Llyn Dwr-oer

Walking up from Manod, when you reach the top of the first two long inclined planes you will see Llyn Dwr-oer (395 m elevation) and it looks too small (0.3 ha) and too shallow (~1m deep at its maximum) to be worth a cast and you will be tempted to keep on going to either Llyn y Manod or Llyn Du-bâch. While I have yet to land a fish here I can confirm that there are plenty of fish in the northerly lake. The southerly lake dries out and does not contain any fish. It is a miracle that fish survive in the lake at all, in harsh winters it must come close to freezing solid and in hot summers the water temperature must get pretty warm, potentially close to the point where trout would expire. 

The lake catchment is dominated by heather grassland and acid grassland producing water with low alkalinity and little or no peat stain. At times I have seen four or five fish feeding in the ripple, hooked several small fish of dry flies (bongoch, yellow owl) but not managed to bring them to the net as they wriggle like mad and have had a very decent take on a small reddish daddy that surprised me. A local fisherman I met up at Llyn Du-bâch noted that he had caught (and returned) a 1.5 pound fish here on a lure. So well worth a try, however, the llyn is shallow and stalking is required as the fish are rightly skittish and can see you coming very easily. The base of the lake is also quite variable with parts comprising large slabs of broken slate and parts being a very sticky clay. It is exceptionally sticky clay, do not attempt to step into it as you will do well to get your boot and yourself out again. These muddy sections have well tended lawns of aquatic plants and look like very promising fishing spots.

Tight Lines

Greg