Grayling fishing in January on the beautiful Welsh Dee

In Wales, it was a wet and windy start to the New Year, and it wasn’t possible to fish the Welsh Dee until the middle of January.

Dry weather allowed the river level to fall to a good height for grayling fishing at Llandderfel (0.39m at Bala gauge). Therefore, on my first fishing trip of the year to the Welsh Dee, I ventured out to Llanddefel with a friend, Tim, to show him where to fish.

Grayling fishing in January at Llanddefrel

At Llandderfel, the overnight temperature had fallen to -2^oC, but by 11 am, it had warmed slightly to 3^oC. However, not surprising, there was no sign of surface activity in the pool closest to the car park.

So, we both decided to start searching the riverbed for grayling with nymphs.

I set up my 11ft 3# Vision Nymphmaniac to fish three nymphs space 18″ apart on a 4 lb fluorocarbon leader (point: #12 PTN with a 4 mm orange TB; middle dropper: #14, purple collar black PTN with a 3.5 mm silver TB; top dropper: #18, Hares Ears 1.5 mm copper TB).

Tim began fishing the fast water at the head of the pool while I fished upriver from its tail. We thoroughly covered the pool for a good half hour without a single take.

Not a great start, so we moved downriver to fish the next pool in the hope of finding a few grayling. Halfway through the wood, there is a lovely pool below an island.

Usually, grayling hold in the water on the far side of the island.

I let Tim fish there first while I followed him down the pool.

Tim caught the first grayling of the day that took one of his nymphs opposite the end of the island.

I couldn’t buy a take, so I changed my point fly to a #12 PTN with a pink tag and a 4 mm metallic pink tungsten bead.

After getting snagged, Tim let me pass while he repaired his leader. My fortunes changed as I fished down into the main pool. Suddenly, the leader darted sideways, and

BOOM! – my reel screamed as a grayling took off downriver.

Carefully, I gained control and netted a beautiful grayling that had taken the pink PTN.

A few casts later, my rod bent around into another grayling that had taken the purple collar black PTN on the middle dropper.

It felt like someone had flicked a switch because fishing to the end of the pool produced three more grayling, which fell for either the purple PTN or the Hares Ear on the top dropper.

Then, after the mad half-hour of activity, the fishing went dead when the temperature started to fall. As if…

someone had turned the switch off.

After his initial success, Tim missed a couple of takes before we headed home.

Grayling fishing in January at Llangollen

My son, George, joined me on this trip to fish the Welsh Dee because he had a day off work, and he’d not been grayling fishing for a while.

At Llangollen, overnight temperatures had dipped below freezing, but it had risen to 3^oC by the time we arrived (ca. 10 am). The river level was at a good height (0.57m Manley Hall gauge) to fish the pools on the upper beat.

George opted to fish the gavel run above the Glide pool while I went upriver to fish the Fridge Pool.

Fishing the Fridge Pool for grayling

In the cold northeasterly breeze, I didn’t see any flies hatching or fish rising during the walk upriver. Therefore, I started fishing a team of nymphs space 18″ apart on a 4 lb fluorocarbon leader (point: #12 olive tungsten jig back; middle dropper: #16 claret nymph with a 1.5 mm purple TB; top dropper: #16 peacock quill nymph 1.5 mm TB).

Starting in the tail, I slowly fished my way across and upriver. I’d almost reached the head of the pool when I felt a positive take, and my rod bent around into a decent fish that took off downriver.

After a couple of jumps for freedom, I got things under control and guided the first grayling of the day to the net, which had taken the claret nymph on the middle dropper.

I didn’t have any more takes fishing the rest of the Fridge Pool, so I moved upriver to fish the Top Pool.

Fishing the Top Pool for grayling

After the long walk through the wood, I scared a pair of cormorants that perched on the rock outcrop above the tail of the Top Pool.

My heart sank at the thought…

they’d decimated the grayling that usually reside in this pool.

I sat on the bank near the middle of the pool and had some lunch but didn’t see any sign of hatching flies or rising fish. Therefore, I continued euro nymphing, starting opposite the large tree on the far bank.

In the main channel, a few meters above the tree, my line darted sideways and lifted into my second grayling that had taken the olive jig nymph on the point.

Fishing up to the top of the pool produced three smaller graylings that took either the claret nymph or the quill nymph.

To fish the water close to the far bank, I switched to a team of wet flies spaced 3 ft apart on a 3 lb copolymer leader (point: #12 TB Black Pennell; middle dropper: #12 Grouse & pheasant bling spider; top dropper: #14 pearl ribbed March Brown spider).

At the head of the pool, graylings often shelter in the slack water close to the far bank, but I didn’t catch any fish there. However, fishing the wet flies below the overhanging tree produced a solid take and a lovely grayling that had fallen for the black Pennell.

A couple of casts later, the black Pennell produced another grayling. Then, another grayling fell for the grouse and pheasant bling spider on the middle dropper.

On fishing the remainder of the wadable water, I caught a few small graylings on the pearl-ribbed March Brown spider.

When my legs began to feel the cold, I called it a day walked downriver to find out how George had got on. He’d struggled fishing the section of river from Dee Farm to the Glide pool, and the fish he’d hooked came off before the net.

Summary

When the Welsh Dee dropped to a fishable level, it was great to get out fishing in January and catch a few beautiful graylings. I hope February brings me more grayling success on the Welsh Dee and rivers further afield.