 | | Garnffrwd Brownie | | Living not too far from the fishery I assumed that, filled with the usual over confident sense of direction us males share, finding the fishery would be a mere formality – oh how wrong one can be!
Pulling into a lay-by, on a track clearly designed for minis, ready to call in the mountain rescue my luck was about to change; a taxi drives by, or at least it would have done had it not been for my frantic waving! The obvious local knowledge had left him in good stead, and within 10 minutes I was to role into the fishery owing great gratitude to the tutelage of the taxi driver.
Many fisheries just blend and don’t create much impact, whereas some just strike you and in a way are warming and lifting – Garnffrwd being one of them. On arrival you’re greeted with a sign, which signifies the whole ethos of Garnffrwd, what it offers and I guess more importantly who it attempts to offer it to;
Horse riding is the sport of kings,
Fly Fishing is the sport of gentlemen,
If you cannot behave as such;
Kindly Bugger Off!
|
 | | Llyr Edwards with a nice rainbow. | | This is yet another fishery that offers a full days sport on catch and release basis for £10, less than a decent curry and a pint! This was to be my option for the day, the fishing that is, and following a brief chat with the stand-in manager I was ready to fish. I decided to cross the bridge, reminiscent of the one in ‘Claude Monet’s- The water Lily Pond’, to fish a platform that extended a good part across the lake. From afar the platforms would appear a little too long; being the best part of 15 metres, however, the reason for this becomes obvious when you venture onto them. For the first part the water is very shallow, laden with weed and rich in aquatic life, a few metres beyond the end of the platform on the other hand the water drops off and fish are quite easily sighted cruising along this drop-off. A fellow angler had been hauling a fine catch long before I’d even awoken, he had been having great success on a black and gold buzzer and a blue cheeked ‘diawl-bach’ I followed suite accordingly.
My success was to be limited on the respective methods at first, re-planning I decided to try and tempt a few of the fish regularly rising when the wind dropped on the edge of the drop-off. My usual, very simply tied, size 18 black cdc pattern was tied on the sporting 5 weight and flicked into the general feeding area. It wasn’t long before I provoked a reaction, but the fish just kept missing the fly even the ones that took a real swipe at it. As a result I decided to try a slightly meatier size 12 version, this one they preferred. A solid hook up was achieved in the first few casts, and this is where the fun began. When the fish are drawn up and over the ledge into roughly 3ft of water they take off like bonefish on a salts flat! When they finally succumb it’s not hard to work out why, fully finned and in pristine condition, a credit to the onsite rearing system.
After further success on the dry, and with the wind easing I had noticed very large browns head and tailing for airborne dragon flies; no doubt in an attempt to fatten up for spawning time. Nothing in my collection resembled the creatures, and to be honest it’s very rarely that you see fish feeding on the adult version. As a result I’ve never really seen a reason to imitate them let alone carry imitations. The only thing nearing their size in my box was a daddy pattern, following the application of some clever hairdressing techniques I ended up with something looking like a mutated, or perhaps mutilated was nearer the mark, grasshopper! Hmmmm oh well worth a chuck I thought.
Fortunately for me that day the browns couldn’t see that well or perhaps they took pity on me, either way a cracking brown of about 3lbs was to be landed. The brown was of such quality to make any river fisher envious, superbly conditioned, big yellowy belly and fight, not half.
Other anglers around the lake were also fairing well. Young Llyr Edwards stuffing his father, not a rarity I was lead to believe, hooking almost to order. All in all everyone was having a great day with smiles all around, which summarises the fishery for me; a place to come and enjoy with like minded individuals.
Ratings:
Facilities: 2 stars
Fish quality: 5 stars
Fish size: 4 stars
Scenic appeal: 3 stars
Water clarity: 4 stars
Sporting challenge: 4 stars
Address:
Garnffrwd trout fishery, Mynydd Cerrig, Pontyberem, Carmarthenshire, sa15 5bd.
Contact: Jamie (01269) 870 539
Season: open all year
Ticket prices: catch and release: full day: £10 half: £7
Day bag 4 fish: £18 half 2 fish: £14 all brown trout to be returned.
Facilities: excellent lodge and seating area with tea/coffee making facilities.
Location: (good question, let me know). Turning off the M4 towards Crosshands, take a right turn at the first crossroads, head towards mynydd cerrig. If in doubt phone the owners.
Species:
Brown trout
Rainbow trout
Recommended flies:
Black Cdc dry
Buzzers
Cats whiskers
Daddys |
