Spectacular scenery and great sport are found by James Beeson in the Wye Valley.
AUTUMN IS MY favourite shoulder season. For me, there is something magical in the change from summer to winter, with the turning of the leaves and the arrival of the first frosts. When wood smoke rises from the chimney as a fire roars in the grate and the natural world outside makes its preparations for winter I feel an urgent need to be outdoors enjoying the fishing fruits of autumn.
The trout season may be over and the salmon year near its end, but many of our rivers support good numbers of grayling – a fish that really comes into its best condition as night overtakes day and mists settle in early-morning valleys. A big wild brown is a dogged fighter, but the grayling edges him for cunning. When a big grayling slips irresistibly downstream and flares that dorsal fin, using the strength of the river against you, it can often end with you reeling in nothing but slack and disappointment.
The River Wye and its tributaries hold an excellent stock of grayling with the best concentrations of fish in the main river above Hay-on-Wye. Doldowlod is almost 30 miles upstream from this pretty market town and above the major tributaries, including the Irfon and Ithon, which are also excellent trout and grayling fisheries. Up here, the Wye is a smaller river with much in common with its tributaries, the trees hang over the stream and small, tight pools provide the perfect habitat for trout and grayling. Doldowlod offers one-and-a-half miles of double-bank fishing divided into two beats: Lower Ystrad and The Channels. The beat is renowned for its grayling with specimens over 2lb caught in most years, and that potential for a big fish is what had led us to travel west into the Welsh mountains.
Bu hikaye Trout & Salmon dergisinin November 2017 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye Trout & Salmon dergisinin November 2017 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Mr Goldhead And The Grayling
Lawrence Catlow fishes the rapidly recovering River Irfon in Powys.
Moody Beasts
Stan Headley searches for the elusive sea-trout of Loch Ailsh in the northwest Highlands.
Alone On The River
Cliff Hatton encounters a mighty Wye salmon.
Hop To It
Richard Donkin has a no-nonsense approach to tackle and amphibians.
River Blackwater
THE BLACKWATER rises in the boglands of County Kerry, and although the peaty tinge it carries gives rise to its name it also flows through limestone and that helps it to support a diverse range of fly-life which provides plenty of sustenance for salmon parr and trout. The river is one of Ireland’s most productive salmon fisheries, along with the River Moy.
Hampshire Avon
THERE CAN be few places in fishing more famous than the Royalty Fishery on the Hampshire Avon, even Mr Crabtree has fished its illustrious waters. Two seasons ago an enormous salmon of 40lb was caught in the spring at the Royalty and big salmon are regularly caught in the early months of the season.
A Strange Kind Of Magic
Charles van straubenzee introduces a salmon fly that combines the most unlikely colours and materials to deadly effect.
A Deep-Water Experiment
Stan Headley hatches a plan to catch three species of fish in one day at Loch Calder in Caithness.
Rutland's Old Warriors
James Beeson enjoys supercharged surface sport with Rutland Water’s fry-feeders.
Plucked From The Jaws
Looking for affordable back-end sport? Andrew Flitcroft recommends the challenging Chollerton beat on the North Tyne.
