THE great country and western singer John Denver once sang that "some days are diamonds and some days are stone", writes seasonal ranger JIM JENKINS.

Recently at Llyn Brenig, we certainly enjoyed days that were diamonds through and through.

The sun shone, the skies turned blue, the water shimmered and there was a feel good factor that made you feel that all was well with the world.

That’s all well and good if you are going on a bike ride or having a picnic by the side of the lake, but what if you are fishing?

Well, due to the unusually warm weather that we have been experiencing, the temperature in the top two feet of water is a remarkable 19C.

Now, if you are a fish and you don’t want to be poached alive nor do you have a pair of sunglasses close at hand, then you are going to disappear into the deeper cooler water and stay down there.

This is exactly what happened over the course of the week, with the end result being that it proved very difficult to catch fish.

The boat fishermen were saying that it was really hard to find the fish during the week, whilst the bank fishermen were left asking: "Are there any fish?"

Things will change very quickly and the fish will soon be back looking for their supper.

The rod average of 3.7 fish per angler was at first reading a reasonable average.

However, on closer analysis it seems that most of the fish caught appear to have been in the earlier part of the week and as the weather grew warmer and the sun brighter, the number of fish caught did drop off towards the end of the week.

Peter Morris, from Ellesmere Port, probably best summed it up when he commented: "Wind perfect, beautiful day but the fish didn’t come out to play."

Three fish of 3lbs in weight were caught during week by Mr Wrather, Mr Linlun and Mr Ruff and they proved to be the biggest fish of the week.

The biggest bag for six fish caught was claimed by I Morris, from Mold, and it weighed in at 12lbs 8ozs.

The top flies were daddy long legs, buzzers, black pennel, cormorant, dabbler, montana, beetle, damsel, sedge and various blobs and boobies.

The hot spots for the boats were Tower Bay, the dam, Ring of Stones, the quarry and, in the earlier part of the week, the Brenig Arm.

Bank fishermen found the visitors' centre, Tower Bay and the Ring of Stones to have fished reasonably well, particularly at the beginning of the week.

The Friday of the week saw the official launching of Llyn Brenig's wheely boat.

This is a boat that can be used by disabled fishermen.

It was great to see the ribbon being cut by regular fisherman Terry Evans, from Denbigh.

There were a number of guests who attended the ceremony and a welcome speech was given by site manager Nick Kite.

The boat allows wheelchair users and others with a disability to access fishing and it will be very beneficial to a great many fishermen.

We would also like to thank all of the fishermen who have respected our request to observe the exclusion zone around the nesting site of the Ospreys.

The latest news is we believe that the chicks have hatched, which is fantastic news.

All credit needs to go to our site manager Nick Kite for having the vision to instigate the project in the first place and then for having the patience and the faith when others might have faltered to see it through to where we are now.

Tight Lines