Worcester's flood water brings added value for visitors?

Lewis and I took Gilda to Worcester on Saturday to do some shopping. The river looks as though it's rising and there are parts of the town that are beginning to suffer from flood water as you can see below. Also there are loads of swans!

Looking down stream from the main bridge towards the Cathedral

Browns Restaurant may be open but not doing much business!

It's very tiring being the centre of attention!

River Severn about to flood

I walked to Bewdley today and took some pictures of the Severn about to break it's banks. The EA are erecting the barrier at Severnside North in anticipation and in view of the weather forecast this week end I would think it will be well over the banks by next week.

Out of season activities and other nonsense!

Now that I am off work and walking a lot I have put together a few pictures from my favourite walks. I also get a bit lonely like this chap above!

Trimpley reservoir and Eyemore Wood is my favourite walk - there's so much to see and it's only a 10 minute drive away!

Severn Valley railway near Trimpley reservoir - a good place to get killed by a steam train!

The tree colours are absolutely stunning at the moment. The walk takes me through the woods, over the railway line and then around 2 reservoirs. It is very quiet and I am almost guaranteed to see 3 or 4 herons, often within 10 metres or so and grebes, coots, loads of mallards and the odd buzard! It's about 2 miles in total but I can easily extend it to 4 miles if I wish.

My heron friend who I see every time without fail stood on his rubber ring?

The Bell at Skenfrith where Gilda and I took a short break prior to my operation. Expensive but highly recommended with lovely walks, fantastic cuisine and very comfortable bedrooms plus fishing on the River Monnow!

And yes I was here! Not my kind of music but the show was amazing! Good old Robbie!





RW in concert Milton Keynes - spelt K E Y N E S just to show my age! Get it?

2006 - End of Season Report

Another poor season has passed!

I'm not sure how long I can continue driving the 100 miles every week to the river and fishing on average 4 hours through the night with very little if any reward!

After my recent heart by-pass operation I am hoping to be full of life next season so I will be looking for a fishing venue that is similarly blessed I think! There comes a time when one has to just admit that the river is finished and it is just not viable for the likes of me, living so far away, to fish it any more. It's sad but the 2007 season will have to improve significantly for me before July if I am to continue fishing the Towy! I am already looking elsewhere and intend to take out another permit on a different river next season in case my fears come true!

So what did the season bring to our little merry band of sewin fishers? Very little would be a true description I think despite many hours on the river (other than Rod and Cerith who apparantly had other things that prevented them from wasting their time fishing for non existent sewin!)

Both myself, Gadget Man and latterly John all put in a lot of hours and all more or less finished up with a similar result!

This was the conclusion.

Me - 4 No sewin to 3Ib, average 1.5 - 2.0 Ib all on the fly at night
John - 5 No sewin to 3Ib - 6oz, 4 on fly, 1 (the largest) on spinner at the back end of the season
Chris - 4 No sewin to 3Ib
Rod - 1 No sewin weighing in at 6.5 Ib caught spinning at the back end
Cerith - 1 No salmon weighing in at 8Ib caught worming at the back end (jammy bastard)

I think these statistics are correct but as I am suffering from short term memeory loss they may not be absolutely spot on so please let me know it they are wrong!

John's sewin 3lb 6 ozs

I have to say that I have enjoyed everyone's company through the season and greatly valued alof your support through my illness. It was nice to know that you care! Thanks lads!

Fisher of the Year - 2006

Overall I think John did very well under difficult circumstances, what with his own health problems etc and almost deserved the Fisher of the Year Award, however, considering the very little amount of time that he spent on the water and the intense distractions that he was subjected to away from the water I think Cerith has to be the Fisher of the Year 2006. To catch a salmon on the Towy is something that has eluded me for many years. I know John caught one on the Llandovery AA water during the Foot and Mouth crisis but as far as I am aware no other member of our team has ever suceeded on this river! Correct me If i'm wrong! Cerith - thats just pure skill and nothing else can describe it. Well done Cerith it's your round next time we meet up in the Telegraph!

Here are just a few pictures to remind you of the back end fishing that I could'nt attend but which kept me going in hospital and afterwards by recieving your regular reports!

Rod with his 6.50 lb sewin

Lets make the 2007 season something special shall we? Have a nice Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year.

Tight lines!

23rd September 2006 - a day out on the Towy!

What a gorgeous day it was!

John very kindly offered to take me down to the river just for a break and a nice day out. We left home a 6.30 am and got down to Llangadog bridge by 8.30 am. We didn't expect to catch anything it was just a case of being there and enjoying it! The water was low but it was a sunny day, quite breezy but very pleasant!

Guess what, I had 3 visitors. Firstly Chris (Gadget Man) called in to see me which was nice and we had a bit of a laugh. Then Cerith and his girlfriend (forgive me Cerith I can't pronounce her name) but she was very nice and the 2 of them look a good combination. Cerith I hope things work out for you both! Thanks all of you for calling in to see me I really appreciated it.

John as ever was determined to catch and went on to catch about 10 or more small trout, I caught a couple but I wasn't there for that reason. The river looked lovely with its autumn colours starting to show and the red kites were enjoying the day as much as I was.

The best brother-in-law anyone could wish for - although he did try to kill me on the way back home!

Kingfisher takes drastic action to improve catch rate!

I was hoping to get a few days fishing in October but unfortuneately I have to undergo an important operation on the 29th September which I hope will give me back the energy that I once knew. Everyone I speak to who knows someone who has had a heart by-pass operation assures me that it changes their lives so much for the better so I am going to get this out of the way now ready for next season (not strictly true, I have little choice in the matter!).

I might get a days fishing in though before the operation especially if someone will come with me! Any takers? I am virtually work free now and don't expect to go back until probably after Xmas so I should get some piking in too on the River Severn!

The Towy had better look out next year cos there will be no stopping KINGFISHER then!

Tight lines!

24th August - Nothing much to report!

With about 150mm of fresh rain water there was a little bit of colour in the river but it was worth a try! Me, John and Lance were fishing. Strangely I didn't see a single fish until about 11.00 pm. John and I were fishing the Road Bridge Pool when there was an almighty splash opposite us. It must have been a double figure fish! We heard a couple more decent splashes later too but no one caught that night! I left at about midnight.

Just some nice pictures that remind me of why I love this place so much, despite not being able to catch any fish! Spot the guy on the left, top picture? He hasn't caught any fish this year either!

Friday 18th August - Gadget Man lands a prize brownie!

Chris, Cerith and myself fished the bottom beat from 9.30 pm to 3.00 am and saw only 1 sewin. I had 2 pulls but that was all. The dam water doen't appear to have had much effect except that it has cleaned the bed of the river very well. There was a tinge of colour to the water and that may be why we had no offers but I would suggest that there just aren't many fish around and this has been the same all season. The night was perfect, 15 degrees and dark.

One notable achievement was Chris's 1.5 Ib brownie. I've heard of bigger ones being caught but this fish was a perfect specimen and will no doubt provide the Morris family with a fine breakfast. Well done Chris!

Night fishing is almost over now so the best we can hope for is some sport on the spinner or worm, that's if we get some decent water before the end of the season!

A good brownie for the River Towy

Good fish lost! - Thursday 17th August 2006

The dam release water is tailing off now, however, rain is threatened so the water level might go back up soon. Cerith fished the worm down the bottom of the beat and reported hooking a good fish but unfortunately it got off. Last time I spoke to John he was in Cruel Pool fishing the worm but I have not had any reports back from him as yet!

Its now Friday am and Cerith reakons its chucking it down on the river so it will be interesting to see what effect the rain has. My plan is to get a few hours in this evening hopefully with the fly but if the water is coloured then it will have to be the spinner. Chris is also coming down so I will be able to have a go with his new wand!

There are some good fishy pictures that have been posted recently on the Towy Forum - click the top link of 2 adjacent to this page and Rivers Reports/Tywi Report/Page 85. Brilliant photography!

I need some luck now having had a poor season. A salmon would be a big bonus but unlikely to happen but still never say never! I will update this blog sometime on Saturday as I prepare for a birthday surprise! Something is going on but I'm not quite sure what! 55 on Sunday and still battling on!

See, I can catch fish!

Tightlines

Thursday 10th August - No takers!

Fished from 10.00 pm until 4.30 am with only 2 plucks. 3 other anglers had nothing! There were very few fish moving compared to last week so maybe it is the cooler weather that has put them off. The dam water release starts Monday 14th so we will have to wait and see what happens. I will almost certainly go down on Friday 18th if the water is OK, perhaps Cerith can keep me posted?

By the way Cerith how did you dislocate your finger?? I've got a pretty good idea I must admit! Best give it a rest for a few weeks I think, you've definately been overdoing it lately!

On a lighter note Chris has been Ebay-ing it this week and has put a bid in for a new 10 ft Hardy Swift #8. It should be good value if he wins it - he'll be able to make 2 No 5ft wands out of it! I think I might bid against him just to make him pay! Oh well, thats what friends are for isn't it?

Tight lines one and all!

Gadget Man whips sewin into shape with mini rod!

Chris Morris tells me that he has now refined his skills in casting with a mini rod which is half the size of conventional ones.

On Friday 4th August he put it to the test with amazing results! On his 3rd cast of the night into the Rubbish Pool, appropriately named I think, he hooked a HUGE branch on the far side of the river. The fight was incredible he said! With the rod bending this way and that the tussle continued for quite awhile until eventually Gadget Man finally 'tipped' the balance between man and nature! Off came his rod tip which then slipped beneath the surface of boiling water below him never to be seen again!

Not to be outdone he continued fishing and concentrated on developing his casting skills with a 5 ft rod to such an extent that he managed to successfully hook and land 4 more that night! Well done Chris! Next week he tells me that he will try and further refine his casting skills in the hope that he might actually catch a sewin! Meanwhile his wife tells me that he has spent all week on Ebay! No change there then Gadget Man!

Chris - just in case you have lost the plot - this is a sewin?

Tuesday 1st August - frustrating

I arrived on the Road Bridge beat at about 9.00 pm much to the surprise of John my brother-in-law who was sat on a log contemplating the evening fishing, all tackled up and ready to go.

The evening was perfect but the water level was still very low despite one or two downpours the day before. There was plenty of activity with sewin of all sizes splashing about. We fished from about 10.00 pm until 4.00 am. I had loads of pulls and plucks on lures but none of them came to anything. The same happened when I changed to a mouse, loads of splashes and tugs but not a fish. John had a couple of pulls but also blanked! I tried lots of diffent lures but probably created most interest with a black muddler treated with floatant and later with one of Rodders,s special tubes!

I can only put this lack of success down to a lack of flow throughout the pool. It is almost impossible to entice the fish to attack the fly in such slow moving water. I tried figure of eight, stripping slow and fast and every other combination but to no avail. Allowing the fly to swing around naturally was best but this meant that the fish had all the time in the world to inspect the fly and then just pluck at it.

John carried on after I left with the worm but I don't know if he had any better luck. If he did I will update this report as soon as I know.

So what next? God knows! Piking?

Saturday 29th July - Chris Morris strikes lucky!

Chris Morris fished the Cross Hands "rubbish pool" on Saturday night instead of the usual Llangadog beats and at last managed to find a few daft sewin ( his words not mine )! He managed to hook three sewin & land one of about 2lbs. Well done Chris, you have at last broken your duck!

He had hooked & lost a fish earlier on a single hook fly black/silver + blue cristal strands size 6. The best fish that he lost was about 3Ib to 4 lb in weight. He also reports to have had loads of good pulls.

Rene, a guy also fishing the pool, managed a fine and silver 6.5 lb cock fish plus 3 more up to 4.5 lb on fly & later on worm at dawn. Amazing to hear of silver fish with the river down to its bones.

Lets hope we get some rain soon to freshen things up and bring in some new stock! Once again well done Chris. Lets hope this is the start of greater things to come!

Much better than my effort on the Thursday night before when I fished hard at the Road Bridge beat from 10.30 pm to 4.00 am without a single pull! The fish were there but would not play ball despite all my efforts!

Friday 21st July

This week the TEAM split up and fished in 3 different locations in the hope that someone would get lucky (other than Cerith who was otherwise engaged in the sport of a more 'courting' nature back at the ranch).

John and Chris fished the bottom beat, I fished the Churns and the Cattle Drink whilst Rod fished the Road Bridge beat.

J & C said that it was completely dead down the bottom and didn't see any fish or get any pulls! They moved up to the car park later on in the night but with no success. I think they saw 1 fish move and that was all!

I had a little excitement in the Cattle Drink with at least 4 or 5 good pulls and a few fish moving. 1 fish was a big bugger! About 1.00 am I put on a mouse and had splash after splash with it but nothing would take with any conviction! It was exciting though and I felt that any moment I would get lucky (Cerith probably already had got lucky by this time). I packed up about 3.00 am and walked back to the car.

Rod was fishing the Road Bridge with another friend of mine called Lance. Lance got into a 6 Ib fish but unfortuneately Rod finished up with a blank yet again having only had 1 pull all night!

John stayed over to fish the worm in Cruel Pool at dawn and got lucky! A fine 2.5 Ib sewin caught on a long line with no weights. His first fish of the season. Well done John!

Friday 14th July 2006 - Latest Report

Arrived on the river by 9.30 pm. Weather was perfect, warm with just a little breeze. The water is low but still very fishable. At dusk I saw a good fish of about 3 Ib jump opposite the log where we sit, in fact it was jumping quite regularly about 5 metres above the bush. I was encouraged! Then I saw other fish move in various places but most were shoalies of between 1 Ib and 2 Ib. Interestingly there seemed to be a lot of action further upstream so I went up to have a look. A couple of fish were jumping opposite the log with big roots, the log is about 25 metres back from the water and about half way between the ditch and the tin hut. It wasn't quite dark but I thought I would have a go at these two candidates! 3rd cast I hooked and landed a 1.5 Ib fish on a black and silver waddington. It was quite silver so it couldn't have been in the river very long.

Fished through the night all over the place. Just after midnight I heard a big fish around the bend somewhere but I couldn't be sure where. Had a few pulls on sunken lures but absolutely nothing on the mouse but that may have been something to do with the fact that it was very nearly a full moon with no cloud! I enjoyed the company of an adult otter and its cub, the cub swam up to me within about 3 or 4 metres. Brilliant!

At 3.30 am I thought I would go back up stream to where I had caught the shoalie. I put on a Rodders Special, 4th cast another shoalie, again quite silver and a good fighter despite its size. Both fish when weighed together came to 3.50 Ib. I enjoyed the night, had a bit of sport and I am sure that these fish will be good to eat. I would have liked some bigger fish but beggars can't be choosers!

So 2 fish brings my seatrout tally to 4 fish on the Towy up to 2 Ib, and 3 on the Torridge of a similar size but no sizable fish yet! Rod is fishing all next week so I hope he has some good look. I hope to be down on Friday if the wife will let me!

Just word of warning Rod, Chris and John. There was a herd of bullocks in the field and they were very frisky, in fact one nearly kicked me with its hind legs, bit scary! For any of you going down I have left some rocks near the gate but make sure you replace them please!

Tight lines!

Sunday 8th July

River running with a tinge of colour and whilst the weather was warm the wind seemed quite gusty so I decided to head for the shelter of the trees in the car park pool and the cattle drink. Now that the cofferdam has been removed from the car park pool and the broken sewer pipe repaired the pool itself looked good. Fished down twice without a pull and with no fish showing. Would you believe it the wind dropped completely by about 11.30 pm, would have been perfect down the bottom!

Moved down to the cattle drink and did the same with no luck. Disappointing after a 100 mile drive! As a last resort I went back up to the railway bridge pool and fished for about 1/2 hour. Saw 1 fish of about 3 Ib, covered it a number of times but to no avail. I can only put my failure to move a fish down to the colour of the water as the night was perfect, overcast, dark and very warm (13 deg to 15 deg)! Hope to go back down this Friday so lets hope things improve!

27th - 30th June fishing break

Having arrived at the river on the 27th I was alarmed to find construction work going on right opposite where I set up camp. Hymac and pumps were there to investigate a leaking sewer! This pipe had been leaking for years. Both I and my friends had commented on it many times although we didn't know it was a rising main that was leaking every time the pump house started up down river. Anyway the noise during the day made it almost impoosible for me to get any sleep. Fortuneately the pumps were turned off at night so I don't think it particularly effected the fishing.



I fished for 4 nights and caught 2 sewin, 1.5 Ib and 2 Ib. One on a mouse down in the cattle drink and one in the head of the car park pool on a black and silver tube fly.

Cruel pool was absolutely full with fish whilst there were one or two fish showing in other places. Worming in the pools was difficult because of lack of flow and an abundance of green slime that got attached to your line on nearly every cast. A good flood now would be very welcome.

Cerith and I enjoyed the smaller sewin for breakfast, cooked on the river bank of course.

The highs and lows of sewin fishing!

Friday 9th June was a big let down! A warm evening looked very promising early on but as is often the case with sewin fishing all things changed before we knew what had happened. The wind got up a blew from all directions which made the task of placing your fly against the far bank almost impossible.

I did have a pull half way down the pool and Cerith had a fish on around the bend by just above the bush, other than that there is nothing to report. The water levels have fallen which means that in some places you have to work the fly to give it some life. Disappointing!

My fishing partner Chris Morris celebrated his 20th night this year without a pull or a fish! Thats dedication for you!

Good news from the Towy!

It seems that the sewin have arrived in Llangadog! My brother-in-law John enticed me down to the river last night and I can report at last that the sewin have arrived, I think so anyway! I arrived on the river at about 11.00 pm and my first time down the pool resulted in a big fish taking my Rodders Special just at the tail. It was not a standard sewin take though, in fact having thought about it it was more like that of a salmon! Fishing a sink tip line the fly swam around to just before half way across the river when I thought I had touched bottom. I tightened and the fish moved off down stream. I felt the weight of it. It was big, possibly double figures. Then the fly came free! F...... B.....d! Ah well that's fishing!

At about 1.00 am John got into a nice fish up above me but that came off as well! At least there are fish here we both thought! Both of us connected into another fish each before the close of play, both came off! Very encouraging but disappointing if you know what I mean!

It was a classic night. Mild, good flow of crystal clear water, settled weather with a half moon! Strangely though we didn't see any fish move. I have to say that this nights experience is a good sign for early June and I just hope that we get a steady run of fish now into the pools for a month or two so that we can have some good sport with these elusive visitors!

My next visit is on Friday next so lets hope I have an even more positive report to post on my blog! I can't wait - the drug is taking hold of me again!

Tight lines everyone!

Latest

Fished all night Friday 2nd June without the slightest pull. Absolutely perfect water, a few inches above normal and a really nice flow through the pools filled me full of anticipation when I arrived on the water at about 9.00 pm. The day had been warm but would the tempertures plummet once nightfall arrived? At about 10.45 pm when we started fishing conditions were quite good, mild but not very dark but that doesn't bother me personally. As the night progressed the temperature fell to the point that I needed a jumper and coat to be comfortable.

Chris and I fished right through, joined by the 2 Wigan lads (don't know their names) early on but not a touch and more concerning we didn't see any fish during the night hours down the bottom end of the Llangadog beat! Very disappointing!


At dawn I fished the worm up in Cruel pool (spelt incorrectly I know but it's such a bastard to get access to, it really is as its name suggests) until about 8.30 am. I saw 1 silver sewin of about 8 lb + and covered it with the worm a number of times but it wouldn't play ball and then later a smaller fish of about 3 lb. That was it!

Lets hope next Friday is better. My brother-in-law John is fishing Tuesday night this week and Rodney Byles later on this weekend so we will have to wait to see if any fish materialise!

Latest news and prospects

There are reports of the odd fish being taken at Llangadog over the Bank Holiday period but not in any great numbers.

Now the river is falling I hope it will be ready for the fly by Friday night. With rising pressure and a settled spell in prospect lets hope that some of our migrant visitors have settled in the pools and that the night time temperatures hold up for some good sport with the fly!

All being well I will be on the river Friday night and will post a report of what I find here sometime on Saturday afternoon. Tight lines all!

19th and 20th May 2006

High water levels on the Friday 19th of May were compounded by heavy rain over night which brought the river up another 300-500 mm. Having slept in the car overnight I was quite despondant when I got up at 4.30 am to find the river so high.

Fishing was limited early Saturday morning due to the flow but I did manage to fish the worm for a few hours in a quiet back water! Later on in the afternoon things did start to improve with at least 2 fish being caught on the Llangadog beat that I know of. 1 fish of 6 lb I didn't see but a very fresh 10+ lb fish I got a picture of because, yes the story of my life, I finished up landing it for the guy. It had a tail like a shovel and it was as silver as can be. It was the perfect specimen. Both myself and 3 friends all blanked! Still thats fishing!

At the bottom of the Llangadog beat we were faced with 2 rivers and an island, a place where we normally fish in normal water levels but not today it was inaccessable! I didn't expect to stay so long on Saturday but increasingly the prospects looked better, however, I had no food left and no coffee. My life was saved by 2 good friends Chris and Cerith. Chris left some goodies for me under the car for when I returned whilst Cerith came down to meet me at the bottom end of the beat with some bacon sandies and coffee - nectar! Thanks both of you for being so kind and thoughtful. Well, at last from a fishing point of view things seem to be getting under way but I still have to open my own account this season!

River Towy - Friday 12th May

Due to Thurday night storms the river was running very coloured when I arived there at about 2.30 pm. Fished the worm in Cruel Pool for most of the afternoon. Had one or two knocks from brown trout and caught a fit looking brownie of about 1 lb but other than that I didn't see a single sewin. Walked back to the car spinning with toby's and mepps but not a touch!

The colour was fading away all afternoon and by 9.00 pm it had improved a great deal but even at 11.00 pm there was still a hint of colour in it. Pity because it was warm about 12 deg and overcast with just fleeting glimpses of the full moon as the clouds broke.

There was one other fisherman on the river who is as productive as any one that I know. He had been out 6 times so far this year but without success. If there were any fish about then there is no doubt that he would have had one!

Lets hope that next weekend settles down weatherwise and that some good fish start to show themselves.

Towy flood

Rain overnight brought the river up over 300mm. At noon today Monday 8th May it has fallen back 200mm. Let's hope that this fresh water is enough to move more fish up into the middle reaches and wash out some of the slime that has been holding on the rocks just out of the main flow.

The Torridge and more

The 15lb salmon that got away

Here Rodney is fighting a fresh run 15 Ib + salmon and boy don't they fight! It was released in the water although one has to question if catch and release is a good idea? It took ages to get these fish going again! All fish were caught at the Beam beat thanks to the Half Moon Inn at Sheepwash.

The Torridge trip

My good friend Rodney Byles with a fresh off the tide 10 Ib salmon.

Friday 5th May, Towy

River was at about 1.300 on the Guage. Soon after dark temperature dropped rapidly with a little mist hanging over the water. Cerith joined me and we were the only fishermen on the stretch. Fishing down from the ditch I had 1 good pull midway between the ditch and the hedge on a needle fly. Cerith fished the pools around the bend to no avail.

Later on about 12.00 or so I went up to a point about 50 m above the ditch because we thought we saw something move there early on. Fishing down towards the ditch I had 2 good pulls on a black and silver waddington. Maybe I should have changed from a floating line to a sinker.

Packed up about 1.45am. got back to the car and it was 3 deg! Bloody cold!