Just before Christmas, the heaven opened and flooded the Welsh Dee, with the river level peaking at 1.5m on the 19th December. Then dry weather rolled in and over the next two weeks, the river level dropped to a fishable height of 0.65m Corwen gauge.
I’d been ill with a bad cold over Christmas and not well enough to venture out fishing until the end of December.
Fly fishing at Rhagatt Hall for Welsh Dee Grayling
Tim suggested a final 2019 trip to go grayling fishing at Rhagatt Hall on the 30th December and I mustered some energy to join him.
It was forecast to be a sunny day but when we pulled into the bottom car park at 9 am the sun was still hiding behind the hills to the south. My car thermometer was reading 8oC but outside in the cold north-westerly, it felt more like 2oC.
While it was still cold, we headed upriver to fish the Railway Pool at the top of the beat.
Fly fishing the Railway Pool
As we walked upriver the wind picked up and by the time, we’d reached the Railway Pool it was gusting downriver at 20 to 30mph. This was going to make fishing challenging.
On the journey upriver we hadn’t seen any surface fly-life activity but with the running clear, I hoped Tim would be able to tempt a fish on the wet fly I selected for him; a grouse & blue “Bling” spider.
He started fishing Railway Pool by casting the fly towards the far bank at a 45° downstream angle and allowed to drift around to the near bank. Not an ideal approach but the best that could be achieved in the windy conditions.
As Tim fished his way downriver, I set up a 10ft 3# rod to fish a team of nymphs spaced 18” apart on 4lb fluorocarbon (point: size 12, olive tungsten jig-back nymph; middle dropper: size 12, pink collared pheasant tail nymph with a 3mm TB; top dropper: size 16, quill nymph with 1.5mm TB).
I started fishing the fast water leading into the Railway Pool. Slowly, I searched the riverbed by fishing in a zig-zag path across and downstream. The gusty conditions made it extremely difficult to control the nymphs and detect takes.
I struggled for half an hour to control the drifts before my line darted sideways and the rod bent round as grayling took off downriver.
Carefully, I got my first grayling under control and guided it safely to the net. It had fallen for the PTN on the middle dropper.
I methodically fished into the body of the pool, where I caught a small grayling on the olive jig-back nymph.
Tim had fished to the tail of the pool but unfortunately, hadn’t stimulated any interest with the wet-fly.
At lunchtime, we headed downriver to the Bench Pool, in search of sunshine and shelter from the gusting wind.
Fly fishing at Rhagatt Hall – the Bench Pool
While enjoying my lunch in the warming sunshine, I didn’t see any surface fly-life or any fish feeding near the surface. Therefore, I fished through the Bench Pool with the nymphs, starting in the shallow water at the head of the pool.
I fished down to the back-eddy without a take. Then, out of the blue, the line stopped and when I lifted the rod a small OOS brown trout went airborne. After its short acrobatic display, it was netted and safely released.
Tim had fished the wet-fly through the pool without much luck; he’d just had one take towards the tail but failed to connect with it.
I followed him down into the tail of the pool but didn’t get any takes fishing the nymphs.
Fly fishing at Rhagatt Hall – The Singal Pool
As a last throw of the dice, we walked down to fish the Signal Pool at the end of the beat.
The tail of the pool was sheltered from the wind, which allowed Tim to thoroughly fish the tail with the wet-fly. Unfortunately, his efforts were met with a blank.
After he’d finished, I fished through the tail with the nymphs. At the end of the run, my line stopped and on striking the rod bent round into a grayling, which had taken the PTN on the middle dropper.
Overall, the windy weather conditions had made the fishing at Rhagatt Hall extremely difficult. A few grayling were feeding very close to the river and nymphing proved to be the only way to catch them.
Grayling fly fishing trip to the Welsh Dee at Llangollen
I was keen to kick-off 2020 with a grayling fishing trip on the Welsh Dee but it Thursday 8th January before this happened.
The river level had fallen further since Christmas and was hovering around 0.65m (@Manley Hall gauge). This was a good level to fish the Upper beat, which I’d not fished since early October because the river had been too high.
It was a mild (9oC), overcast start to the day with a light south-westerly breeze.
Fly fishing Dee Farm on the Welsh Dee @ Llangollen
I parked in the top car park and walked upriver to fish Dee Farm. As I approached the tail of the pool, there was a grayling rising close to the far bank. I couldn’t make out what it was taking so I tried to cover it with one of my default team of wet flies for this time of year (point: size 12 pheasant tail nymph 2mm TB; middle dropper: size 14, black hopper; top dropper: size 16, pearl-ribbed March Brown spider).
Unfortunately, it was beyond my casting range and I decided to leave it for later when I would wade out into an accessible position.
Next, I moved upriver and fished the head of the pool. Fishing down towards the end of the clearing produced two small OOS brown trout, which had taken the PTN on the point.
Surprised by the lack of grayling, I continued upriver to fish the Top Pool, which was my main objective of the day.
Fly fishing The Top Pool on the Welsh Dee
On walking up to the Top Pool, I didn’t see any more rising fish or see any flies hatching.
The river was flowing through the pool at an ideal pace for the wet-fly. Therefore, I continued with the team of wet flies and fished my way upriver from opposite the large tree on the far bank.
After only a couple of casts, the lined tightened and an OOS sea trout started an aerobatic display. Quickly, I got it under control and guided the sea trout safely to the net; it had taken the PTN.
I continued fishing up to the head of the pool with the wets but surprisingly, didn’t get anything else.
Clearly, a change of tactics was required for fishing back downriver. Therefore, I switched to fishing a team of Czech nymphs (point: size 12, olive tungsten jig-back; middle dropper: size 14, orange tagged pheasant tail with 3mm silver TB; top dropper: size 16, quill nymph with a 2mm TB).
Fishing the nymphs across and downriver in a zig-zag path produced two small grayling, which had taken the quill nymph on the top dropper.
About half-way down the run I got snagged on the bottom and lost all three nymphs. Therefore, I switched back to the wet flies and continued fishing my way downriver. I missed a couple of takes before a nice grayling surfaced and snatched a fly.
Hooked, it took off downriver in the fast water…
Carefully, I got it under control and guided the beautiful grayling safely to the net, which had fallen for the pearl-ribbed March Brown spider.
After releasing the grayling, I fished down into the body of the pool and caught two small brown trout on the PTN. When it became too deep to wade any further, I stopped fishing for lunch.
After lunch, I moved down and fished the tail with the wet flies. In the “V of the tail” I caught a lovely grayling on the pearl-ribbed March Brown spider.
At 2 pm, I started my journey back to the car that involved a short stop to fish the Fridge Pool and another stop to fish the tail of Dee Farm, where I’d seen a grayling rise close to the far bank earlier in the day.
Fishing through the Fridge Pool with the team of wet flies didn’t produce any takes. In hindsight, I should have set up a team of Czech nymphs to fish through this pool.
Finally, I returned to fish the tail of Dee Farm where I waded out above the fence and cast the team of wet flies across to the far bank.
When I reached the spot where the grayling had been rising the line tightened, and a grayling rolled on the surface. Once under control, I played the grayling to the net; it had fallen for the black hopper.
Shortly afterwards, the light started to fade and I called it a day.
Overall, it had been a difficult day grayling fishing on the Upper beat but I was pleased with the grayling I’d managed to catch. However, I was expecting the mild conditions to produce a hatch of flies and see more grayling feeding.
Roll on spring!
Tight lines, Andrew