October fishing report from the banks of the amazing Welsh Dee

In the October fishing report, I cover my new focus on grayling fishing and the close of the salmon season on the Welsh Dee.

Fishing activities have been constrained by the reintroduction of travel restrictions in Wales. So, how has the Welsh Dee fished during October…

Welsh Dee – October fishing report

Grayling fly fishing at Llangollen

Rain on the last day of September freshened up the Welsh Dee for my grayling fishing trip. Overnight the river rose slightly to 0.57m (Manley Hall gauge) but was still running clear.

Fly fishing the Pipe Pool

It was a cool start to the day and but I saw a few up-winged flies hatching on the walk to the Pipe Pool. I noticed a couple of grayling rising in the pockets of slack water at the head of the pool.

To get out of the “starting block”, I targeted the rising grayling in the pockets with a CDC Olive #14 dry fly.

It was difficult to see the fly on the water but I heard a fish rise where I thought my fly was and instinctively raised my rod…

HOOKED, the grayling took-off down the main channel.

After a short struggle, I gained the upper-hand and guided the grayling out of the fast water and safely into the net.

Fishing the remainder of the Pipe Pool with the dry fly produced a further two smaller grayling. Then it was time to move upriver to fish Glide Pool

Fly fishing the Glide Pool

I didn’t see any fish rising in the main section of the Glide Pool. Therefore, I moved up to fish the riffle above with a team of wet flies spaced 3ft apart on 3lb copolymer leader (point: #14 pheasant tail nymph; middle dropper: #14 black hopper; top dropper: #14, Iron Blue Dun).

Most of the streamer weed that grows in the riffle had been torn off the riverbed in the recent floods, making it easier to fish the riffle with the wet fly.

Starting at the bottom of the riffle, I slowly fished upriver searching the slacker pockets and seams with the wet flies. In the first section of slack water, my line darted upriver and when I lifted the rod a…

grayling ‘boiled’ on the surface and then darted downriver.

Carefully, I gained the upper-hand and guided it safely into the net. The grayling had taken the Iron Blue Dun wet fly on the top dropper.

Fishing the remainder of the riffle produced another two grayling, which also fell for the Iron Blue.

Next, I walked upriver to fish Dee Farm…

Fly fishing Dee Farm

In the tail of Dee Farm, I spotted a few grayling taking flies at the surface.

Keeping low a profile against the bank, I covered the fish rising close to the near bank with the CDC Olive. The Olive was taken as soon as the fly drifted into its feeding zone but lifting into the take failed to hook the fish.

The other rising grayling just ignored the Olive. Therefore, I switched to the wet fly and fished towards the tail.

On the far side of the 1^st submerged rock, I caught a grayling that had taken the Iron Blue.

Further downriver I caught another grayling on the Iron Blue, which disturbed the remainder of the pool.

Therefore, I embarked on the long walk to fish the Top Pool because it had been a while since I’d fished it for grayling.

Fly fishing the Top Pool on the Welsh Dee

At 0.57 m, the river height was perfect for fly fishing the Top Pool for grayling and salmon.

Before fishing for grayling, I decided to run through the pool with the salmon fly to see if there were any salmon to tempt because conditions looked ideal.

Starting at the head of the pool I fished down towards the large overhanging tree on the far bank; a prime salmon lie.

The line was ripped out of my hand when the line swung around into the shaded water by the tree…

For a split-second, it felt like a salmon had taken the fly but on lifting into the take a greedy brown trout started splashing on the surface.

Fishing the remainder of the pool with the salmon fly produced a blank on the salmon front. However, I noticed several grayling taking flies in the fast water.

After the salmon fishing interlude, I returned to the head of the pool to target the grayling I’d seen with the wet flies. The first cast into the margins on the far bank produced a take and as the line tightened a large grayling surfaced, which…

almost, immediately “threw” the hook.

A couple more casts later, another grayling boiled on the surface and darted downriver in the fast water.

This time, I carefully got control of the situation and netted a lovely grayling that had been fooled by the Iron Blue.

Over the next 30 minutes, grayling savagely attacked the wet flies and I caught several more on the Iron Blue and one trout on the Black Hopper. This topped off a great day fishing for grayling on the Welsh Dee.

For more information on fly fishing the Welsh Dee for grayling during autumn check out the following post:

Grayling fly fishing in Autumn with a focus on the beautiful Welsh Dee

Salmon – October fishing report

This year has been the best salmon fishing season on most beats of the Welsh Dee for a long while. In October there have been lots of salmon seen, lost, and caught by local anglers up until the 17^th of October.

Unfortunately, I only had one opportunity to go salmon fishing on the Welsh Dee in October, which didn’t yield any salmon for me. So, for 2020 I had to settle with the two salmon caught in September at Llangollen.

Below are a few pictures of the Welsh Dee salmon caught in October that I have been sent to share:

Now the salmon season has ended, we will just after hope that salmon fishing in 2021 will be as good as this year.

Further reading

• Grayling fly fishing in Autumn with a focus on the beautiful Welsh Dee

If you are interested in fly fishing on the Welsh Dee there is some excellent day ticket water at Llangollen and Bangor-On-Dee.

Tight lines Andrew

PS. If you have some Welsh Dee fishing moments share please add them to the comments section. Finally, I hope you’ve enjoyed this October fishing report.