GREY skies descended upon the shores of Llyn Brenig last week, bringing with them some heavy showers and gusting winds, writes seasonal ranger JIM JENKINS.

On occasions, the sun has broken through the cloud cover, reminding us that there is still some warmth left in the September sun.

However, compared to what has been happening in the Gulf of Mexico with hurricanes wreaking untold havoc, we can count ourselves lucky that we live in a relatively stable area of the world.

With the schools starting up again and the competition season coming to an end, September can be a quiet month and these factors coupled with the rather inclement weather has resulted in a somewhat slow week from a fishing perspective.

A rod average of 3.1 fish per angler is still a reasonable return for those that braved the difficult weather conditions.

As always, there have been some good quality fish caught, with G Owen, from Birkenhead, catching the biggest fish of the week at 4lbs 8ozs.

The top bag of 14lbs was recorded by Mark Gayton, from Wrexham.

There was a burst of activity on Saturday with Aberaeron Angling Club holding a small competition on the lake.

Despite getting rather wet, the day went well and we look forward to seeing them next year.

A piece of excellent news is that local lad Gruffydd Edwards, from Pentre-Llyn-Cymmer, who is a regular fisherman at Llyn Brenig, has qualified for the Welsh youth international team for next year.

He will be joined on the team by Rooney Moore, from Conwy, another regular young fisherman at the Brenig.

Congratulations go to both youngsters and we will be wishing them well when they compete in next year’s youth international, which will be held at Rutland.

As the season has progressed it seems that the lake is beginning to fish well in all areas - and not just in Tower Bay and the visitors’ centre.

There have been fish caught in almost every part of the lake, with Nant Glyn shore, the ring of stones, the Brenig Arm, sailing club bay and watersports bay all yielding fish for both bank and boat fishermen.

The top flies have been daddy long Legs, cormorant, damsel, zulu, viva, sedge, buzzers and various blobs and boobies.

In a fluid job market invariably we see staff move on to pastures anew and last week we have had to say farewell to one of our seasonal rangers, Gethin Rees.

Gethin has been with us for almost four years and his hard work, unique sense of humour and good spirits will be greatly missed, not just by the staff but by the fishermen as well.

He has secured a full time position with the National Trust and their gain will be our loss. We wish him every success in the future.

The main gates will be shutting at 7.15pm this week and all boats need to be back on the jetty by 6.30pm.

Tight Lines