Having just qualified to represent England in next years Internationl which will be held at Llyn Clywedog in Wales. Having never fished the reservoir I thought it would be handy to have a trip down and get a feel for the place. Me and my dad made the three hour journey on what was a beautiful autumn Sunday.

Clywedog is located in mid Wales, surrounded by stunning scenery, the drive over the hills is quite breathtaking really.

We arrived, purchased our permits and got tackled up and got down to business. I set up with a 12ft leader and fished the washing line method with a fab on the point and two nymphs above.

For our first drift I took us up to the Christmas trees, after our first drift nothing much was happening and we felt we weren’t in the right place, so we went just round the corner from the lodge, and started a drift near the cages.

The drouge went out, first cast out and that’s when all hell broke loose. My line went tight and I hooked into what felt like a brick. Then a shake of a head, I knew this was a big fish.

The trout went airbourn twice and it was then we saw just how big the fish was. Amazingly I managed to keep my cool and not rush playing the fish. It was like pulling in a bin liner. It had taken the fab on the point. With the help of my dad, it was in the net!

Wow, I’ve never had the pleasure of hooking into a big fish like this, it certainly gets the heart going!!

It’s so important to let a fish recover in the net after a scrap, so after it recoverd we got a quick snap and let it go, that is one for the memory book!

When me and my dad go fishing we always have a little competition, i had a 2-1 lead just before we called it a day. He only went and levelled it at 2-2. So it finished all square. Although, I do have the bragging rights for this trip 😉

Clywedog is a lovely fishery with great staff, I can’t wait to return soon for some more top sport!
http://www.clywedogtroutfishing.co.uk/