On holiday in Betws-Y-Coed this June, I was supposedly fishing for sea trout on the River Conwy, but the river had dropped to its bone in the heatwave. So as a fallback, I had two days on Llyn Trawsfynydd fishing for rainbow trout.
Llyn Trawsfynydd is a large reservoir (ca. 5 miles long) situated in the beautiful landscape of the Snowdonian National park.
Trawsfynydd lake is frequently stocked with beautiful rainbow trout and offers great sport for the visiting angler. The lake also boasts a healthy head of natural brown trout and an abundance of coarse fish: perch, pike, and rudd.
Llyn Trawsfynydd fishing – Day 1
After a late breakfast in Betws-Y-Coed, I took the scenic route to Trawsfynydd along the A470, which winds up the beautiful Lledr valley. At the cafe, I picked up my fishing permit from Graham.
He explained that the lake was low and that the deeper water near the dam wall had been fishing well from the bank in the hot weather. So, I took his advice and parked by the dam to explore that area.
Fishing the Shoreline near the Dam wall.
I didn’t see any surface activity as I walked along the shoreline to the first rock outcrop, where I could cast into the first bay.
In the bright sunshine, I explored the dropoff zone with a team of lures to see if any trout were patrolling this zone of bait fish.
So, I set up my 10ft 7# Greys GR80 fly rod with a floating line tipped 15ft 10lb fluorocarbon leader with two droppers spaced 4ft and 10ft from the point fly (point: #10 pink FAB, middle dropper: #10 copper cormorant; top dropper: #12 Diawl Bach).
At the first rock outcrop, I started prospecting the first rocky bay by counting down the flies to different depths and retrieved them using a slow figure of eight.
At around a 15s countdown, my line tightened into a fish during the slow retrieve. After a short struggle, I netted a lovely rainbow trout that had fallen for the copper cormorant on the middle dropper.
Fishing the remainder of the bay using this approach, I missed several delicate takes until I caught a small perch that had devoured the pink FAB on the point.
After returning the perch, I moved around to the next outcrop to fish a large bay that looked deeper.
I didn’t get any takes fishing this deeper spot. So, I switched the FAB on the point for a #10 golden humungous that would fish deeper.
This approach proved to be a good move because, after a few casts, I had a savage take. After a short struggle, I landed my second rainbow that had taken the golden humungous.
Fishing on until it was time to head back to the cottage, I caught a wild brown trout and several more rainbow trout that fell for the golden humungous.
Day 2 – Llyn Trawsfynydd fishing
After a bass fishing trip on Anglesey, I returned to Trawsfynydd to explore another section of shoreline close to the dam for a few hours in the afternoon.
On arrival, I met three anglers who’d caught several trout on legered worms, so I moved along the bank to the next bay.
I hadn’t seen any trout rising while chatting with the other anglers. So, I started using the setup as per my earlier visit. A floating line tipped 15ft 10lb fluorocarbon leader with two droppers spaced 4ft and 10ft from the point fly (point: #10 golden humungous, middle dropper: #10 copper cormorant; top dropper: #12 Diawl Bach).
After about half an hour of fishing down the rocky shoreline, I hooked my first trout that took the Diawl Bach (top dropper) close to the surface.
It wasn’t as bright as yesterday, and it seemed that the trout were hunting closer to the surface. Therefore, I switched the heavier humungous fly on the point with a lighter #10 silver cormorant so the flies would fish closer to the surface.
This change did the trick, and after a few casts, I was landing the next rainbow trout to the net that had taken the silver cormorant on the point.
Fishing the remainder of the shoreline produced more rainbow trout until it was time to head back to the cottage at 7 pm.
Overall, despite the challenging dry and sweltering weather conditions, the two fishing trips to Llyn Trawsfynydd made up for the disappointing river conditions for sea trout fishing.
Llyn Trawsfynydd Fishing Permits
Day fishing permits are obtained from the fishing shop in the Canolfan Prysor Centre next to the Cafe.
Day permits are available between 7.30 -10.30 am for fishing from 8 am until one hour following sunset. Evening permits are available from 2.30 – 3 pm for fishing from 3 pm until one hour after sunset. Check out their website for more information.
Always wonderfully informative and a dedication to your fishing pursuits. Many similarities to our fishing in New Zealand.keep up the wonderful work. Brent
Hi Brent,
Great to hear you enjoyed it.
Where do you fish in NZ.
Cheers, Andrew
I mainly fish the South Island’s Westcoast where there are few fly fishers and seamingly endless rivers spring creeks and lakes. Mainly brown Trout with a small number of Rainbows.
Hi Brent,
Sounds like an amazing place to live. I visited NZ a few years ago, both the south and north islands but never made it over to the Westcoast, which is on my list of places to visit in the near future.
I hope you have a good Xmas & NY. Tight lines, Andrew
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cheers
Very informative and so useful for someone learning different fly fishing set ups. Looks an interesting Lyn to add to the “bucket list”. Always look forward to your blogs…thanks and keep up the good work.
Hi Anthony,
Great to hear you found it useful and interesting. It’s definitely worth a visit.
Tight lines, Andrew