Grayling fishing at Llandderfel– a great day out on the Dee

The Welsh Dee at Llangollen is beautiful but this week I felt like a change of scenery.

On inspecting my fly fishing diary, I noticed that almost a year had passed since I last been grayling fishing at Llandderfel on the Welsh Dee.   

It was time to correct that…

After a dry week in North Wales, which has been a rare event recently, the upper beats of the Welsh Dee have fallen towards their summer level.

There was a hard frost (-5^oC) on Tuesday morning at Llandderfel but when things warmed up, a few nice grayling were caught. Wednesday was forecasted to be a warmer start, much better for my grayling fishing trip to Bala & District AA beat of the Welsh Dee at Llandderfel.

Surprisingly, the car park was empty when I arrived at 9 am, and the river level had dropped to 0.4m (Bala gauge). In the southeasterly wind, it felt cold and there was no sign of any grayling rising.

Grayling fishing at Llandderfel with nymphs:

I set up my 10ft 3wt rod to fish a team of nymphs spaced 18” apart on 4lb fluorocarbon (point: pink collar PTN with 3.5mm TB; middle dropper: size 14, quill nymph with 2mm TB; top dropper: size 16, red nymph with a 2mm purple TB).

I started fishing the right bank from the upper limit (point A) and slowly fished my way downriver. It was a slow start and I’d reached the rock outcrop before I had my first take…

A small grayling that had taken a fancy to the red nymph on the top dropper.

Fishing down to where the bank becomes tree-lined, surprisingly, didn’t produce any more takes. Therefore, I walked downriver to fish the next pool (point B).

Starting in the shallow riffle at the head of the pool I fished the nymphs across and downriver in a zig-zag path.  It wasn’t long before caught a small grayling on the quill nymph.  This was quickly followed by two more small grayling on the quill nymph. 

Where the pool deepens, I had a solid take and the rod bent round 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 red nymph on the top dropper.

My GoPro video camera ran out of battery life and that was the end of filming.

Grayling fishing at Llandderfel with wet flies:

A few grayling had started taking flies near the surface. So, I set up a 9ft 5wt rod to fish a team of wet flies spaced 3ft apart on 3lb copolymer (point: size 14, black hopper; middle dropper: size 14, pearl-butt Bloa; top dropper: size 14, pearl ribbed March Brown spider).

I fished back up through the pool with the wet flies and caught a couple of grayling on the pearl-butt Bloa. 

Takes dried up, so I headed downriver in search of rising fish. Halfway down the next pool (point C), there was a grayling rising in the slacker water close to the far bank.

After a couple of casts, I covered it with the wets and after a short drift, the line tightened…

The grayling took off downriver but after a short struggle, I guided it safely to the net. This grayling had also fallen for the pearl-butt Bloa.

I walked down to the tail of the pool where a few grayling were rising on the far side of the main flow.

Carefully, I got into the river and when the first grayling was covered, there was a swirl and the line tightened.

Surprisingly, the grayling had taken the black hopper on the point.

Quite a few leaves were collecting on the surface near the other rising grayling. This made covering them difficult. However, I caught two more grayling on the pearl-butt Bloa before the rises ceased. 

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 and went down to find out how they’d been getting on.

They were also having a good day and had caught plenty of grayling on nymphs; fishing 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 fish the pool at the end of the beat (point D).  

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; all of which were tempted by the March Brown spider.

All of a sudden, the fishing went dead at about 3 pm; as if someone had turn off the switch. 

I’d had a great day grayling fishing at Llandderfel on the Welsh Dee.  Therefore, pleased with my catch, I called it day and went home to thaw out.