THE inevitable happened last Friday, writes seasonal ranger JIM JENKINS.

The school bell rang for the last day of the summer term and the kids poured out of the school gates in anticipation of the summer holidays - and the skies opened and it began to rain!

Well I must say, though, that it was a welcome relief not only for the fishermen of Llyn Brenig, but also for all the farmers and gardeners around the country.

All in all it was a much cooler week last week with overcast, cloudy skies and a cooling breeze.

When the sun did burst through the cloud cover, the heat was fairly intense and it seems that once that cloud cover is stripped back then we can expect some really hot weather, which is what is predicted over the coming weeks.

The cooler weather last week did have a very positive affect on the fishing and the Brenig probably fished as well last week as it has done for a number of weeks.

We are definitely at an advantage here at Llyn Brenig over nearly all other fisheries as, due to its high altitude, the lake does stay relatively cool and this means that when the fishing is almost impossible elsewhere, here at the Brenig there is always a chance of having a good day's fishing.

This was certainly the case last week and despite the fish still lying deep for much of the week, there have been some excellent days of fishing.

Towards the latter part of the week, the fish came higher up in the water and they were even seen on the top of the water, with one or two fishermen even taking fish on the dry fly.

Generally speaking, though, the fish have been caught on DI5 and DI7 lines.

Alan Cawthray, a regular bank fisherman at the Brenig, last week decided to take a boat out, which is what a number of bank fishermen opted to do due to the difficulties encountered fishing from the bank.

He was delighted to catch his second fish of the year, even though he reckoned it was over 90 feet down!

With the rod average at a reasonable 3.6 fish per angler, there have been some really fantastic fish caught.

They have certainly put up a fight as well, with Rhodri Wynne, from Henllan, commenting on the "fantastic fighting fish".

We did say in last week’s fishing report that the fish farmers had put in some really nice 3lbs fish, but nobody mentioned the 12lbs fish that Phil Wood, from Bala, landed.

Unsurprisingly, this was the biggest fish of the week.

There have been some excellent bags caught as well, with Dave Gilbert recording a bag weight of 14lbs 4ozs for six fish caught.

However, the biggest bag weighed in at 16lbs 8ozs and it was caught by John

Davies, from Montgomery.

A number of competitions took place at Llyn Brenig over the weekend, with three fishing clubs competing on the Saturday.

Sunday saw a heat for the World Individual Championship taking place, sponsored by Anglers World Holidays.

They had a fantastic day of fishing with the top rod Ian Gaskell landing 17 fish (four fish kill). In second place with 15 fish came Paul Angell and in third place - having caught 10 fish - was Richard Hooper.

The rod average for the competition was a stunning 9.3 fish per angler.

The biggest fish was 2lbs 10ozs and the prize was shared by Paul Haskey and Tony Parker.

The top flies last week were grey goose, haul-y-gwynt, damsel, Mrs Simpson,

buzzers, nymph, black lure, hopper, buzzers and various blobs and boobies.

The fish seem to have migrated back to the north end of the lake, with fish

being caught over the weekend by the ring of stones and Nant Glyn shore from the boats.

Boat fishermen also caught fish at the beginning of the week around the main basin of the lake, with Tower Bay fishing well.

The bank fishermen had a better time of it last week with fish being caught by the visitors' centre, Tower Bay and the ring of stones.

The main gates will be shutting at 8.45pm this week and all boats need to be back on the jetty by 8.15pm.

Tight Lines