The salmon season on the Welsh Dee opened on Friday 3rd March, which this year coincided with high spring tides. Therefore, on Saturday I was keen to see if any springers were making their way into the system on the recent high water and test out my Orvis Clearwater Switch Rod.
The river conditions were not ideal because after a dry spell the weather had turned very wet on the 21st Feb, with the arrival of storm Doris. As things stayed wet, by the start of March the Dee river level had been pushed to 1.58 meters; its highest level so far this year.
The bouts of heavy rain eased slightly towards the end of the week, allowing the river to drop off to 1.24 metres (Manley Hall gauge). This was enough to tempt me out to wash the winter cobwebs off my salmon fishing tackle.
To say I was being optimistic for the day was an understatement, mainly because the number of early spring salmon that run the Dee is very low and at 1.2m there are only a couple of places that I have found you can sensibly fish the fly on Llangollen-Maelor beats. My back-up plan was to test out my birthday present an…
Orvis Clearwater Switch rod fishing streamers
I decided on a late start because I had few jobs to do, the river level was continuing to drop slowly and I thought the second half of the day would offer the best chance. After lunch I drove to Llangollen, arriving at the Horseshoe Falls Pool by 2 pm.
The river was very high but looked in good condition: could just see the bottom in 2ft of water; from the left bank to mid-river the pace of the water was good for fly fishing; from mid-river to the far bank the water was steaming through the pool thus and any salmon would be pushed towards the right bank. Therefore, I felt a wave of enthusiasm.
I tackled up my 15ft salmon rod with an intermediate main line tipped with a 15ft fast sinking tip and a black & yellow 1″copper-tube fly, which I had tied last weekend. Starting in the fast run I slowly worked my way down through the pool. Towards the tail, as the fly came round to the dangle, I felt a short pull on the line and I hooked a small brownie (ca. 8″); at least the fly was attracting trout.
Next, I decided to practice fishing a streamer through the pool with my new Orvis Clearwater switch rod. The rod was loaded with a DI3 line, which was tipped with 3ft of 8lb fluorocarbon sporting a size 8 silver-grey Zonka.
In the slacker parts of the pool, I managed to stimulate a few swirls to the fly but didn’t hook any. After this, I went through with the salmon fly again but only managed to hook a small, greedy brownie towards the tail of the pool. It was now about 4 pm and I decided to move upriver to Dee Farm, to fish the last couple of hours before nightfall.
I walked to the top of the pool and tried to fish the salmon fly but the river was just flowing too quickly. Therefore, I made my way down to the bend just above the fence where the main current is pushed to the far bank. Here I decided to work my way through with the streamer fly first. This proved to be a good choice because as I moved down to the tail it wasn’t long before a small brownie (ca. 8″) took the Zonka mid-river.
Working my way further towards the falls I had a much stronger take and the fish went off downriver. After a short struggle, I got it under control and wild brown trout (ca. 1lb) was guided safely into the net. This was followed by another smaller brownie, which took the fly just above the falls.
The light had begun to fade quickly, so I had a final run through the pool with the salmon fly but this didn’t yield anything. It was now 6.30 pm so I called it a day and walked back to the car before it was completely dark.
Overall, I was pleased with the day and shall be trying streamer fishing again after I have done some more research on techniques for fishing them on UK rivers. I am new to fishing streamers so it would be great to hear if you have any advice/tips on how best to fish them?
Tight lines till next time, Andrew
If you are interested in fly fishing for trout and grayling on the Welsh Dee there is some excellent Day Ticket water at Llangollen