ELAN VALLEY


I have fond memories of the Elan Valley having discovered it well over 50 years ago.  I was in the Police Cadets at the time and they had a summer camp right in the Elan Village and guys came from all over the Midland to spend a week under canvas roaming the hill etc.  The camp cook had a rod and we caught chub and the odd trout on cheese in the river right by the camp..
After that I made frequent trips on my Lambretta scooter from my home near Bromsgrove in Worcestershire.  A long ride on such a machine back then., Often set off in good weather conditions to find it drizzling in \Builth and sleeting in Rhayader.   However it did give me two experiences, one of which  I could never repeat again and probably so could no one else.

I started off with the standard method of three wet flies on a floating line at a spot below the Bridge on Caban Goch.  I fished for a while and eventually had a take which turned out to be two fish on at once which I both landed.  Carried on fished another two hundred yards of bank with no sign so I moved on further round the reservoir.  Started fishing again and shortly another take, again two fish on at once. To cut a long story short I did this two at once act twice more without another take of any sort in between.
That was it an eight fish limit which I think it was then.   Just what the odds are of that happening again heaven only knows

Most of the fish were brown trout but for some years they did try and stock the lakes with rainbows.
They did provide some sport but tended not to prosper and lost condition after a while. Certainly didn't overwinter as food was sparse and even the brownies never reached much over 1-1/2lbs at best.
At least I never saw any in all the years I fished there.

However the rainbows did provide sport for a few years and one morning was fishing a small bay where a small stream ran in a few hundred yards below the Penycarreg dam.  Below this dam was one of my favourite spots as it was a narrow gorge with a decent flow -more like a river..   Anyway fishing the usual team of flies I had a take and connected with a fish that seemed to get progressively heavier.  Well it turned out not to be one fish but a three at once, all stocked rainbow about 3/4lb each.  Have not done that again either but more possible I suspect than the two at once four times episode.

You don't expect big fish in the Elan reservoirs but it is a stunning place to fish with morning and evening best unless its a warm cloudy day with a good breeze  Dry flies work well there too.

I remember too one morning when calling at the baillifs house,(wish I could remember his name), to get my permit I found him washing off a lovely springer he had caught below Rhayader that morning.
Springers up at Rhayader - those were the days.

I have badly neglected Elan Valley for some years now but hope to remedy that if we get back fishing this season.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
James Griffiths -he of the SOS post earlier, sent in this picture of his first salmon taken on a Toby at Upper Pavilion on the Tweed in 1986   On a rising river he needed the help of his father and Stan Davies, plus a rope to get him off the Island safely.  While this was going on a mink was attempting to make off with the salmon he was still attached to.   Certainly a first to remember and he reallyt looks the part with the right kit for the job.

Another pic of James a couple of weeks later on Glanwye fishing with the late Gary Jones who helped him with fish to 18lbs on ....worm    Nothing wrong  with that -an exciting way of fishing.