Adroddiad afonnydd Gymdeithas S.G. a LL.
S.G. & LL. Angling Society's River report

Another month and no rise in river levels, the thunder storms of mid July hit this area, but the rain fell elsewhere, all we got was lightning damage in the form of the Llyfni Counter being put out of action. Runs of both salmon and sewin have been poor and fishing has come to a stop on the both Seiont and Gwyrfai, although some fish are however pushing through on the low water and can be seen on dusk as they negotiate the shallow runs. Fishing is effort is concentrated on the lower Llyfni before and after high water, again here catches have tailed off with the fish concentrating their effort on pushing on up river.

Llyn Dywarchen has produced most of the sport, however again here sport is confined to some two days after stocking, fish don’t seem to be interested in anything, this again has to be put down to the extreme weather conditions. From returns it would seen that only some 20% of rainbows stocked this season have been accounted for. To try and gauge the stock in the lake we’ve used a Fish I.D. Fish finder on the lake, the results were astonishing, and I think it would be apt to identify the lake as Dywarchen Aquarium. And no I didn’t catch any fish after using this equipment.

The new access/car park and harbour facility has now been completed on Cwellyn, this will hopefully prove to be very popular and first use has been made during our weekly fishing instruction course during July – August. As I’ve reported before, this project was made possible by funding from Snowdonia National Park under CAE a Welsh Assembly Funded Scheme and the Environment Agency Fisheries Improvement Project. We hope to have the official opening soon, in order hopefully for some assembly members to be present to see first hand what excellent work is being carried out as a result of their assistance.

About 200 meters from our Cwellyn facility the proprietor of Planwydd Farm has recently completed excellent bunkhouse accommodation, if all goes well we hope to base two day fishing courses using both facilities, these should be popular, as the bunkhouse owner also owns the nearby Cwellyn Arms at Rhyd Ddu, the selection of cask beer here is also excellent, nearly as much of an attraction as the fishing. Further details can be obtained from myself on 01248 670 666 or on our web site www.gwynedd.gov.uk/sg

This season all the elements must be stacking up against fishing, not only is the weather making things difficult, the foot and mouth problem will not go away from some parts of Wales, although the current outbreaks are over 130 miles from this area, visiting anglers still under the impression that it’s still no go, for instance to date the overall sale of rod licences are down some 50% with salmon and sea trout licences sales down 27%. Let’s hope that this does not have an adverse affect on the E.A. Fisheries Function.

One piece of excellent news is that the Welsh European Funding Office has approved the 1st Phase of the Gwynedd Fisheries Development Programme Objective 1 application. The sum involved is £435,000 and the money will be used for Habitat restoration. Work has already begun on the Seiont, Llyfni and Dwyfor, with work on the Mawddach, Glaslyn, Dyfi and the other rivers involved due to commence in the near future.

Prospects.

Once the weather breaks there should be excellent salmon and sewin fishing on all rivers, also the lakes should start behaving normally again. Extension to the salmon season will again be in operation on the Seiont and restricted to members only. You will need a log sheet from myself, so get in touch now.