Ok, so I haven’t done much fishing since last Friday, truth be told, I’ve done none and much to my disappointment too. In my defence, the weather has been so hot that I’ve had thought’s of dead fish floating atop a boiling river!

Anyway, I did EVENTUALLY get some fishing done last night. Only a few hours in the evening, and there were one or two rises.

Fish seemed to be rising to small brown duns and sedges (which I’ve been tying a lot of lately), and so on my first cast to one such brownie, of just over a pound, went for my small sedge pattern. The rest they say, is poetry.

The brownies of the Taff are known for their power and strength, this brownie was certainly no exception. But eventually, over the net he came. A quick photo (blurry), a few seconds lying lazily in my hand as I helped him restore his strength, and he was out of my hand like a gun shot. My respect and awe for nature and living creatures renewed and increased.

What a start to an evening’s fishing after a long week off.

I was grinning like a Cheshire cat by the time I’d left the water, although that fish was my only one over the 2 hours. I did manage a few more rises to my offerings, although I think it was more a case of me spooking the lil’ blighters by nearly falling in again!

I have a full week off work next week, and it couldn’t come and a better time. I’m constantly tired, and work is manic. So I’m going to relax, go fishing everyday, maybe pop to the pub one evening , etc.

Friends sometimes ask me; “Don’t you ever get bored fishing on your own?” The answer is ‘No’. To be in a river at the break of morning (or any time of the day for that matter), the sound of the water rushing by, the birds just waking up, and brownie’s rising here and there; it always puts a smile on my face.

An evening to remember.

I wish to God this hot weather would cool down! Haven’t done any fishing now in nearly a week! And it’s killing me!

Visited a stretch of the Taff in Troedyrhiw on Friday of last week. Had the day off to go to a wedding in the afternoon, and as I didn’t have to be ready until 3pm-ish, I thought a bit of fishing was in order.

Got onto the water early, around 6:30am (so much for a lie-in on your day off!), and could see a few rises. However, this said, none were interested in any of my offerings, so started to lose a little spirit.

I eventually did have one rise to a sedge pattern, although looking back I think this was more an attempt to drown the fly than to eat it.

At 10:00am the sun was baking, so from then until 11:45am not a rise was seen.

Since Friday I’ve not been fishing once, starting to go crazy, although this weekend is supposed to be cooler, with temperatures dropping from the normal 27-28°c that we’ve been having lately down to a much more fishable 15-18°c. And I can’t wait!

May pop down to the Taff this evening, although I feel it may be another ‘casting’ session as apposed to a ‘fishing’ one! That said, fishing’s fishing, and I just want a bit of peace and quiet, a river, and a rod. A fish wouldn’t be bad either mind!

Didn’t manage to get much fishing done last week unfortunately. All this hot weather has got me more inclined towards a beer and a deck chair!

I have sworn to make up for my laziness this week! Heat or no, I’m going fishing!

Me and Sam went up to the Usk reservoir again for a day’s fishing on Sunday. Left the house at 6:15am in the GLEAMING SUN….arrived at Usk res around 7:30am which looked as if it could have been in the film The Fog!!! None of this bothered me, apart from the fact I was only wearing a shirt and it was freezing!

The morning session was brilliant; we both had a few in a couple of hours (mine all caught on various coloured Goldhead Damsels). This said, I lost another rainbow and a brownie! Was NOT happy!

From 11:00am onwards the mist disappeared, burnt away by the scorching rays of the sun, which in turn made the fish grouchy buggers who went deep and stopped feeding.

Sam managed a beautiful brownie of over a pound, and I managed another rainbow caught on an intermediate line fished deep.

All day the takes had been unbelievably subtle, and after 4 hours of hot sun, we took a break…Sam fell asleep…I prayed for cloud, any cloud, ONE CLOUD!!!

All in all a brilliant day again, but all this hot sun is starting to annoy me!! Either bring back some rain, or Fish, grow some eyelids, become warm blooded and start enjoying the warmth!

Haven’t been on the river for over a week, so I may pop down tonight for an evening session and fish into the dark.

Check out the photo’s from Sunday…

One of my rainbows

Sam with a piece of what looks like sheep shit on his arm!

Baby frog anyone? These buggers were everywhere! hmm….wonder if there’s pike in there

How beautiful is this?!

Sam in the mist

The Fog

Lush…CLICK TO ENLARGE

Sam and I visited a new reservoir we have never fished on Saturday, and what a reservoir it is!!

Compared to my normal stillwater Cantref, it’s HUGE!

The day started off by Sam picking up a very hung-over Gareth at 6:30 (I only managed to awake from my alarm at 6:25!), driving down to the local petrol station for the days food and paracetamol, and we were off.

Arrived at the water at around 7:15 to find ocean like conditions! There were waves, horribly cold drizzle, a VERY strong wind and overcast sky’s….brilliant! I hope the fish like it, as both me and Sam were chomping at the bit to get on the water!

After purchasing the day ticket, we tackled up quickly, and started the 15 minute walk to one of the banks in the “Fly Only” area.

Casting was a bit hard throughout the day due to the wind though, but as we’re both expert anglers, casting wasn’t a problem!

Sam’s first cast saw him straight into a fish, whereas I had a 2lb-er on my third!

This continued more or less all morning, so at 10am we decided to move further up the East side of the reservoir. Just as we picked up all of our gear though a herd of wild horses came roaring across the river bank (I shit you not!!!)…not the best thing you want to see when you’ve got a bad hangover!

The fishing was brilliant all day, awesome fighting fish which we caught non stop.

After fishing our way around and onto the west bank, we fished until 7pm-ish and then started the LONG trek back to the car.

After our hard work and highly rewarding day we decided to pop to a pub in Brecon for a celebratery drink!

I don’t think we said more than ten words as we were both so tired, the pint was brilliant though!!

Check out the photo’s of the day below.

The wild horses…see! I told you I wasn’t lieing!!

North bank

Sam and the only brownie of the day

Sam and the cheesey grin!

One of my 2lb rainbow’s

Swim free my child!!!

Some people just can’t handle the pace…

…so we headed for the nearest pub…I protested ofcourse!

Well, as you can guess from the title of this post, I managed to screw my mobile phone up this evening!

Popped down to the Taff in Troedyrhiw again tonight. Fishing was ridiculously hard, mainly due to the 30°c+ temperature! This said I did manage to hook (and lose!) a small brownie at around 10pm-ish. Although this was the only result in 5 hours of fishing.

After working up and down the river with nymphs and a few dry’s that seemed to generate a few splashes, I ended up fishing a large pool, this is where disaster struck!

Fancied a break so started walking to the bank, phone rang, answered, fumbled, and bounced off my leg into the water…damn.

Wasn’t impressed, although I have a new phone being delivered tomorrow; courtesy of Orange Mobile Phone Insurance!

Must have looked like a right idiot fumbling with a mobile phone in the middle of the Taff! Ah well! What winds me up more is the fact that I blanked!

Also, I use my phone’s camera to take pictures, so no pictures of this evening either!

When will I learn!? Electronics and water = BAD!

Have I learnt my lesson??? Water proof bags are being purchased tomorrow!