Llandegfedd Reservoir - 26^th Aug 01

Walter and I set off for Llandegfedd reservoir from Portishead at 06.45am. The morning was humid and a bit overcast. The day before had been blisteringly hot and we were not looking forward to being roasted on the boats.

Crossing the new Severn Bridge and paying the toll of £4.40, we followed the multilingual signs until we came across one for Llandegfedd. Then we were almost confused when the next few signs were for Llandegveth, an anglicised translation.

The reservoir is situated in a deep valley, surrounded by ancient woodland, farms and a golf course. The southern tip of the Brecon Beacons is also visible from the water. Look over the other side of the dam wall as you drive over it to get an idea of the depth. Some areas are as much as 25.5 metres (85ft) deep, however it is generally reckoned to be over 6 metres (20ft) deep and 173.6 hectares (434 acres) in extent. Motor boats are £17.00 per day and a six fish ticket is £13.50.

If the multilingual signs don't alert you to the fact you are in Wales, the rules and regulations at the fishery will. First off, you will have to produce your rod licence to get your ticket. Now that is the first time anyone has ever asked me for my rod licence since licences were first issued. Then there is the list of rules in the boats, just in case you were admiring the sheep while the bailiff was delivering the sermon.

The advice was that the fish were taking off the top of the water and were either close to the dam or down the middle of the reservoir. Flies recommended were Hares Ear, Montana, epoxy buzzers and hoppers. Boat fishing starts at 8am.

I gave Walter two of my deadly Cats Whisker flies and we set off in separate boats, prompting the question from another fisherman, "Don't you two like each other then?" I think Walter gets a bit nervous with me in the boat. He has one of my flies stuck in the hood of his jacket to remind him why.

After half an hour fishing the dam, we both tried drifting down the reservoir. There was a stiff breeze blowing with a slight chill to it. After two long drifts, we both had a touch, but no definite hook-ups. I then noticed a small flock of kittiwakes diving into the water close to the left bank, so we headed off there to try and catch a fry basher.

I had a team of Hares Ear and epoxy buzzer on an intermediate line, but got no takes despite fry leaping out of the water close to the bank. Don't ask me why I used that combination; must have been the early start interfering with my neural networks.

I switched to a floating line and ethafoam floating fry pattern and Silver Butcher, but still got no takes.

Around 10.30, Walter who was fishing over 100 metres away shouted that he had a fish on. After he had landed it, I asked him what he caught with. "One of your Cats Whiskers" he replied. See what I mean about my addled neural networks? Ten minutes later he had another fish and half an hour subsequently, yet another. Three fish for 5lbs, not enough for a feast, but indeed a promising start.

He invited me to try close to his spot and I gratefully accepted. Needless to say, neither of us caught anything there after that.

As morning wore into afternoon and despondency started to creep in, I saw a fish topping along the edge of a wooded shoreline. A grey heron was following its progress and so did I. I got well in front of the fish and waited to ambush it as it followed the shoreline, but in the clear water it spotted me and melted away.

Finding myself in a lovely narrow arm of the water, I stayed to try for some of the fish I could see taking flies off the surface. After a while, I managed to drift onto one of the banks and needed to move away from the trees to get a clear cast. Instead of pushing off with the oars, I used the engine and reversed out, realising too late my floating line was in the water. Naturally it wrapped itself around the propeller. Even after getting it free of the prop, I wasn't able to use the engine for a couple of hours as it must have flooded when being lifted up for inspection.

  Quiet bay

The sun came out around 2pm and it got very warm. Seeing some activity around a large weedbed, I eased the boat into the weeds and set up a clear floating line with a team of three flies. I used a deer hair floating perch fly on the point, an ethafoam green Shipman's buzzer in the middle and a blood red hopper on the top dropper.

After leaving the team to drift close to the weeds, fry started to leap out of the water again, possibly due to the presence of large perch and pike. A few trout also started topping and tailing and I could see small hatches of midge, longhorns and occasional sedge.

I spotted a rise in a clear patch of water just 7.5 metres (21.5ft) away and lifted the flies off the water and somehow dropped one of them right on its nose. After a second's hesitation, the trout took the red hopper and regretted it. It fought reasonably well, but came in easily enough despite my having to unpack the net from my fishing bag while playing it.

The fish here are all very lean and the bailiff explained that there were a number of very small triploids with full fins and tails, which had escaped by accident. This wasn't one of them and weighed about 0.79kg (1 3/4lb ).

Slim rainbow

After another half hour there, I got the engine started again and motored for the end opposite the dam and anchored there expecting some fry bashing action, but nothing happened, so I began a long drift down the middle of the water. No need for the drogue as the wind was just a whisper.

Heading for the fry bashers

I put on my trusty Cats Whisker again and fished the intermediate line. Very soon I had four good takes, but none got hooked up. I halved the length of the tail and soon after got a solid take. This time a small trout came to the surface with no resistance until it saw me. I heard that! At least it didn't die of fright.

Off it went, throwing itself into the air, diving deep and shaking its head so violently, I was sure the hook would be thrown. After an unbelievable 5 minutes, I netted it and found the hook had gone right through its top lip; there was no way it would throw that. This fish was only 0.34kg (3/4lb), but had a perfect tail and fins and was lean as a barracuda.

Walter spotted the catch and joined me. We both continued to get good takes, but neither of us was able to hook another fish.

There was a spectacular sunset over the Brecon Beacons as we drifted back to the boat jetty. Llandegfedd is a good water if you like dry fly. It also fishes well to white lures like the Cats Whisker. There is a good head of fish, but don't expect to catch anything over 0.9kg (2lb).