Bank Holiday in deepest darkest Wales on the Teifi

Spent a great weekend fishing the river Teifi with Red and Dave based around Llandysul waters. The valley is wonderfully wild with escarpments of mature woodlands separated by sweeping bends, deep pools and wide shallow riffles. The target species was Sea Trout, wild Brownies and maybe a lucky Salmon. However the season was early so chances of a Sea Trout or Salmon were not the best although if we did hook up it was likely to be a big fish.  Dave acted as host and guide taking us to numerous stretches of the Teifi that are available under the club which all indicated great potential.

Jack's Pool 

I started on streamer flies fished on 9wt rod downstream and actually had a tug, on my first run. As the weekend moved on we all mixed it up fishing Rapala's and spinners together with some opportune moments to use the trout river fly gear. Red won't thank me for reminding me of his moment of glory when his Rapala tempted what was possibly a big Salmon from the depths. A few moments of elation and his rod bent in two were soon followed by disaster as the fish broke free. My best fish came to a jointed Bass lure that was cast into a run bounded by overhanging mature trees. Dave advised a long cast downstream. A sudden tug was followed by the fish breaking surface. Unfortunately it shook the hook as I failed to keep the line in contact with the lure. It looked like a good sized Brownie. Red seemed to have the little Rapala's under control as he hooked and landed a couple of nice wild Brownies over the three days.

Red's Brownie on the Rapala.

In the warmer moments I reverted to the style of fishing I felt more comfortable with and some of the medium depth bends provided excellent sport on the fly with small Brownies and Salmon Parr readily taking the nymph and dry. Both Dave and Red took time to match the hatch particularly when some early Blue Winged Olives started coming off and it certainly seemed to pay off.

Salmon Parr

Although we didn't catch the monster we were hoping for it was an enjoyable three days fishing on a lovely river. For any birdwatchers out there the valley produced Redstart, Raven, Red Kite, Dipper, Kingfisher, Nuthatch, Tree Creeper and a drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker to name just a few. Thankfully the rain stayed away for most of the weekend and the water was fairly clear. Now have those little streams around here calmed down a bit....