Conditions remain dry with the upper river now pretty low.
A few fresh fish creeping in but seemingly in small numbers.
Three fish yesterday so a small improvement;

Ingeston 14lbs to Saul Roberts  spinning.

Wyesham 10lbs to Richard Thomas on fly
Plus the one reported from Redbrook.yesterday


Went on a trip to the coast yesterday and took a detour to visit the memorial of my old friend Malcolm Edwards which is situated in the Gorge below the Rheidol Dam   I was shocked to see its been nearly ten years since his death.  He was was good friend who I remember well and he tried several times to get me a double figure sea trout from this river.  He had over 50.  One midnight fishing the tail of the Gorge pool, one of his favourite spots, I did get into a fish we thought could be  the double figure sea trout.  Under the torch light  however it turned out to be a salmon of about 8lbs or so.
I noticed too that halfway down the pool where we used to strive to get our flies under the heavy tree growth on the far bank there is now an ugly concrete croy strutting out in the pool.   God know why - he would have been horrified.

He is a legend on the river for the amount and size of fish he caught.  He knew every nook and cranny and where the fish were likely to be, borne of a dedicated lifetime of his sport. This was really the secret of his success plus determination and persistence.  His tackle was not pretentious and basic as were his flies, which I tied for him during the latter years of his life.  They were mostly small Waddingtons, Squirrel and blue or Squirrel and red plus Jungle cock eyes/ The secret was what to use, where and when and under what conditions and the confidence they would work if fish were there. That's a lesson to any angler.
I also set up a couple of his big sea trout for him in glass cases.  If I recall one was 16lbs the other 14lbs.  I wonder where they are now -anyone know?
He was a good friend, great angler and I still remember him fondly.