July fishing report from the banks of the beautiful Welsh Dee

July fishing report – 16 to 31^st

16^th July fly fishing at Bangor On Dee for trout and grayling

Thursday was my first opportunity to fish the Grove Farm beat at Bangor-On-Dee since the travel restrictions had been lifted.

Over the next 20 minutes I, frustratingly, missed lots of takes before managing to hook and safely land a grayling.

I fished on for a little while but just couldn’t connect with any more takes. Therefore, moved upriver to fish the Cemetery Pool with a team of nymphs spaced 18″ apart on 4lb fluorocarbon (point: #12 olive tungsten jig-back; middle dropper: #16 brown nymph 1.5mm TB; top dropper: #16 Hare’s Ear nymph with 1.5mm copper TB).

Fishing through the fast water at the of the pool produced a few small grayling and parr. Then at the drop-off zone, the line stopped and on lifting the rod it bent into a large grayling that took off downriver.

Once under control, I guided this lovely grayling to the net, which had fallen for the brown nymph on the middle dropper.

I continued fishing the nymphs across and down and about halfway down the pool, the line was…

ripped out of my hand and the reel started screaming.

After a short struggle, a beautiful brown trout was landed, which had taken the Hare’s Ear nymph.

Fishing the remainder of the pool didn’t yield anything else.

28^th July Salmon fishing at Llangollen

A much-needed weather front rolled in over North Wales and pushed the Welsh Dee into spate and by Monday the river level peaked at 0.72m. On Tuesday the level was falling and the water was starting to clear quickly.

So, with no time to waste, it was off to fish the Welsh Dee for salmon with my mate Tim.

We’d not been able to fish the Ddol Isaf beat since lockdown and that’s where we decided to start.

My first run-through of the pool drew a blank. Therefore, I switched the fly to a silver stoat’s tail and fished through again but was met with the same response the…

BIG ZERO.

Tim wasn’t having any better luck on the spinner and at lunchtime, we went back to the car for refreshments and to revise our plan.

I concentrated on fly fishing the pool above Horseshoe Falls because my knee was starting to hurt, while Tim went upriver to fish back from the Hollybush Pool.

Fishing the pool above Horseshoe Falls a couple of times with the salmon fly didn’t yield anything and I hadn’t seen any salmon or sea trout moving.

Feeling despondent, I switched to fishing a team of bling spiders in the hope of catching grayling and/or trout (point: #12 pheasant & pearl; middle dropper: #12 Grouse & copper; top dropper: #14 partridge & blue).

On the first cast at the head of the pool, a fish swirled at one of the flies but the hook didn’t hold. However, a couple of casts later a fish boiled on the surface, my line tightened and a…

decent fish took off downriver.

Not sure what I’d hooked, I was careful not to add too much tension to the 3lb tippet. When it jumped mid-river I saw it was a sea trout that had taken the partridge & blue bling spider on the top dropper.

I fished on until it started to get dark but didn’t hook anything else.

Tim fished all the way to the falls with the spinner but had only seen a couple of sea trout follow the spinner.

31^st July – trout & grayling fishing at Bangor-On-Dee

For my last Welsh Dee fishing trip of July, I showed a couple of new Bangor-On-Dee club members (Tim and Howard) where to fish at Grove Farm.

The river had dropped back to its summer level and it was forecast to be the hottest day of the year…

more sunbathing than fishing weather.

The local kids had decided it was too hot for anything other than jumping and swimming in the river.

Fortunately, in the tail of the first pool, a few grayling were ignoring them and rising in the foam line and taking something very small.

While Howard targeted the rising fish with a small dry fly, Tim and I fished the riffle leading into the next pool.

Initially, I fished the riffle CDC olive on the dropper and a blue-winged olive wet fly on the point. I caught a couple of small fish, parr, on the BWO and below the overhanging tree on the far bank, a brown trout took the BWO but it threw the hook almost immediately.

Tim started with a dry fly setup but this only produced offers from small fish. He switched to fishing a small nymph but that didn’t change the result.

Howard was getting offers to his small dry fly but just couldn’t connect with any of the rising grayling.

We moved upriver to the Cemetery Pool where Howard fished fishing the pool with a tungsten bead caddis nymph, while I showed Tim the long glide at the top of the beat.

There were no fish rising so I switched to a team of wet flies spaced 3ft apart on 3lb copolymer (point: #14 partridge & blue; middle dropper: #14 black hopper; top dropper: #16 winged medium olive).

I fished the glide by casting the flies close to the trees on the far bank and letting the switch gently round to the dangle. Finally, I started to get some action…

Close to the trees on the far bank, I caught a lovely brown trout on the partridge & blue which was followed by a small sea trout and a grayling on the medium olive.

Tim followed me down trying both dry flies and wet flies but unfortunately didn’t have any success. Howard had fished through the Cemetery Pool a couple of times without any luck.

Overall, it had been a very tough afternoon on the river but Tim and Howard went away with the knowledge of where to fish the Grove Farm, which gave them an upper hand for their next visit.

July fishing report – 6 to 14^th

At the beginning of July heavy rain rolled in over North Wales and this pushed the Welsh Dee into spate. The river level peaked at 1.1m (Manley Hall gauge) and a few days later it began to fall and clear. Just in time for my…

first fishing trip to Llangollen since March.

I was hopeful that this spate had encouraged a few salmon into the Llangollen beats for me to catch.

6^th July fly fishing at Llangollen

As soon as the Welsh travel restrictions were lifted, I was back fishing on the Welsh Dee at Llangollen.  

Fly Fishing Duncan’s Pool

On walking up to Duncan’s, I met two anglers who had been fly fishing there for trout and grayling. They’d caught several lovely brown trout but hadn’t seen any salmon moving through the pool, which wasn’t an encouraging situation.

I started fishing through the pool from opposite the second rock outcrop, where the flow started to slacken. On fishing to the tail of the pool, I only felt a couple of plucks at the fly, which presumably were trout.

Before heading back to the car for lunch, I switched to fly fishing for trout and grayling with a team of nymphs on 4lb fluorocarbon (point fly: #12 red collar black nymph; middle dropper #12 pink squirmy worm; #14 pheasant tail nymph).

I started fishing under the overhanging chestnut tree and methodically fished my way downriver.

After a couple of drifts, the line darted sideways, and the rod bent into an energetic brown trout that took off into the main current. Unfortunately, when it jumped the line went slack and the trout was gone.

A few casts later, the line stopped, and I lifted into another brown trout. I was more careful this time and safely netted the trout which had fallen for the pink squirmy. 

Fishing on produced two small brown trout and then… 

my line tightened into a bigger fish.

That turned out to be a beautiful grayling, which had also fallen for the squirmy worm.

While fishing through the pool it started to rain heavily, so I went back to the car for lunch. 

Fly Fishing the pool above Horseshoe Falls.

After lunch, I drove round to the other side of the river to fish the pool above Horseshoe Falls.

I started my afternoon session fishing for trout and grayling with the team of nymphs I’d been using before lunch. This approach produced two more brown trout, both of which fell for the squirmy on the middle dropper.

Just above the falls, I glimpsed a big splash but wasn’t sure if it was a salmon. Therefore, I moved to the head of the pool and switched back to fly fishing for salmon.

For the next hour, I methodically fished my way down the pool without a touch. Then, in the last fishable spot, the loop of line was…

pulled out of my hand and my rod bent into a decent fish.

For a moment, I thought a salmon had taken the fly but instead, a sea trout splashed on the surface and then took off downriver.

Carefully, I gained the upper hand and netted my…

1^st Welsh Dee sea trout of the season.

My first sea trout for my July fishing report

I fished through the pool again but didn’t get anything else. Therefore, very happy with my day’s fishing I went home, with just a salmon short of a…

“FULL HOUSE” 

(i.e. grayling, brown trout, sea trout & salmon)

At home, I sent a picture of the sea trout to my friend Alan. Who immediately replied with a text to say he’d caught his…

1st salmon of the season

Which he’d caught spinning on the upper beat at Llangollen.

Also, I received a message that another salmon had been caught on the fly on the lower beat that afternoon

Clearly, a few salmon were making their way upriver.

7^th July – Back salmon fly fishing at Llangollen

The reports of salmon being caught were enough to tempt me back to the Welsh Dee the next day in search of salmon with my fly rod.

Overnight, the river level had fallen to 0.72m (Manley Hall gauge) and cleared, which was perfect for salmon fly fishing. 

With my sore knee, I couldn’t clamber up and down the bank. Therefore, I had to settle for the easy fishing that the pool above Horseshoe Falls offers.

I set up my Orvis Clearwater Switch rod (11ft 7#) with a floating line tipped with a 10ft sink tip, 5ft of 12lb copolymer leader, and tied on a black Ally’s shrimp (12D). Then fished my way methodically through the pool but didn’t get a tug.

Disappointed, I returned to the head of the pool and switched to fishing a team of bling spiders on a midge tip line (point: pheasant & pearl bling #12; middle dropper: grouse & copper; top: partridge & blue bling #14). 

The Welsh Dee brown trout were more accommodating, and it wasn’t long before I was guiding my first brown trout to the net, which had fallen for the partridge & blue spider.

Fishing through the remainder of the pool produced a few more brown trout and a few parr, which were caught on the partridge & blue and pheasant & pearl spiders.

I finished the day by fishing through the pool again with the salmon fly but didn’t get a pull.

11^th July – Fly fishing the upper beat of the Welsh Dee at Llangollen

Rain during the middle of the week pushed the Welsh Dee into spate but by Saturday the river level had fallen to 0.7m (Manley Hall) and was running clear.

On Saturday morning, I picked Tim up en route to Llangollen, and when we arrived the weather was cool and overcast.

We decided to start fishing at Horseshoe Falls and work our way upriver. My focus was fly fishing for trout and grayling, while Tim’s was spinning for salmon.

On the way to the pool above Horseshoe Fall, I hadn’t seen any fish rising, so I decided to start the day fishing a team of wet flies (point; black hopper #14; middle dropper: March Brown Spider #14; top dropper: Iron Blue wet #14) spaced 3ft apart on 3lb copolymer.

Starting at the head of the pool, I fished down towards the clearing on the far bank with the wet flies. The fishing was slow, and it wasn’t until I was opposite the fence on the far bank that my line tightened into a brown trout.

Unfortunately, it threw the hook while I was attempting to net it. However, I few more cast a lovely brown trout, which had taken the March Brown Spider.

Fishing the remainder of the pool produced two smaller trout but surprisingly no grayling.

Tim had fished the pool to the falls with the spinner but had drawn a blank on the salmon front.

Next, we fished our way upriver to Dee Farm without much luck. I just caught a small brown trout and grayling in the tail of the Pipe Pool, which took the Iron Blue.

By the time we’d reached Dee Farm, the cloud had cleared, and the sun was beaming onto the river.

Tim went up the head of the pool to spin for salmon, I fished through the tail with the team of spiders. In the bright sunshine, the river seemed devoid of life and I only managed to catch a small brown trout on the black hopper.

Eventually, Tim returned with an unhappy look on his face because he’d lost a…

salmon at the top of Dee Farm.

On our way back to the car we fished a few places but without any luck.

14^th July – Welsh Dee Sea trout fly fishing at Llangollen

After a few more days of dry settled weather, the Welsh Dee had dropped to 0.53m (Manley Hall), which was close to its summer level. 

Tuesday evening was forecasted to be a mild overcast night which was favourable for the planned night-time sea trout fishing session.

To make the most of this fishing trip, I arrived early and fished the Top Pool for grayling and trout until it started to get dark.

I started fishing with a team of nymphs (point: pink collar PTN with a 3.5mm TB #12, middle dropper: quill nymph 1.5mm TB #16; top dropper: Hare’s ear nymph 1.5mm gold TB #16).

Surprisingly, however, after fishing to the head of the pool I’d only caught a couple of juvenile grayling for my efforts. Therefore, I switched to fishing a team of wet flies (point: black hopper #14; middle dropper: pearly butt waterhen bloa #14; top dropper: March Brown spider #14)

On the first cast, the line darted upstream and the rod bent into decent grayling. Carefully, I guided the fish to the net, which had taken the March Brown spider. Fishing across and down the remainder of the pool with the wet flies produced two more lovely grayling and a few smaller trout.

At 8 pm I went back to the car for refreshments and get ready to fish for sea trout in the pool above Horseshoe Falls.

To fish the first part of the evening I set up a 10ft 7# rod with a floating line tipped with 9ft, 2X fluorocarbon tapered leader and tied on a silver stoats tail (size 10S).

While waiting for the light to fade I fished the tail of Duncan’s Pool where caught a couple of brown trout.

When the colour had disappeared from the trees on the far bank, I started to fish down through the glide below Duncan’s Pool towards Horseshoe Falls.

As I fished my way down towards the clearing on the far bank, I just felt a few plucks at the fly. 

Then, just below the fence on the far bank, I had a savage take and rod bent into a fish that immediately started splashing on the surface. Unfortunately, the fish threw the hook and I didn’t see what it was.

A few casts later I had another violent take but this time I could tell it wasn’t a sea trout but a large grayling that had taken the silver stoats tail.

Fishing onto the end of the pool didn’t produce any more takes. However, I heard a couple of large sea trout jump close to the far bank.

Therefore, I switched my fly to a surface lure and fished through the pool a final time, but this didn’t stimulate any takes. 

Overall, during July the fishing on the Welsh Dee has been hard work. However, I have managed to land a couple of sea trout and caught some beautiful brown trout and grayling.

A few salmon continue to be caught throughout the Welsh Dee by a few lucky anglers and so far, it seems this year’s salmon run is much better than 2019.

In addition, the main run of sea trout has started and are now being caught during the day on the spinner and at night on the fly.

Tight lines, Andrew

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