BODSA Blog

The Members' visit to the salmon trap at Chester Weir this morning went well, even though the massive tides have allowed most fish to simply swim over the weir - no need to jump, at that height! One salmon of 11-lbs was in the trap along with two small sea-trout, one of which had been killed by a cormorant. The cormorant was also in the trap and when last seen was still alive and well.

Just had a message from Phil who fished through this afternoon's thunderstorms and was rewarded with two fish in two hours, details of which he has entered in the Catch Returns section. Having read of Karl's 18-pounder on a deeply-sunk gaudy fly he thought he would try the same thing with a fast sink tip and a size 14 Ally's. This produced a grilse of about 4-lbs and then a salmon 34" long and 17" girth, which he estimated at 17 or 18-lbs. Both fish were photographed and then safely returned. Well done that man!

Sunday 5th August. The river level is going up and down an inch at a time as rain squalls hit and it is slightly more coloured than I expected, although still pretty clear. Air temperature at 1 o'clock was almost 80F (26C) and the water 56 degrees (13C). Graham and Darren had five sea-trout up to a little over 2-lbs, all released except the largest which was kept for supper.

Heavy showers were forecast but it's actually been a pretty good day here. The river is about four inches above normal and very clear.

An interesting afternoon. I was brashing balsam on the banks while Karl taught James the noble art of fly fishing. Lesson over, they left their salmon rods at the top of the pool and used trout tackle to catch some nice grayling. James had his best ever. There were fish rising but no sign of anything big. I stopped for a rest and watched Karl and James fish down the pool. "That looks like a good spot for a salmon," I said to Karl, "either there or at the tail of that bush trailing in the water."   "What," he replied, "on a 2wt rod?"  "Well," I said, "we fish with small flies at this time of year, don't we - and if you hook a salmon on that little rod I'll come back on Saturday to net it for you."

Moments later his rod bent into a decent fish which turned out to be a bright sliver grilse of four or five pounds. I call that a team effort. 6ft 6ins, 2wt cane rod and a little black spider tied on a long shank size 14 hook. Who needs a fourteen footer in Summer!

And if you want to know why Karl catches so many fish, it's because, apart from being a pretty handy angler, he also puts the time in.

Friday 3rd August. Heard to-day of another grilse hooked and lost on worm. But the grass on the banks is untrodden in most places, so fishing pressure is extremely light which is presumably why I am getting so few reports.

The river level is being maintained at about 600mm and is running clear.

Yesterday, Sunday, Karl and James caught a lot of brown trout (I forgot to ask about grayling) and Karl had a sea-trout of about 4-lbs on a deeply sunk salmon fly. He used a Skagit tip to get it really deep down.

I really must pull my finger out and do a bit of fishing instead of just trimming trees and brashing balsam.

First, let me apologise to Karl because I misheard the weight of the salmon he caught last Tuesday (see my previous blog). It was a monstrous 18-lbs rather than the 14-15 I thought I heard over a crackly phone line. So it's an even bigger "Well Done" to Karl.

On Friday evening an initiative from our new Events Secretary, Stuart Watson, saw an informal meeting at the Royal Oak by Bangor on Dee old bridge. The idea was to meet for a pint and perhaps a bite of the pub's excellent food and discuss matters fishy. Eight or nine of us were present at this first meeting and we all enjoyed it, despite (or perhaps because of) the number of tall tales in circulation; so the intention is to make it a regular occurrence on the last Friday of every month starting at 1930hrs. That's half past seven for you landlubbers.

The next get-together will therefore be on Friday 31st August at 1930hrs. Members and prospective members are all welcome to come and drink a convivial glass and tell, and listen to, Tales of the Welsh Dee.

The river level seems to be holding steady at just over 600mm on the gauge at Manley Hall. That is six or seven inches above summer normal and makes fishing conditions absolutely perfect. It is, however, still high enough to allow fish to run so you've got to be lucky and find one having a breather before continuing its journey upstream. As Karl has shown, it can be done - but only if your line is in the water!

Well, I don't know! You have a few days working away, the weather's perfect, river falling nicely and while you're away some blighter goes and catches YOUR salmon!

What I really mean is, "Congratulations, Karl on a beautiful 14-15 pounder caught on fly." And then safely returned.

Last Tuesday it was, at about nine o'clock in the morning. The river was just below 700 on the gauge (about 9" above normal) and he was casting into the shade under the trees on the far bank using a large and fairly gaudy fly to deter Parr, a sink-tip line, casting square and putting in a big upstream mend to get the fly well down. Karl reckons it was down about four feet when the fish took.

I don't think I need to say any more, other than, "See you on the river bank."

Fine weather has finally arrived so let's hope we can enjoy some good fishing. The river looks gorgeous but is very reluctant to fall to anywhere near normal levels, despite there being no rain for some days. Maybe they are letting water out of the reservoirs to make room for the next lot of rain?

Although the majority of salmon are likely to be running while the water is high (still over 800mm on the gauge this evening) even salmon have to pause for breath at some stage and there's always a chance of catching one as long as you have your line in the water.

But salmon are far from being the only fish in the Dee and brown trout, sea-trout and grayling seem quite happy to have a go at fly or spinner. There have been some good hatches of fly as the weather improves. I have had no reports of chub or barbel - at least, not ones caught deliberately! - and would welcome news of how our coarse fishing members are doing.

Allan reports a dead sheep near the Village. It seems that two tups were having a head butting contest and one suffered a cracked skull, fell in the river and drowned; if it wasn't dead already. On a happier note, I found a dead cormorant at Groves Farm yesterday.

I'm away for a few days so there'll be no news by this route until I get back, probably on Thursday or Friday.

With the river rising and more rain forecast, we might as well have a look at other fishing issues.

You may have seen that 11 fishing, shooting and countryside organisations have called for cormorants and goosanders to be added to the Open General Licence. This would allow their numbers to be controlled where they are doing damage to a fishery, in the same way as we do with birds such as pigeons and crows on farmland to prevent them destroying crops, killing lambs or creating a risk of disease.

An adult cormorant eats a pound of fish per day and birds breeding inland will take very much more when rearing chicks. It takes, for example, 33kg of fish (that's 72lbs) to rear one goosander chick to adulthood. I saw a female with 19 young a while back and if they all reached adulthood they would have eaten more than half a ton of fish. How many salmon and sea-trout fry, parr and smolts is that?

The various bodies have asked us all to write to our MP expressing support for those asking the Minister to add cormorants and goosanders to the general licence.

The results of the review are expected towards the end of this year.

Don't despair altogether. Fishing is still possible because, staying dry in his new coat, Adrian managed to catch four Brown Trout and one Sea-Trout to-day. Keep the faith, my friends!

It was a beautiful morning, first thing, but it's now - 1300hrs - raining again. The river rose a foot overnight but is now falling again, although still two feet above normal.

There are fish in the river and the quiet corners are always worth a try as running fish pause for a rest. If you do go out, please be careful because the banks on the lower Beats are VERY slippery when wet.

Once this patch of rain has cleared, the forecast is for good weather until Tuesday night and the longer term forecast with High pressure dominating out in the Atlantic (for the moment!) is hopeful. There's a new moon on Thursday and the Spring Tides should bring in another load of fish to follow those now heading upstream.

If you are fishing Pickhill Beat, be aware that there is a Bull in the field betwen our car park and the river. Looks like a Belted Galloway and he seems to be a peaceful soul, as you might expect with dozens of heifers to keep him amused! Best not to flourish a red hankie, though.

Thursday has begun bright and clear with a rising barometer and a falling river. At 0730 the gauge at Manley Hall was reading 860 and by 0900 it had fallen to 855. I know that's only a quarter of an inch but it represents a lot of water - and at least it's heading in the right direction. The river is very fishable at that level and with a little bit of blooming luck it will have fallen further by this afternoon, when I am hoping for a chance to cast an optimistic fly.

Friday 13th July. Welcome to Wales! It's raining lightly but steadily just like it used to in September when I was a lad and we went to Beddgelert for our holiday. It used to bring the sea-trout up the Glaslyn, though, so let's hope it's doing the same for the Dee. I fished for a couple of hours last evening and could see the bottom in three feet. Parr were very enthusiatic but nothing bigger showed. Water level at the time was 838 and it's now fallen another inch and a half to the magic 800 (well, 802 actually, and it's been there for a couple of hours). I expect the river will start rising again later but with a bit of luck it won't be much. The rain is forecast to die out to-night.

If you were thinking of going to the CLA Game Fair at Belvoir Casatle next weekend, please note that it has been cancelled due to the state of the ground.

I think we have a brief window of opportunity!

The sun is out this morning, the breeze is from a bit north of west and the river has fallen to 888 on the gauge at Manley Hall, which is about 15" above normal. It has risen slightly in the last two hours and was 891 at 1100hrs but let's hope that's just a blip. Water will seem higher downstream where the river is confined between its banks but the gauge does give us a good idea of what is happening. If you phone (01978 710 398) ignore the bit about "electricity alarm"; it's been there for ages and doesn't seem to matter. I did ask the EA about it some time ago but they didn't seem concerned, either.

Nigel reports that he had a couple of hours on the Village Beat yesterday with a Flying-C and had three takes; two misses and one produced a nice Brownie. Level was 960 at the time, so it's fallen 3 1/2 " since then. Interestingly, he says there was a good hatch of "light green olives" which produced a bit of a rise.

Although there are still showers around it looks okay at least until Friday, when heavy showers are again forecast; so if the river continues to fall and the barometer continues to rise, conditions should be better than they have been for quite a while. Once this higher pressure passes over, there's some nasty looking stuff behind it, so my advice would be to get some fishing in while there's a chance. Let's just hope the EA don't b****r it by letting in a load of cold water.

If members would like to log in and look at the BODSAA Community, go to Events and then click on Diary of Events, there are visits to the Salmon Trap at Chester Weir arranged for 4th August and 1st September. Weather and river permitting, of course, in this funny old year. Contact details for booking your place will also be found there. (I can't  quite manage to do that bit, so it will be more readable once Russell has worked his magic)

The river rose a little after yesterday's rain but is now falling again, although still (1730hrs)    2ft 1ins above normal (that's 1067mm on the gauge).

Last week I thought that there was a chance of improving weather and the Highs out in the Atlantic look as though they might deliver the goods later this week. It won't be hot because the clockwise circulation of air around a High means that until it actually arrives over Britain the winds will be from a Northerly direction. But at least it shouldn't be p*****g with rain, for once! A rising barometer combined with a falling river might just give us our best chance of a fish for some time.

See you on the river bank!

Tuesday 10th. It's been raining again, of course, but at Noon the river had fallen another five inches. Pressure is rising slowly and once these belts of showers have passed through, we should have a brief spell of decent weather. And hopefully some good fishing!

The second Low pressure system I mentioned on Friday is now tracking NE from Cornwall, with several fronts circulating around it bringing showers here and there. Behind that the weather looks a heck of a lot better and a rising barometer is always supposed to be good for fishing, so keep your fingers crossed.

The Dee has been more than three feet above normal in the early part of the weekend but is now falling again and is currently, 1100hrs, about 26" up, which is 1100mm on the Manley Hall gauge (01978 710 398).

There are, of course, no reports of fish being caught but I'm going to take three of my grandsons down to Bangor on Dee this afternoon so we'll have a look at the water and report back. I'll also try to take the water temperature because if this is mostly rain rather than icy water from the bottom of the dams, the fishing should be good once the river reaches a more comfortable level. I always reckon that's below 800mm on the gauge - but no doubt others have their own views and it may depend on whether you fish fly, bait or spinner.

Please keep me posted with fish, Game or Coarse, caught, lost and seen, or any other interesting news from the river bank. If you prefer to use the Contact Us button above, I am sure Keith will pass on messages.

1915hrs. River has fallen another inch but it's raining again! Popped down to Bangor for a look-see and found Ian chucking a hopeful Rapala into Church Pool and Dukes. The river is powerful but not dirty. Water temperature 11C, 52F, so not really average for the time of year on many rivers but not low enough to freeze the fish, either. Falkus reckoned it perfect for small flies on floating line. Preferably with a bit less water!