As the summer doldrums approach for many of the midlands stillwater fly fishing venues I usually fish, I have been thinking about a different approach to my summer fly fishing and heading off to one the many Welsh reservoirs which, with the benefit of altitude, are likely cooler and hopefully more active. One venue instantly leaps to mind as it has all of the key ingredients I am looking for: at 255 m altitude it is undoubtedly cooler, a dominantly brown trout venue with a natural head of brown trout, a few stocked rainbows to 9 lbs in weight thrown in to spice things up, is off the beaten track with only 10 boats available and of course abounding in natural beauty. Having walked in the area on numerous occasions when my kids were little, although alarmingly this was almost a decade ago, and with the enchanting Victorian architecture of the dam wall as well as the hotel that overlooks the lake, Lake Vyrnwy / Llyn Efyrnwy has been on my list of potential venues for some time.
Fishing Lake Vyrnwy is probably closer to fishing a Scottish loch and quite different to the midlands reservoirs. While I am hopeful that the recent refresher gained fishing at Loch Katrine in Scotland in May will be useful it is time to do some research to maximise the chance of success and overall enjoyment, especially as this is the largest stillwater fishery in Wales being 453 ha in size. I see this trip/venue research very much as part of the fishing trip and it starts the process well in advance and the excitement builds as the chosen date approaches. The sporting rights for Lake Vyrnwy are managed by the Lake Vyrnwy Hotel which provides some basic information on the fishery on their website but directs you to the book produced by G.V. Westropp “Guide to fishing Lake Vyrnwy” for further information. Book ordered from Coch-y-Bonddu Books I turned my attention to what information was available on the net.
Aside from the introduction and tactics by Westropp on the Hotels website there is precious little information about fishing the lake on the net but there is some information on the lake itself. It is generally shallow (maximum: 20 m; average: 13 m), has a low alkalinity (average: 51 µEq/l) and has slightly coloured but relatively clear water (average: 31.2 mgPt/l). Given the lake is 7.6 km long and has a shoreline of 18 km in length, careful planning of where to fish for a day trip will be required as it would be unwise to try and cover the whole lake in a day, especially with a battery powered engine. This would likely mean crossing the lake. With a fetch of 6.4 km it is easy to see to see why wave size might be a consideration when crossing the lake, which is 0.8 km at its widest, in this upland location. This is confirmed by Westropp who reports “alarming” lake crossings with waves several feet high in unsettled weather. I suppose there is a good reason why the Hotel insists on full life vests (rental fee of £10/day) being worn at all times and not simply buoyancy aids. This also suggests that the use of a drogue would be wise to facilitate loch-style drifts which is also recommended by the Hotel as standard kit for Vyrnwy.
The Westropp book is a quick read at just 44 pages, including 6 pages of appendices. It is an interesting read, however, chapter 3 is the key chapter condensing more than 60 years of experience into a concise summary of the drifts and locations to fish and those which you can confidently motor/drift past. I have transposed these onto a Google Earth map with notes for my trip and given this is my first trip will likely focus on the boat house pool end of the lake as Westropp suggests for newbies to Vyrnwy. He also provides an extended list of flies to those on the hotel tactics webpage but there is nothing startling on this list that one wouldn’t expect for a loch-style fishing trip or that is overly specific e.g. diawl bach is a fairly non-specific description that includes a large variety of possible patterns. The over-arching rule of thumb on the webpage seems to be “when in doubt, go for black” and “a team of three black or darkish wet flies size 10 or 12” is effective early and late in the season.
Westropp notes that old hands use low water periods to study the underwater structure which got me wondering what resources, pre- and post- the flooding of the valley, are available that might guide the newbie to Vyrnwy in this regard. There were a fair bit of materials available in this regard so will publish this as a separate post.
Tight Lines
Greg
