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?