River Trout Fishing - a beginner's guide

Forty years ago the River Teifi and several other rivers in England and Wales were world-class trout fisheries. Today the emphasis is very different, with sea trout the main quarry of many local and visiting anglers on the Teifi and the fishing on chalk streams almost entirely dependent upon stocking with hatchery-reared fish. What might not be immediately obvious is that we still have some excellent brown trout fishing to conserve and protect: our truly wild trout are a much sought-after quarry. For example, there are beats on Llandysul Angling Association waters where the fishing in springtime is very good indeed. 

Wild fish are different

What many people find, (on the Teifi and elsewhere where the fish are wild) is that these wild brown trout are extremely difficult to catch. Having reared brown trout of 'Loch Leven' parentage - the fast-growing strain favoured by owners of put-and-take fisheries - as well as genuine Teifi brown trout, I can confirm that there is a very big difference.

A wild trout in the sunshine...

The shyness factor

Approach 'stockies' of Loch Leven origin that are rising to surface food and often they will continue feeding; do the same with Teifi wild trout - even those reared in a hatchery - and they go down as soon as they see you.

The secret, then, with wild brown trout is not to scare them. Keep well back, dress in suitably drab clothing, and cast using a long, fine leader. On the upper Teifi the best trout are often found in water more than a metre deep, and a four metre (13ft) leader is very much better than the 'standard' one-rod's length that many anglers use. Even more important, of course, is casting well so that the leader turns over fully.

Here's a tip I learned from a very skilful trout fisher from Devon. He cast just once before degreasing his leader again. Now I know you can buy so-called 'sinking' nylon, but no nylon in the world will break through the surface film if it is coated with the oily sweat from a fisherman's hands (perspiration, of course, in the case of lady anglers). Indeed, you may know of the party trick of getting a steel needle to float on water: it's impossible to do this if you first rub the needle with a degreasing agent such as Fullers Earth mixed with washing-up liquid. After just a few casts most nylon leader picks up enough grease from the surface film to float rather than to sink, and then the leader is so much more visible.

On the River Teifi, fisheries above Lampeter Bridge open on 3rd March for trout fishing. Look out for March Brown flies hatching from around 20th (sometimes a little earlier) through to perhaps mid April. Any size 12 or 14 dry March Brown pattern will do when trout are rising to these large upwinged duns. Late morning through to about 3pm is when you are likely to see hatches of March Browns. Usually they appear in 'flushes' with distinct lulls in between.

When there is no rise, try a size 14 Pheasant Tail Nymph worked close to the outside bank on sharp bends, or where a stickle of fast water narrows and flows into the neck of a pool. If you are like me when fishing the nymph, you will miss far more takes than you connect with. But this method usually offers the best chance of catching a few of those really big wildies. The best wild brown trout from Llandysul A A waters in recent years weighed 51/4lb. You are unlikely to see many of that size, but pounders have been quite plentiful in recent seasons and better flyfishers than me were able to catch trout of more than twice that size.

Where? Well, in 1999 most beats between Llanybydder and Lampeter were productive, This stretch opens for fishing on 1st April.

The club has five beats upstream of Lampeter Bridge. All can be productive in March and early April, although in high water the speed of the current makes fishing a challenge over much of the Cellan and Rallt stretches. Lletytwpa fished well last spring, and there is a great variety of habitat on this fascinating beat. (There is nearly always a good trout or two rising in the pool tail at the lower end of this beat.) There are some very deep holes on the upper Teifi beats and the bed is rocky in places, so special care is necessary if you are intending to wade there.

By late April the Grannom sedges emerge; so, I hope, shall I.

Pat O'Reilly

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