How to catch grayling in the heat of summer on the Welsh Dee

Over the last couple of weeks, a few anglers have asked for advice on how to catch grayling on the Welsh Dee during this prolonged period of hot and dry weather. Therefore, in this post, I will share my approach to summer grayling fly fishing, with some results from this week’s Welsh Dee fishing trips.

Faced with usually warm & sunny weather and the Welsh Dee hovering at its summer level (0.46m @ Manley Hall), the best of the fishing is often very early morning or late evening. However, it is possible to catch grayling during more civilised hours; for example, from around 8 am to early afternoon.

Under such conditions, the simple approach of focusing your fishing efforts in places where streamy water runs into a deep pool usually pays dividends. While generally avoiding all other parts of the river, unless fish are observed taking flies at the surface. However, the latter is rare on the Welsh Dee during hours of bright sunshine.

Fly fishing at Bangor-On-Dee – how to catch grayling

On Friday morning I fished the Village beat at Bangor-On-Dee, focusing my attention at the following places: the head of Dukes Pool, Twll Run and Cadbury’s because these places have streamy sections that run into deep water. 

Dukes Pool was my first port of call and when I arrived at 8 am I saw a couple of fish taking flies in the riffle at the head of the pool.

So, I started fishing through this section with wet flies while keeping as close to the near bank as possible (point: size 14, March Brown spider; middle dropper: size 14, black hopper; top dropper: size 14, Iron Blue – on 3lb copolymer spaced 3ft apart).

As the flies swung round into the shaded section of the riffle, the line tightened and my first grayling of the day was guided to the net, which had taken the black hopper. Continuing on down through the riffle produced another grayling from the shaded section, again on the black hopper. Then working my way down through the main body of the pool, until it became too deep to wade any further, just produced a few small parr.

Returning to the head of the riffle, I searched through the pool again with a team of Czech nymphs (point: size 12, black caddis with a 3mm tungsten bead; middle dropper: size 16, grey nymph with a 1.5mm tungsten bead; top dropper: size 16, black spider) spaced 18″ apart on a 4lb fluorocarbon leader.

At the head of the fast water I worked my way over to and through the deeper channel close to the far bank. As the nymphs passed down the far side of the weed the line stopped and I lifted into a good fish that headed off down into the main flow. After getting things under control I guided a nice grayling to the net, which had fallen for the grey nymph.

Working down through the main channel the grey nymph produced two more grayling. Then just below the water gauge on the far bank, the line darted sideways and I was into a better fish which stayed deep. Taking care not to lose this one, I eventually steered a beautiful wild brown trout into the net, which had taken the black caddis.

After a quick photo session, the brownie was safely returned to fight another day. Fishing on to the tail I lost another good fish and caught a few small grayling on the grey nymph.

Heading down river, Joby’s is the next pool that is worth fishing during these summer conditions because the trees on both banks cast shade on most of the pool. Unfortunately, it’s also a favourite spot for dog walkers to let their dogs have swim and has I arrived a wet dog was just getting out of the pool; so I didn’t waste my time fishing it.

However, Twll Run just below Joby’s is usually undisturbed by dogs so I focused my attention on this fast streamy water.

Starting at the head of the run I slowly searched the gavel bottom with the team of Czech nymphs. There are a few large boulders near the far bank in this shallow run, which have deeper pockets of water behind them (ca. 3ft). Behind the first boulder my line snagged the bottom and I lost my point fly, which I replaced with a size 12, olive tungsten rig-back that is less prone to snagging on the bottom.

A little further down river, where it starts to deepen, my line stopped and as I lifted the rod it bent round into a decent fish that immediately turned into the main current and stripped line from the reel. Eventually, I got things under control and guided a beautiful grayling safely to the net, which had fallen for the small grey nymph. Fishing on down river until I couldn’t wade any further, produced a few small grayling and parr.

Moving further downriver you reach Cadbury’s where the river speeds up and the main flow is pushed to the far bank as the river starts to bend to the right.

At summer levels the gravel is exposed on the near bank until you reach the tight bend where the river bed falls away into a deep hole produced by a back-eddy. Just above this point, there are a few patches of weed close to the near bank, which offers fish shelter from the main current and sunlight and is a good place to focus your attention.

Just above the weed patches I started working the nymphs down the far side of the weed. A couple of casts later the line tightened as the nymphs swung round behind one of the weed patches but the fish threw the hook almost immediately.

A few cast further down the line shot sideways and the rod bent into a good fish, as it made a B-line for the main current. After getting it under control, I guided a splendid grayling to the net, which had fallen for the grey nymph. Continuing down the run towards the deep slack water the grey nymph produced three more grayling, several salmon parr and a couple of small roach.

At 1.30pm I had to call it a day and made the journey back to the car, passing a few horses that had decides to take a refreshing drink from the river just above Cadbury’s.

Fly fishing for grayling at Llangollen

Late afternoon on the next day I went fishing the Welsh Dee at Llangollen with Alan, where we were faced with similarly hot and bright conditions. Walking upriver to the Pipe Pool there was a distinct lack of surface fly activity and we didn’t see any fish rising. Therefore, I decided to take a similar approach to fish as I did the other day at Bangor-On-Dee.

While Alan fished from the rock ledge just above the body of the main pool, I went further up to fish the head of the fast run with a team of Czech nymphs (point: size 12, olive tungsten jig-back; middle dropper: size 16, grey nymph with a 1.5mm TB; top dropper: size 16, black spider) on a 4lb fluorocarbon. 

Fishing the nymphs down through the fast I missed a take down the side of the 1st rock ledge. Then after a couple more cast in this area I caught my first grayling of the day on the small grey nymph.

After this I moved down river to the small bank-side tree, where I can just about wade out onto the slippery, submerged rock platform to fish the main channel [NB. Wading here is treacherous because the of the uneven slippery rocks).

Very carefully, I started fishing down through the deep gully with the nymphs and after a couple of casts I was into my first fish that took-off downriver in the current. After getting back to the bank I got things under control and guided a nice grayling to the net which had taken the small grey nymph.

Continuing on down through the gully towards where Alan was fishing I caught another 4 grayling and several small trout; all of which were fooled by the grey nymph.

Fishing from the rock ledge into the main pool, Alan had several takes on both wet and dry flies but frustratingly was unable to hook the fish. While he persevered, I moved up to Sycamore Run and fished through the deep gully with the Czech nymphs.

Getting the nymphs down to the bottom of this gully wasn’t easy and it was necessary to cast them a couple of rod lengths upriver, then by the time the line was opposite me they were starting to catch the river bed.

Using this tactic, I worked down through the gully and about halfway down I lifted into a nice fish that proved difficult to control in the fast water. However, I eventually got the upper-hand and steered a good grayling to the net, which had surprising take the heavy point nymph (Olive jig-back).

The light had started to fail now, so I returned to the Pipe Pool where Alan had struggled to firmly connect with a fish using wet or dry flies. He’d resided to the fact that it wasn’t going to have any luck and we called it a day and headed off home.

Overall, I hope you can see from these two accounts that even though it might seem from the surface that the river is devoid of feeding fish, actually on the river bed grayling are feeding on nymphs even in the bright conditions at mid-day.  For this reason, if you want to have some sport during the “heat of the day” it is important that you add Czech nymphing to your skill toolbox.

Looking forward, it looks like this dry summer weather is forecast to continue for another week at least. Therefore, it’s probably worth seeing if trying your hand at Czech nymphing brings you some fishy success.

If you do have a go at Czech nymphing then it would be great to know how you got on.

Tight lines until next time, Andrew.

If you are interested in fly fishing for grayling on the Welsh Dee there is some excellent Day Ticket water at Llangollen.