Prospects & General Comments:
Sea Trout Report by Illtyd Griffiths
August 2017 The weather in August has been very wet in most of Wales with high water prevalent and most of the fishing being during the day rather than at night. The Towy is still producing some sea trout and a few salmon now, mainly on spinning baits with a few being taken on those nights when conditions allow. Surprisingly this year the nights of August have been, in the most part, quite mild which would have made for some pleasant late summer nights but, of course, the water has been too high!

Other rivers in Wales have also fared reasonably well with some consistent catches both on spinning baits and with fly in the day. There seems to be fewer of the "jumbo" sewin around this year in most rivers although the Dyfi has been an exception to this trend with many of these fish having been grassed. This brings me nicely onto a topic which is well worth exploring a little. Many people use various charts of length and in some cases girth of fish to give them an "accurate" measure of weight. Having at times used a weigh net (McLean) and also measured sewin over many years I have found some startling differences between the actual weights and the charts. The charts give an accurate weight/length measurement for fresh fish. If one looks at the following images one can see how measurement of length only can be misleading.

The fish in the upper photo is one of 5lb caught in June this year and one can see the near perfect solid body shape - this fish agreed with the chart accurately.

The lower fish was caught much later in the season and although it is possibly an extreme example it would have been in the river for maybe 3 months. On a chart a 29" fish such as this one would be nearly 10lb but as seen the body is flaccid and the muscle has been replaced with fluid due to the long period of fasting and the protein required to produce the milt for spawning. This fish has probably lost at least 25% of it body weight and is likely to weigh approximately 7lb.

Trout fishermen often use the length of fish to describe their catch and in these days where catch and release is practised more and more maybe the length and the time of year when caught would give a more accurate picture.

Back to the fishing! Often at this time of the year I will fish with a 5wt rod for the shoal sewin which can be plentiful and are great fun to catch on light tackle. One can fish confidently with a floating line and three fly cast in the historic down and across method. Trout flies such as Butchers, Peter Ross, Mallard & Claret, Black Pennel and possibly a Silver Invicta are all you need in the box in sizes 10/12 (trout sizes). Add a little movement to the flies with a fairly swift figure of eight retrieve and you should have some fun - try it! Most of the fish will be from .75lb to 2lb and will provide some great late season fishing.

For anglers looking for somewhere to fish next year the fishing on the Edwinsford Estate in the Cothi Valley can now be booked through the Wye & Usk office. This will provide some nice fishing in a most scenic part of Carmarthenshire and although the fishing effort has been very low in recent years there is a good opportunity here to enjoy a fishing break away from the madding crowd with the added bonus of possibly a "jumbo" sewin, for which the Cothi has always been famous.

Many anglers are now turning towards salmon fishing for the remainder of the game fishing season here in Wales. Let us hope that the Autumn run on which many of our sewin rivers depend in late season is better than last year which seemed to be a poor Autumn in all parts of the United Kingdom. As for those who still would rather the sewin be careful with night flies, using only singles in tubes and wake lures and handling these fish carefully as they will be ready to spawn in late October. Good luck!