so, here we are, its bank holiday monday and the sun is still shining. I was still a bit gutted that i hadn’t made a 260 in cowbridge, and i thought then that on the scale of things i hadn’t cast too well. I later discovered i hadn’t done too bad at all really. I did get done by Welsh superhitter Christian Brayley by 1 yard…..argghh !!, but hey, he can produce some great, almost mind numbing distances and is the guy, who at times, has shaken the foundations of casting by taking on, and taking out, the mighty Jason Willicombe, and on UKSF soil.

I digress…

Right, armed with a OS map, 3 fly rods and a tankfull of petrol we headed out to Brecon, which was about 40 miles due north of our base location. It was, like i said a bank holiday, and i expected the place to be mobbed with bodies. It was, but we still managed to park ok right next to the river. It had dropped 3 feet, and was the colour of lager. Hmmm, not too bad, although the pace of the river was still very fast.

It was overcast and still quite windy, but we decided to walk the beat downstream from the bridge on the right bank. wow..the river was pacey !!

We looked across the river at a 180 degree bend in the river and decided that at normal river levels there would possibly be a defined pool right there, and the water slowed as it left the bend on the remnants of a gravel bar.

We walked and fished, walked some more..

A small fly hatch started and a few very small fish showed around mid day, but standard wet fly tactics weren’t to have a chance in the flow unless we went dredging with a sinking line.

The next day…

We crossed the river back at the bridge, and arrived at the pool i mentioned earlier. River levels had dropped yet again, and now, what was once 3 feet deep, was only 6-8 inches of fast gravel run. Glides and pools, seams and creases started to show themselves and i thought…”Yes, today, will be ok”.

I was right.

Piglet was in straight away swinging a team of wets on the inside crease into a mild drop off on the inside of the bend. Fish of 10-12oz mostly, but he’d had 3 or 4 fish before i had a take.
What was i doing wrong ?

I scouted around, and just below the bend, there was a large tree stump in the water and it looked like it had been there for a few spates at least. Upstream nymph and a tricky cast saw the weighted fly swirling in the back eddy. No good…bad presentation.
I switched to a team of czech nymphs to get the middle dropper fly down, and get the leader well sunk in what must have been 5 feet of angry water. Some mild adjustments later, and the leader twitched..

Wham….here we go..

a fish of probably 1 1/2lb, a beautiful Usk brown, fin perfect, and well worth all the hassle so far.

Things looked up.

The day started to brighten, and on the way back, we realised the awesome beaty of the usk valley, and considering the river was adjacent to the town of Brecon, it was remarkably well cared for and very clean.

Brecon in the distance looking back up towards the bridge.

A closer look at the water

Quite a contrast to the Towy in fact which was still raging and dirty brown. Our thoughts where drawn to 2 other area’s we had fished the previous week, and one we had looked at on the way to Brecon. The Towy at Llandovery and the Cothi.

This was the Cothi when we saw it during week 1, knowing now, what i didn’t know then, i’m glad we didn’t fall in.

Piglet worming on the Cothi

Wow, we hadn’t realised that the Cothi, all sweetness and light, was in fact over 50-60 feet deep in places whilst in spate trim. During week 2, we retuned to find where Piglet had beed standing to fish was 12 feet or so off the water, and there was in fact a tiny little rock shelf which runs the river like the broken edges of the grand canyon. The bit after the shelf is deep, very deep, but very, very narrow. It would certainly wedge a full grown man, and drowning there would be easy.

Back to Brecon…

This was my rod of choice on the Usk. My sage TCR 9 foot 5wt carrying a 6wt line for the short sharp shots required for undertree navigation and for stopping the quality fish in the fast water.

Over the next days, Piglet and i took many more Browns, some exceeding 1 kilo. Brilliant fishing up there, and i’ll be back.

I’ve missed out what happened with Carl Jonathon here, and that, or those stories need a book all by themselves.
Part 3 will cover that.

Sorry Carl, but i must tell it how it was mate….LOL

Llandovery in bloom. Beautiful in fact. The whole area was like this.

Just remember, that the Towy was in fact fining off, but still looked like this

Looks better doesn’t it, yet it was still 3 feet high here.