Week ended on rather a dull and windy note

It was not quite the summer yet that we have hoped for, but there is plenty of warm and sunny weather to come according to the experts... although we all know what to expect from the experts!

These days, however, there is a certain element of apprehension when we talk about hot weather as we are all very much aware that we don’t really want these record temperatures that we seem to be getting as it signals the fact that global warming is accelerating at an alarming pace.

Enough then of the gloom and doom as we can only really live in the present and let’s think about the fishing at Llyn Brenig.

The water temperature has been hovering at a very comfortable 16C, comfortable, that is, for the fish as under these temperatures they will thrive.

Indeed, they have thrived as the fish are in excellent condition, as verified by Bill Tasker, from Warrington, who wrote: "Great conditioned fish."

With the high pressure systems and the relatively warm water temperatures that we have been getting, the fish have tended to lie in the top of the water and therefore, they have been generally caught on the dry fly.

There are no hard and fast rules though to fishing and the conditions can change in an instant.

Dei Smith, for example, was catching using a floating line, whereas Vic Wilson, from Birkenhead was catching, a day later, on an intermediate line.

Experience does count for a lot when fishing the Brenig and it is remarkable how those who regularly fish the lake do manage to hand in some splendid catch returns, such as Bob Gibbon, who caught six fish from the bank whilst fishing off Hafod Lom.

For those inexperienced fishermen and women who come to the Brenig, they can always rely on some sage advice from our resident fishermen Paul Lonsdale, who can be found in the fishing shop.

Paul has learnt to fly fish over the last few years and he can now

hold forth on the topic of fly fishing with the best of them.

Richard Cheetham certainly found Paul’s advice helpful, writing: "Very windy late on but still caught, thanks to Paul’s tips on booby fishing."

We had a very healthy rod average of 4.4 fish per angler, indicating a steady week of fishing.

The fish farmers Jack and Stef have stocked some fairly sizeable

fish over the last few weeks, but we haven’t had any real monsters coming out of the lake.

What we have had, though, are some consistently good sized, well-conditioned and hard fighting fish being caught.

The biggest fish last week was caught by Jamie Scott, from Leicester, who landed a lovely 4lbs 15ozs rainbow.

The biggest bag of the week was caught by Ken Wall, from Llanarmon DC and weighed in at 17lbs 8oz.

Over the weekend, we had the Coppenhall fly fishing competition here at the Brenig.

With 18 fishermen taking part, a remarkable 17 caught six fish and bagged up.

Barry Coombes came in first with a total bag weight of 18lbs 10ozs, with Glen Moody in second with a bag weight of 18lbs 7.5ozs.

This just pushed Mike Laycock into third by half-an-ounce.

The hot spots for boat fishermen have been between buoys 5 and 7, along Hafod Lom, the dam wall and sailing club bay.

Bank fishermen have found success along Hafod Lom, the visitors' centre shore and Tower Bay, although a few nice fish have been caught by the ring of stones.

The top flies have been sedges, nymphs, cat’s whiskers, daddy long legs, buzzer, black hopper, nomad, cormorant and various blobs and boobies.

My father once told me that on board a ship, he was a serving merchant seaman during the Second World War, there were two things that should never be discussed if you wanted a harmonious crew - religion and politics.

I’ve just heard the news that we have a new Prime Minister.

I can only say that I wish him well and that I hope that my worst fears are unfounded – we shall see.

Here ends the discussion!

Tight Lines.