The Fenni Fach beat on the Usk is one of my favourites so far. It stretches for 1.5 miles just upstream of Brecon and you can fully expect to meet absolutely nobody for the entire session - wonderfully secluded!! So far I've only explored the lower half of the beat which consists of a mixture of flat glides, deep pools, long riffles and lots of 'trouty' lies. The tree lined banks offer shade and some protection from the wind, which is predominantly a westerly and therefore blowing straight downstream - novice casters beware. It's also a tricky beat to wade so be sure to sport the right footwear and take a wading staff too.
Today the river was low. It's been low all season so nothing new there. But on this visit I really noticed how thin the riffles were looking and my confidence for some classic upstream nymphing was sapped immediately. A previous visit a week prior had produced nothing when upstream nymphing in similar conditions. Nevertheless, I had seen fishing rising in the tail-pools and flat glides from late morning so I embarked on a long session of dry fly fishing. Conditions were cloudy, around 18C with a stiffish wind (you guessed it, from the west) that had a somewhat cooling effect. I decided a long leader was necessary and the brownies were going to be spooky in the low water, so I extended a 12ft leader with another 3ft of light tippet. That was going to make casting and line control tricky for me ( I know my casting limitations), but I had a plan.
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| One of Fenni Fach's tail pools where all the action took place |
The rising fish seemed to be locked on to emerging flies. There were heaps of sedge coming off, a good number of small olives and pale wateries and plenty of midge. I put a #18 klink onto my tippet an in I went.
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| A #16 version of the klink |
The plan was to restrict my casting frequency and keep the disturbance on the water to a minimum. This was partly enforced by the wind gusting from time to time. I waited for windows of opportunity to deliver a good cast rather than toil with the wind and risk spooking fish with a bad cast. I also targeted rising fish across a 180 degree arc from where I was stood on the bank. No cast & search. If there weren't any rising fish I didn't cast. These tactics produced an afternoon of constant sport covering a tail pool and glide no more than 100 yards. Patience and planning really paid off this time. My only bugbear is that my success rate should have been far higher as I missed a lot of rises to my fly, but I'm working on line control and timing to improve this aspect of my abilities. The 6 fish that did make it to my net were of the highest quality and it was a privilege to return them unharmed. As I said, it was a good day to be on the river.
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| 10 inches of quality Usk trout |
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