Llangoed beat, the Spring Catch pool
Mating Common Blue Damselflies
River Wye, Llangoed Beat.
June 14th
The river was low and clear and the recent rains had not done anything to raise the level. This would normally be bad news for daytime fishing at this time of year, but Llangoed has such a variety of water, that there was a chance of some action. The Spring Catch at summer levels is a great place to look down on chub lazily cruising the slack water. There are some big boys in there and on another occasion I might have been tempted to spend a few hours there. As it was, the constant lifting and fluttering of damselflies led to a happy interlude taking pictures of these stunning creatures.
Today though, I wanted to try the Orchard, a little further upstream, and the left bank of the Bridge Pool. There is a stronger flow of water here and under these conditions the chance of trout and grayling. Sure enough, between the heavy showers that nearly drowned the dry fly; trout and grayling were tempted. Better still, in the smoother sections of water, a dace and a chub decided the Klinkhamer was too tasty a dish to decline. I switched from delicate dries to gaudy goldheaded fritzy flies at the Bridge Pool. Swinging the flies down and across, the pool offered up 2 lovely iridescent shiny Shad to turn a hard day on the river into another treasure to remember.
Llangoed beat, the Spring Catch pool
Mating Common Blue Damselflies