

We fished on until daybreak but did connect with anything else. So, we headed off home tired from a hard night’s fishing.

Overall, I’ve had a great time fly fishing in June for grayling, trout, and sea trout on two beautiful Welsh rivers, and I hope July brings a few more sea trout and the odd salmon.

Finally, I hope you have enjoyed this fishing report and please share it with your friends.