Game fishing in September on the beautiful Welsh Dee

As we entered September the was no sight of rain in the forecast. Instead, a heatwave was forecast for the 2nd week of September.

On the Welsh Dee, I usually focus on salmon fishing in September, but with a heatwave forecast and no rain in sight, salmon fishing was on the back burner.

Fishing in September at Llangollen

Surprisingly, there had been reports of salmon running through the Llangollen beats of the Welsh Dee on low water. One salmon was hooked on the fly in the Lingo Pool but came off after a short struggle.

This optimistic sign had me dusting off my salmon fly rod and reel to see if I could tempt a salmon from the Lingo Pool.

Fishing the Lingo Pool

The warm sunny day and low river level (0.44m Manley Hall gauge) weren’t ideal salmon fishing conditions, but the Lingo Pool is in the shade until mid-afternoon. So…

it felt like I was in with a chance?

After loading my Orvis Clearwater rod (11ft 7wt) with a floating line tipped with a 7ft sink tip and a size 12D black and silver Ally’s shrimp, I started fishing at the head of the pool.

On fishing the pool, I felt a few plucks that were probably trout but not salmon. Disappointed but not surprised…

I put the salmon rod away and switched to Czech nymphing for trout and grayling using an 11ft 3# Vison Nymphomaniac fly rod. Fishing a team of three flies spaced 18″ apart on 4lb fluorocarbon (point: size 12 pink collar PTN with a 4mm TB; middle dropper: size 16 quill nymph with a 1.5mm TB; top dropper: size 16 claret nymph with 1.5mm purple TB).

Starting below the drop-off zone, I slowly fished upriver to the head of the pool. It wasn’t long before I felt a take, and on lifting the rod, it bent around into a fish that took off downriver.

Eventually, I got things under control and netted the first grayling of the day that had fallen for the quill nymph on the middle dropper.

I continued nymphing through the remainder of the fast water, which produced three grayling and a brown trout. The trout took the PTN point fly while the grayling fell for the quill and claret nymphs.

After the short Euro nymphing break, I fished the pool again for salmon. The reward for this effort was a…

Big Fat ZERO!

Disappointed with the lack of salmon, I trudged back to the car for a rest.

As darkness descended, I drove upriver and got ready to fish for sea trout above Horseshoe Falls.

Fishing the pool above Horseshoe Falls

I set my 10ft 7# Grey GR80 fly rod to fish a floating line tipped with a 9ft length of 12 lb Maxima Ultragreen and an 8″ dropper 5ft from the point. On the dropper, I tied on a size 8 Diaoni and a size 6 Mr Fish on the end of the leader.

At the head of the glide above Horseshoe Falls, I began fishing by casting the flies squarely across the river and retrieving them with a slow figure-of-eight.

After about a quarter of an hour, I had a strong take and a fish boiled on the surface before taking off downriver. The reel was down to its backing by the time I got the sea trout under control.

Eventually, I safely netted the beautiful sea trout, which had taken the Dianoni on the dropper.

After returning this beauty, I had short rest before fishing the remainder of the pool. I connected with two more sea trout, but both managed to throw the hook.

I couldn’t stay late. So, happy with how the day had finished, I went home after reaching the end of the pool.

Grayling fishing at Bangor-On-Dee

It had been a while since I’d fished at Bangor-On-Dee. Therefore, I decided to correct that with a grayling fishing trip to Dukes Pool.

Fishing the Dukes Pool 

The Welsh Dee was hovering at its summer level (0.48m @ Manley Hall gauge), and I couldn’t see any fish rising. Therefore, I decided to start fishing the riffle at the head of the pool with a team of nymphs (point: size 14 red collar black nymph 3mm copper TB; middle dropper: size 16 TB olive nymph 1.5mm TB; top dropper: size 16 red nymph with a 1.5mm TB).

I started fishing the pool opposite the gauge on the far bank and zig-zagged my way across and upriver.

After several drifts through the deep channel, the leader darted sideways, and the rod bent around into a grayling. Following a short struggle, it was guided to the net and safely returned after removing the olive nymph.

Fishing upriver produced a few similar sized grayling until I hooked a much bigger fish that took off downriver. The tell-tail head thumping indicated that the fish was a larger grayling.

Due to other commitments, I could only fish for a couple of hours, but the last grayling made up for leaving early.

Trout and grayling fishing at Llangollen – 15^th Sept

At the start of the week, a brief spell of wet weather brought some relief to the parched ground and caused the Welsh Dee level to rise 50mm to 0.5m @ Manley Hall gauge. Probably, not enough for salmon to run on, but it did freshen up the river for Wednesday’s fishing trip.

I started early on Wednesday because the warm (22^oC) sunny weather was forecast to return in the afternoon. My first port of call was the pool below Pont Cysyllte Aqueduct.

Fishing the Aqueduct Pool

Optimistically, I fished the pool for salmon using an Orvis Clearwater rod (11ft 7wt) loaded with a floating line, a 7 ft intermediate tip, a 5ft fluorocarbon tippet, and a 25 mm Cascade copper tube fly.

This optimism was short-lived because I drew a blank with the salmon fly.

So, I turned my attention to Czech nymphing for trout and grayling using a team of nymphs spaced 18″ apart on a 4lbs copolymer leader (point: #10 streamer caddis with a 3.5 mm TB; middle dropper: #14 pheasant tail nymph with 3mm TB, top dropper: #16 gold ribbed Hares Ear).

Wading the head of the Aquaduct Pool is hazardous, even in low water, because slippery boulders litter the riverbed. Carefully, I fished the main channel to the right of the semi-exposed ridge of boulders.

Fishing along the main channel was both challenging and rewarding. I quickly caught two beautiful brown trout on the caddis streamer and several grayling that fell for the pheasant tail and hares ear nymphs.

Pleased with the morning results, I went back to the car for lunch before heading downriver to fish the Long Meadow Pool.

Fishing the Long Meadow Pool

Starting at the head of the pool, I slowly fished across and downriver using the nymph setup that had been successful before lunch.

After catching a few small trout and grayling, I hooked a bigger fish that darted downriver, taking advantage of the main flow. I had to rush downriver to get it under control and net the grayling that had taken the pheasant tail on the middle dropper.

After fishing the rest of the pool, which produced a few smaller grayling, I drove upriver to Horseshoe Falls.

Sea trout fishing above Horseshoe Fall

As nightfall approached, I set up my 10ft 7# Grey GR80 fly rod to fish a floating line tipped with a 9ft length of 12 lb Maxima Ultragreen and an 8″ dropper 5ft from the point. On the dropper, I tied on a size 8 Diaoni and a size 6 Mr Fish on the end of the leader.

At the head of the glide above Horseshoe Falls, I began fishing by casting the flies squarely across the river and retrieving them with a slow figure-of-eight.

Shortly after hearing a fish jump close to the far bank, I felt something pluck the fly. A couple of casts later, I had a solid take and a fish boiled on the surface. Following a short struggle, I netted a small brown trout.

After sensing a couple more plucks, I slowed the figure-of-eight retrieve and… 

BINGO – the line tightened and a larger fish jumped.  

After a short struggle, I netted a sea trout that had taken the Dianoni on the dropper.

I fished the remainder of the pool didn’t have any more takes. The temperature started to fall, and mist descended. So, I called it a night and headed off home at midnight.

Fishing in September summary

This year September turned out to be a very dry month, which strongly influenced the fishing on the Welsh Dee. These were good conditions for fishing for trout, grayling and sea trout. Especially when fishing in the morning and evening.

The lack of rain has adversely affected the salmon fishing in September on the Welsh Dee. So far this year, I’ve not seen any salmon between Bangor-On-Dee and Llangollen, and catch reports have been poor.

Hopefully, the rain forecast for the beginning of October will help improve the salmon fishing on the Welsh Dee.

In the meantime, I’m off to Scotland to see if I have better luck there?