If fishing for wild brown trout in open unspoilt wild locations is your cup of tea then Llynnau Gamallt Lakes should be on your “to fish” list. Fishing on the lake is managed by the Cambrian Angling Association with day, week and season ticket options available. Llynnau Gamallt Lakes comprises two lakes, the larger Mawr and smaller Bach.
Llyn Gamallt Mawr Lake
At an altitude of 468 m Mawr is an upland llyn of around 10 ha in size with 2 kilometres of shoreline and an average depth of 2.5 m. It is elongated and orientated SSW-NNE. It is a low alkalinity llyn (<10 µEq/l) with minor to moderate colour (41.0 mgPt/l) as a function of its 74 ha catchment dominated by dense dwarf shrub heath with minor open dwarf shrub heath, acid grassland and coniferous woodland. The walk into the lakes is just under a kilometre, initially across peat bog and then over a small ridge (only 20 m ascent and 10 m descent). There was plenty to see on the walk in, interesting fungi growing in the peat bog, fox moth caterpillars (Macrothylacia rubi) and common frogs (Rana temporaria).
The day was overcast with occasional sunny spells and when the sun was out it livened things up, especially the heather fly (Bibio pomonae) which was on the wing in small swarms bobbing up and down in the breeze. The heather fly is fairly large (10 – 13 mm with wings of 8-12 mm) and not the most confident flyer such that it gets blown onto the water quite readily which was the case late in August with the south easterly breeze. I setup on the western bank where the llyn narrows and it wasn’t long before flies started washing up on the shore and were evident out on the lake. The feeding frenzy was on with trout feeding in different ways, some were literally launching themselves out of the water as they smashed the flies struggling in the surface film while others were literally sat sipping them down quietly. I tied on two foam heather flies and a reddish bristol hopper. Second cast and I was in and the first spectacularly marked wild brownie came to the net. While it might have been a bit early the brownies had what I assume were the beginnings of their breeding colours with wonderful red markings on their pelvic and adipose fins. I moved along the bank a few steps and the action kept coming thick and fast. While I only managed to get 6 into the net I had several more on but that isn’t surprising with barbless hooks and wild brownies which shake like mad once they are hooked. During the 3 hours of sunshine, before a band of rain blew in, the supply of heather flies kept on drifting from the southern portion of the lake and the fish kept on feeding. It was exhilarating as there must have been 60 takes at the flies but it appeared that the fish were splashing at the fly or swimming over it in order to sink the fly. I was gutted when the rain came and the action slowed and then stopped.
After an energy bar and a short break I worked my way down to the derelict boathouse and then walked up the stream that feeds gamallt mawr from gamallt bach. Gamallt bach is marginally higher than mawr at 469m altitude. It is 3 ha in size with around 1 km of shoreline. Like mawr it is predominantly shallow with a mean depth of 1.5 m (maximum depth of 5.3 m). It is also of low alkalinity with minor to moderate colour derived from a 13 ha catchment dominated by dense dwarf shrub heathland and acid grassland.
It was now quite dark and raining and I wasn’t confident wading in places as it was hard to see my footing in the peat stained water. I had a few takes while working my way along the bank towards the hut but the gamallt bach duck persisted and nothing made it to the net.
If you plan to spend a weekend in Blaenau Ffestiniog fishing there is plenty for the rest of the family to do while you fish:
Llechwedd Slate Caverns tours and adventure
Zip World adventure
Plas Tan Y Bwlch gardens and tea.
Its a small world mini golf, scalextric, RC boats, etc
Sygun copper mine tour
Gelerts grave walk
Tight Lines
Greg