Sea trout fishing at night from Llyn Meirch down to Allt Goch
by William Elfyn Hughes
Nearly all the pools mentioned below can be found as photo's mostly in "Names of our pools" by Tom Jones or "From the Mountains to the Sea". Each pool will be linked back (God willing!) to the relevant photograph.
Llyn Meirch or The Stallion's pool is in an open glade in the Trefan woods. It is easy to fish and is an excellent holding pool. To fish this at night there is a rock about 10 feet below the oak tree - it is very comfortable to sit on almost shaped like a seat. It is close to a gravely path down to the pool. Casting directly at the opposite bank you can easily cover the bottom end of the pool with ease. Most of the fish seem to lie hard against the far bank or close to the stones at the very bottom of the pool. I personally have never caught fishing the top end of the pool, probably because I don't fish it properly!
Allt y Widden is very difficult to fish at night; we own the fishing rights to the far bank - please do not fish the island with the private sign - this belongs to Jan Morris (who often writes for the Times and has written a number of books e.g. "Conundrum"). If you do manage to get onto the large rock without drowning or onto the small island above, this pool can be very good. It is very deep along side the rock. I have caught most of my fish here in the run into the pool.
Llyn Glas is much easier to fish! There is a distinct path from the public footpath down to the riverside. There is a ridge of rock that goes out about halfway into the pool. If you stand on this ridge, directly below you is quite a deep hole, be careful not to fall in. I normally cast slightly upstream and across close to the far bank. Casting too far downstream one seems always to get stuck in rocks!
Pwll Berw is an excellent holding pool and is not as difficult as it might seem at first to fish at night. If you can find your way down to the waterfall, you can fish downstream but beware if you do hook a fish here it will probably be lightly hooked. Another method of fishing this spot is to fish worm - a couple of large brandlings on a size 14 hook - fish this like a fly , no weights, fly tackle and allow the worm to go where the current takes it. If you do have a take what tends to happen is that the fish moves back to its lie with the worm in its mouth usually just below your feet - when do you strike - well I can't tell you every thing can I? If you go back onto the path before you come to the kissing gate you will find quite a largish stone in the middle of the path, turn to the right and there is a narrowish path that takes you down to the edge of the bottom half of the pool. You can quite easily perch yourself comfortably on one of the rocks close to the edge. Don't be put off fishing here you can easily fish the lower two thirds of the pool without catching any trees. Big fish often lie at the very bottom of this pool or you catch them just as they move in.
Continuing on the public footpath, through the kissing gate bear right, the ground is rather stony but a more defined path soon becomes evident and follows the river bank down to Noflyn, a long pool with a very wide bottom. Recently most fish seem to lie in the top part of the pool and this is not easy to fish as there are a lot of trees and bushes around. The lower half, below the willow tree is easy to fish. You can stand on some stones and cast directly to the other side, just below the stone, and from there all the way down stream, but the further you cast the more likely you are to snag the bottom - it is very shallow. This stretch used to be one of the best sections - whether the cattle coming down to drink have ruined this I don't know - we do need to do some work on this pool to get it back to it's former glory.
Following the footpath a good 1000yds downstream you will come to a pool with a large rock at it's head, it is aptly named Penmaenmawr. This rock has shifted a few inches after the terrible flash flood we had in 1988. This flood destroyed all the Association bridges and water reached the tops of the arches of the bridge in the village. The pool itself is good for holding sea trout, especially against the far side on the lower half of the pool down to where it get very rocky. At the top end there is a back eddy, making fishing very difficult.
Through the next kissing gate Llyn Deio Preis is immediately on the right. You have to be careful casting here otherwise you will catch the willow tree. Casting towards the large stone near the bottom end of the pool is a good holding area even on quite low water. the rest of the new pools on this section never seem to do well at night, the best being the last one - Llyn Ronnen where especially after high water, the last section of the pool can be very good with running fish.
When there is high water the pools in the woods in general are very difficult to fish. One technique is to clip a tiny lead split shot onto the eye of the fly, maybe one should put lead wire into the dressing of the flies. Few will bother with the woods under such circumstances especially as our "odds and evens ruling" of fishing alternate days has been shelved for the time being and we have access to the Aberkin stretch now all the time, where it is worth fishing even when the water is high.
The Aberkin stretch has pool after pool of high quality sea trout fishing. I will only describe some of the larger pools and leave the rest for the newcomer to work out for themselves! Cae Criw Bach is a very productive pool, it's bottom end is best on the far side where there is a submerged rock. This pool can be good on very high water fishing the back eddy towards the tree at top of the pool (below your feet!).
The whole of Llyn Trap is productive especially around the large submerged stone, the narrowish stretch of water above the stone can often yield large fish. Above the oak tree seems to be a waste of time!
Llyn Dan Trap, again an excellent pool, one of the best spots seems to be just the last few feet as the water leaves the pool.
Llyn Dan Trap Bach - I have never caught a fish in this pool - it looks ideal - perhaps I don't try hard enough. Llyn Mwd - the middle part is difficult to fish - you have to balance yourself on the stones going out into the pool, the bottom part of the pool tends to hold small fish - it is very shallow. However when there is a flood/high water as long as the water runs clear and there are fish running! it can be a very productive pool fishing the back eddies close to the bank.
To fish the Baffles, you have to cross over to the other bank using our foot bridge. The run under the trees on the far bank can be a very good spot especially with moving fish. Llyn Hir - I used to catch in this pool but now it years since I've caught anything - why? Llyn Weirs - at times I have caught well just below the pine trees but the run below this pool I tend to loose everything I hook (fishing directly downstream).
Crossing back to the left bank looking downstream the next major pool is Pwll Gorlan - one of the most productive pools on the river. You have to be careful how you cast, as there is a blackthorn thicket behind you - the whole pool is worth fishing and the same can be said for the next pool - Hen Bont our major holding pool for fish straight from the sea.
All the pools below here are worth trying, Rhwngddwyafon - where the Dwyfach enters, Llyn Concret, Llyn Coed, and Allt Goch. The productivity of these pools varies depending on the height of the water and time of the year. They are often very good early in the year when the first fish come in - but if you are lucky enough to hook a fish their mouths will be very soft!
Please remember these comments about fishing these pools is from my own experience, no one else has taught me/ shown me how to fish this river - so I feel at liberty to pass on my findings without offending any one else's feelings. I am only giving away my own secrets! You will probably find that the river fishes quite differently to how I have described and it does change from year to year! I hope some of the comments are of help and remember to contact us with your own experiences.
