Tag Archives: river Taff in flood

Finally a day on the grayling

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The conditions are great but the levels are not, the Taff has been holding its high level for weeks but it’s nice and clear and all you can do is fish the inside line in most pools with a fair bit of dodgy wading. Bit cold for swimming this time of year so much care is taken and with shore footing!

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I’ve been catching quite well and enjoying catching the small grayling in the shallower waters close to the banks but now and again you find a few fat pigs hiding in a hole 🙂  bloody Grayling are stuffed solid and I think a few that I have caught have been quite close to bursting haha  food must be plenty in there! Good news for all!

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I’m quite impressed on the condition of the grayling this year and its great to see them in good numbers in all sizes once again! Like everything it has it’s ups and down but the Taff hasn’t really had a good grayling year for a few years.

Tactics! I’ve been mostly working the inside of the fast runs due to the higher water levels, grayling like to just sit off the main flow darting in and out picking off food passing so less energy is used! Sp, target the slower water out of the main flow, this can prove deadly but don’t forget the fast water entirely. Everywhere is worth trying!. In the colder months of winter, grayling can be very picky on where they lay, they move around a lot. In the morning they can be right in the tails of pools and in the afternoon they can move right into the heads of the pool in a foot of water or less feeding hard. Some people can make the mistake of walking through this water and I have many of times thinking they are just not there, take the time to work the water’s and it will pay off in the end!

This fish below was caught in a tail end of a deep pool using the French leader with the two nymph setup. Tippet 1.80kg stroft. length around 4 half feet from the indicator to the point fly. dropper tied on around 20″ above point fly! Nymphs… Point fly 3.5m hotspot hairs ear jig and on the dropper a 3m copper olive caddis pattern, this was the fly that fooled the grayling below!

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DSCF1151All in all it was a cracking day and many fish fell to both of the flies shown above so get tying if you haven’t got them in your box! Not done much on here for sometime, sorry about that people but I will be back on track from now on! cheers for checking in guys and girls 🙂

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Grayling fishing

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Well the trout season has passed and the Grayling are on the menu for me now and the cold weather will be setting in before we know it. Better put the summer gear away ladies and gents and dig the thermals out!

It’s not everyone’s cup of tea standing in freezing waters but i love it and look forward to every trip.

I’ve had a few trips out checking my Local water of the Taff to see if the Grayling are showing sights of shoaling up and checking the spots that have fished well for me every winter… Its been a little hit and miss to be honest and ive had the odd good day finding the odd group of grayling in the 1lb bracket but not really found the bigger fish, but im sure they will make a show soon! I had a hour yesterday just before dark and managed a couple of fine grayling in really good condition.. The method i was using was the braided leader with a pink dog on the dropper and a large peeping caddis on the point.. I was fishing hard on the bottom and as slow as i could, i did lose a few bugs but well worth it catching these below.

The Pink Dog

The Pink Dog

If you would like 2 see the flies ive been catching on check out the links below, it also tells you how i fish these patterns and what materials are used to tie them, hope you like guys!

I’ll be posting new patterns every week so please subscribe to the email,, The peeping caddis will be next!

http://www.cliff-harvey-angling.co.uk/article/Winter-Pink-Czeck-Nymph-Bromwells-Bug/25

http://www.cliff-harvey-angling.co.uk/article/Winter-Bugs-Hot-Spot-Hares-Ear/27

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River Taff in Flood yet again!

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What the hell is going on with this weather we are having at the moment, sick to death of it!

The river Taff  is in flood yet again and has been for some time with this unbelivable weather we are having.  The river has been pushing for sometime but its not all bad. The salmon and sewin have had the water to move into their spawning spots without any problems of the poaching metal heads getting anywhere near them.

Check out the chart below for Pontypridd area.

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River Rhymney

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After speaking to Kieron Jenkins in the week at Gareth Haveys fishing shop where Gareth was holding a ospreys night with a 10% off everything, we decided to go give somewhere a look on the weekend to see if we could nail a few grayling. That was if the rivers dropped off after the crazy weather we had on thursday and friday.

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Kieron picked me up at 8am and then we went and picked up Sam Richards, a young youth angler. The taff was still pushing so we decided to go over and give the Rhymney a look. It’s great to have so many great rivers just a stone throw away from the house that hold grayling for the winter fishing. It was a quick stop to purchase our day tickets and off we set eagar to find a few graylng. After a short drive we got to where we wanted and before we knew it we were on the bank ready to step in. The river was running with a few inches over normal and a slight colour to it but was looking good. The method of the day was heavy nymphing keeping a short line and using heavy bugs to get them down hard on the deck.

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Sam was the first to enter the river and was the first to hook into a grayling and shortly after a second came to the net, Sam had it spot on.  Kieron moved on down river picking his way through the water not leaving anything unfished, so I moved on up river out the way and after a bit I manged a trout but nothing after that for some time. I moved on back down to find kie and sam, after a short walk I caught up with them and after that we all stuck together just working the likely looking spots for the grayling, Sam stepped in below us in a little deeper water and shortly after sam was into a fine grayling on the dropper fly.  Sam stayed in this pool for some time then hitting into something totally different, me and kie could see this was a decent fish. Kie stepped in to give him a few pointers and to ready the net but it was a long way from being netted, the fish held deep and just made his way up river and then back down, then it showed itself in a blast of energy by jumping clear of the water around 3ft. It was a salmon estimated around 8/10lb easy. Sam done his best but it wasn’t to be, the fish took him down river and pulled the hook after around 5 minutes. Unlucky sam but what fun fair play.

Sam below well bent into the salmon

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After that little fun we moved on and kie just done what he does best and started to pick off grayling in the good numbers and me,well i was a little slow this day and just couldnt conect with many fish.  Its good to have a few bad days because it makes you more egar to get out  and get it right! 🙂 It wasnt long after and the tempture started to drop and the light was faiding so that was a q to make a move.. Not a bad days fishing and far from easy but we all fooled a few so happy days.

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Ill leave you with all the photos taken on the day below

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Stream fishing.

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Well it happened once again with the rain coming in and making the main rivers unfishable and deadly again.

With the rivers being out I knew that the streams would be the best bet and most often or not they are totally fishable even when the rivers are way up. My good mate Lewy fancied a change from the bigger rivers and sewin fishing so this was a good opportunity to do so, so the stream it was.

We set off around 12 taking it easy just thinking we would just have a few hours out and be home early to keep the wives happy 😉 The stream was not untouched by the heavy rains and she was pushing and coloured but it can fish quite well in these condition and from past experiences I knew that it would clear later on in the day. Dry fly was not an option so it was nymphing till the river cleared, I was looking out for fish on the fin but it was just pushing too much and too coloured. There was an abundance of stone flies hanging in the air and a few olives but it made no difference what was hatching in the conditions.

Sion fishing a fine pool below.

Sion took a few out of this pool and after the takes dried up he worked his way around the pocket water above doing the same by taking fish from every little crease and pocket There was no signs of the river clearing at this point and with a few odd showers we didn’t expect it to really.

As we moved around the stream, we both took turns fishing spots and going fish for fish, many fish were caught and every one of them were beautiful little gems. I took a lot of photos throughout the few hours we were out and usually i’m the one behind the camera but Lewy took over for some time catching a few shots of me holding a few little gems

I’ll leave you with a few photos of the day below.

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River Taff & Rhondda in flood once again!

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We needed rain but come on this is just ridiculous

I had the weekend all planned with a good Friend Nicholas Steedman to come over and give the river Taff a bit of a looking at and even the river Rhondda might have had a little bit of attention. But it’s always the same, we pray for rain so the rivers will pick up a little and get the fish going but it just can’t rain a little bit, oh no it has to to rain cats and dogs and write the river off completely. The plans have gone out the window and down the Taff into Cardiff bay.So the next best thing will have to do, tying flies,a mixture of dry flies and nymphs. It will be a full weekend job so by the end of it i’ll have enough to cover me for a week on the river Tay in Scotland and the river trails in July 🙂 God i’ve  got a busy time ahead of me but really looking forward it!

River Taff water level

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This chart hasn’t been updated yet but when you see it next it will be up in the flooding is possible area for sure.  The river Taff and river Rhondda are evil with this relentless rain and fishing is a no go for sure! Be a while before any kind of angler wets a line:(

This is what it looks like in real time below and as you can see its WILD!!!

Taff river levels

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Whats up with this weather!

This week i’ve seen the river in a right bonkers state and I think all fishing is out the window for some time with more rain coming in tonight, god give us a break mun.. Just look at the graph below and it says it all, and its on its way back up 😦 There has been a fair bit of flooding in my local area and a few trains have been stopped due to mountain water falls breaking their banks and running over the tracks.

The video below was taken in the highest ever recorded flood on the river taff.