Post by Hoppy on Jan 5, 2007 1:34:49 GMT -1
Posted on behalf of TT
Dear Grayling bashers!
Firstly, happy new year to you all! Hope you had a great Christmas etc.
Right, the grayling meet is just around the corner so I thought that I’d take this chance to send some info about the event, where we are meeting etc.
The plan is to fish the Taff on the Saturday. I will be down in Cardiff on Friday so will have a look at the levels etc. then to see if it is fishable. If it is fishable we will meet at a place called Radyr. Radyr is on the outskirts of Cardiff, you should be able to avoid coming into contact with Cardiff and going straight to Radyr by using the A470, you will need to take the roundabout by the Castle, Castell Coch. Sorry, I don’t know the junction number, but you should be able to find it quite easily on a map. We will park in the train station, which is free parking. The river is the other side of the tracks. Where you enter the car-park you should notice a small underpass, this will take you onto the river. I would suggest meeting up in the carp park at around 9-10am. Since people will be coming from all over the Country I would suggest just getting tackled up and wondering down to the river to find other party members. I will be there early and will have your permits. Once through the underpass you will see a footbridge, fishing is above and below that point. Any problems, lost etc. my mobile will be on (get No. from Hoppy if required)
If the river is too high (I will be posting a message to let you know on the Friday before you leave) then you will be heading for a place named Llanbradach. It’s just North of Caerphilly. When in Llanbradach you should look for a pub named the Wingfield Arms, it’s on a fairly large junction on the way through Llanbradach. Just after the pub there’s a small lane that runs down the side of it, park on either side of that lane. That lane will take you down to the river, so get togged up and follow the instructions as for the Taff. At the end you will see a footbridge, fishing is above and below that point. Meeting times etc. as Taff.
We can organise the rest from there, and drive in convoy to the accommodation and the fishing on day 2. If we do have 2 days on the Rhymney then I will have booked 2 different beats.
The rivers.
The Taff is a fair sized river, probably some 25-35 metres wide in the area where we will fish it. However, it has quite a few features, and the river is nice to wade and quite manageable. It has slow pools on some parts where the nymph off a dry-fly works very well, as do dries on their own. Then there's some lovely fast runs, deep gutters etc. where deep nymphing comes into its own. It has a lot of character, and the river is full of grayling. grayling over 30cm are the norm on the Taff. We will be fishing it literally a couple of miles above Cardiff - the grayling fishing in Cardiff city centre itself is very good! Patterns are the same for both rivers, so I will move on to them after describing the Rhymney.
The Rhymney is a much smaller river and has a very high concentration of grayling, many of which are smaller than the Taff. The river is about 10 metres wide in most places, and is very manageable - great first time grayling river. The pools are usually quite short, and have superb character - plenty of interesting riffles and pots. We will be fishing the Rhymney a couple of miles above the town of Caerphilly.
Flies; teal blue and silver, shadow shrimp, black woolly buggers work well. Well, that's what I tell Hoppy )
4 must have flies would be as follows:
1. klinkhammer. these are great on their own in smaller sizes, and will take fish throughout the day. make some with olive bodies. size 16's will cover most eventualities, however, make some larger ones that you can use to tie a nymph onto the bend of - size 10's. Make some with yellow posts, or any colour other than white as you can lose sight of white posts if there are bubbles or some white foam on the water. You can also make some of them on flat hooks, not grub hooks, and add a tail, these work well too.
2. heavy hare's ear nymph. really simple. just put a 3-4mm tungsten bead on a size 10 grub hook, put some lead wire in the body, give the fly a tag of green, red, or pink floss, or even some tinsel. dub the body with hare's ear dubbing, rib with gold wire if you want. job done. great point fly. tie some smaller ones too if you wish - 12-14.
3. something pink! these are really simple too, you can literally just use a grub hook, put some lead wire on the body, then cover it in some flu.pink thread or floss! really simple, but really effective. make some with small tungsten beads, 2.5mm, and some without. sizes should be 10-14.
4. flashback nymphs. again, really easy to make. tie some with and some without beads. I usuaally fish these in sizes 12-16. pheasant tail for the tail and body. draw a thin slice of pearl mirage or tinsel over the back of the nymph then rib with copper or gold wire. dub some hare's ear in the thorax or just leave bare. job done.
If you carry these 4 patterns then if the rivers are clear I will guarantee you a fish!
Rod: 8'6 - 10ft. aftm rating - anywhere from 3 - 6.
floating line is all you need.
leader material; some 3 and 5 lbs leader.
polarised sunglasses are always recommended.
waders, chest if you've got them.
Some form of indicators can be useful, e.g. float-do, fish-pimps etc. If you haven't got them then dont' worry I'll help you out.
Hope this covers the essentials.
I am off to Slovenia on Friday until next Wednesday, so life will be busy before the gathering too! ah well, keeping busy keeps me out of trouble, well sometimes!
Looking forward to seeing you you all there. Have a very safe drive from wherever you are coming from.
Dear Grayling bashers!
Firstly, happy new year to you all! Hope you had a great Christmas etc.
Right, the grayling meet is just around the corner so I thought that I’d take this chance to send some info about the event, where we are meeting etc.
The plan is to fish the Taff on the Saturday. I will be down in Cardiff on Friday so will have a look at the levels etc. then to see if it is fishable. If it is fishable we will meet at a place called Radyr. Radyr is on the outskirts of Cardiff, you should be able to avoid coming into contact with Cardiff and going straight to Radyr by using the A470, you will need to take the roundabout by the Castle, Castell Coch. Sorry, I don’t know the junction number, but you should be able to find it quite easily on a map. We will park in the train station, which is free parking. The river is the other side of the tracks. Where you enter the car-park you should notice a small underpass, this will take you onto the river. I would suggest meeting up in the carp park at around 9-10am. Since people will be coming from all over the Country I would suggest just getting tackled up and wondering down to the river to find other party members. I will be there early and will have your permits. Once through the underpass you will see a footbridge, fishing is above and below that point. Any problems, lost etc. my mobile will be on (get No. from Hoppy if required)
If the river is too high (I will be posting a message to let you know on the Friday before you leave) then you will be heading for a place named Llanbradach. It’s just North of Caerphilly. When in Llanbradach you should look for a pub named the Wingfield Arms, it’s on a fairly large junction on the way through Llanbradach. Just after the pub there’s a small lane that runs down the side of it, park on either side of that lane. That lane will take you down to the river, so get togged up and follow the instructions as for the Taff. At the end you will see a footbridge, fishing is above and below that point. Meeting times etc. as Taff.
We can organise the rest from there, and drive in convoy to the accommodation and the fishing on day 2. If we do have 2 days on the Rhymney then I will have booked 2 different beats.
The rivers.
The Taff is a fair sized river, probably some 25-35 metres wide in the area where we will fish it. However, it has quite a few features, and the river is nice to wade and quite manageable. It has slow pools on some parts where the nymph off a dry-fly works very well, as do dries on their own. Then there's some lovely fast runs, deep gutters etc. where deep nymphing comes into its own. It has a lot of character, and the river is full of grayling. grayling over 30cm are the norm on the Taff. We will be fishing it literally a couple of miles above Cardiff - the grayling fishing in Cardiff city centre itself is very good! Patterns are the same for both rivers, so I will move on to them after describing the Rhymney.
The Rhymney is a much smaller river and has a very high concentration of grayling, many of which are smaller than the Taff. The river is about 10 metres wide in most places, and is very manageable - great first time grayling river. The pools are usually quite short, and have superb character - plenty of interesting riffles and pots. We will be fishing the Rhymney a couple of miles above the town of Caerphilly.
Flies; teal blue and silver, shadow shrimp, black woolly buggers work well. Well, that's what I tell Hoppy )
4 must have flies would be as follows:
1. klinkhammer. these are great on their own in smaller sizes, and will take fish throughout the day. make some with olive bodies. size 16's will cover most eventualities, however, make some larger ones that you can use to tie a nymph onto the bend of - size 10's. Make some with yellow posts, or any colour other than white as you can lose sight of white posts if there are bubbles or some white foam on the water. You can also make some of them on flat hooks, not grub hooks, and add a tail, these work well too.
2. heavy hare's ear nymph. really simple. just put a 3-4mm tungsten bead on a size 10 grub hook, put some lead wire in the body, give the fly a tag of green, red, or pink floss, or even some tinsel. dub the body with hare's ear dubbing, rib with gold wire if you want. job done. great point fly. tie some smaller ones too if you wish - 12-14.
3. something pink! these are really simple too, you can literally just use a grub hook, put some lead wire on the body, then cover it in some flu.pink thread or floss! really simple, but really effective. make some with small tungsten beads, 2.5mm, and some without. sizes should be 10-14.
4. flashback nymphs. again, really easy to make. tie some with and some without beads. I usuaally fish these in sizes 12-16. pheasant tail for the tail and body. draw a thin slice of pearl mirage or tinsel over the back of the nymph then rib with copper or gold wire. dub some hare's ear in the thorax or just leave bare. job done.
If you carry these 4 patterns then if the rivers are clear I will guarantee you a fish!
Rod: 8'6 - 10ft. aftm rating - anywhere from 3 - 6.
floating line is all you need.
leader material; some 3 and 5 lbs leader.
polarised sunglasses are always recommended.
waders, chest if you've got them.
Some form of indicators can be useful, e.g. float-do, fish-pimps etc. If you haven't got them then dont' worry I'll help you out.
Hope this covers the essentials.
I am off to Slovenia on Friday until next Wednesday, so life will be busy before the gathering too! ah well, keeping busy keeps me out of trouble, well sometimes!
Looking forward to seeing you you all there. Have a very safe drive from wherever you are coming from.