Right then gang! You asked for it, now you’ve got it! The Fly Fishing in South Wales Forum!

This forum (which is accessible via the navigation bar at the top of the site) was created for local and visiting anglers alike; all are welcome! But please, there’s only one rule – be civil and nice to each other. I’ve seen other forum’s arguments, they aren’t nice.

So, feel free to drop by, say hello, tell us all how your fishing is going, show us some photos of your days out, ask questions/advice, or just tell me how rubbish my blog posts are!

Most of all, make yourselves at home! This forum is for you, the anglers who share my passion for the river Taff and beyond.

Those of you who have registered with FFISW can login using your normal username and password, for those who haven’t, register away! It’s all free.

Enjoy!

I was meeting up with Mostyn for a morning’s fishing, and had taken my camera as per usual, however, the batteries decided to die on me later that day, and after taking only one photo.

I’ve said it many times, but there is something magical about being on the river at dawn, especially at this time of year. The river, as it gurgled by, held a thick cloud of ghostly mist above it, and looked simply beautiful.

Work of late has been filled with the deeply depressing issue of job losses and redundancies, so standing in the morning twilight, bathed in deep reds, and in full sight of a heavenly view, my spirits were lifted slightly.

Thankfully, the day produced a few nice fish for Mostyn and I, all of which were taken on Czech nymphs.

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With all the hard work that goes into our rivers by clubs, individuals, and other governing bodies, it is truly infuriating, and maddening, to see such lackadaisical attitudes and passing of the proverbial ‘buck’ from the so called ‘powers that be’ when things do go wrong.

A large amount of man power, hard work, and money is grafted into the process of river conservation, litter/sewage/contamination prevention, and general public safety, to name but a few. So, to read one such incident over on Warren’s Water-Lines blog was truly heart breaking. I know that I myself would have been banging my head against a wall long before Warren’s persistence finally won out, and the first steps into a cleanup were made. Well done Warren.

Recommended reading, but beware, you might want to be sitting down before reading…READ HERE.

Let’s hope things get resolved, and quickly.

EDIT: Thanks to a comment by Mostyn, I notice it may have been a good idea to publish a telephone number to use in the event of discovering an instance of pollution, littering, etc. In the event of pollution near/in the river Taff, or indeed any watercourse, please ring the Environment Agency Emergency Hotline – 0800 80 70 60.

Well that’s it; the end of the 2008 trout season. They always end so soon.

What with the trout’s attention now fully focused on spawning, my attentions are now firmly fixed on the ‘Ladies’: the beautiful grayling. I have already started refilling my collection of Czech nymphs, spiders, and grayling dries (I’m still hoping – PRAYING even! – that I’ll be able to fish with a dry fly before next March!), and plans for the winter are looking good with visits to the river Severn, river Wye, Monnow system, as well as my home waters of the river Taff.

I’m very excited for this years ‘off-season’ as there is just something special about fishing in the cold weather, as everyone with a sane mind is at home in the warm, leaving the rivers nice and quiet, and all to me!

But, that’s what grayling fishing to me is all about; cold, frosty, misty mornings, with a flask of steaming coffee in tow. With thermal base layers, fleeces, gloves, and multiple pairs of thick socks, the cold still manages to penetrate. Sometimes, wading for even ten minutes is ten minutes too much.

Sometimes you even end up hoping upon hope that as you run your team of heavy nymphs through that riffley water, there won’t be a grayling there…to hook and land the fish means getting your hands wet, and getting your hands wet at this time of year hurts!

But, then I guess, that’s all part of fishing in the winter.

I’m looking forward to putting the posts up as and when they come about, so keep tuned! I have a feeling that the coming winter is going to be fun…very cold…but still fun.