International Gathering of Fly Fishing Women Wales, UK, June 4-7, 2009

  Pudge Kleinkauf

Wales was beautiful, the fish were cooperative, the hotel was absolutely wonderful, and the group of fly fishing women couldn’t have been better. That, in a nutshell, is the story of the International Gathering of Fly Fishing Women which took place the week-end of June 4-7, 2009 at lovely Tal-y-Llyn Lake and Tyncornel Hotel in the West of Wales, UK.

All but one of the women had attended the first IWFF International Gathering in Ireland in 2007, and they were delighted to renew old friendships and fish once more with fly fishing colleagues (“The Girls of the Lough” as Lesley Crawford called them in her 2007 report-(www.intlwomenflyfishers.org/gathering/ireland.htm)

Nica Prichard, the Wales coordinator, had everything arranged, and it all went like clockwork. The hotel was waiting for us, and our rooms were absolutely delightful. Some overlooked the old stables, and some were in the original building, but all were tastefully appointed and very comfortable and all had a view of the lake. No one was far from the main building with its cozy little pub bar and its elegant dining room complete with white tablecloths and exquisite watercolor drawings of the birds of Wales.

Whether we were telling fish stories in the pub in the late afternoon, or feasting on sautéed sea bass or local lamb dishes for dinner, we enjoyed everything this historic fishing hotel had to offer. Anwen, the all-round “go-to” front desk manager fulfilled every single request we had with ease and graciousness. We could not have had a more fabulous hotel experience.

We had such a good time on both the lake and the river that we had difficulty deciding which we preferred. Four of the early arrivals started out the week-end by fishing from two boats on Tal-y-Llyn Lake on Thursday and determined that the fish were taking bead-head olive damsels (better known in Alaska as bead-head lake leeches.) Besides everything else she had arranged, Nica had snared two of the expert local ghillies (guides) to be with us for all four days of the event. They rowed us around from hot-spot to hot-spot, and even though only four fish were landed, that was better than we had done in the sweltering temperatures of Ireland in 2007. So, as the others joined us Thursday evening, we were already busy celebrating our day’s success. Once we were all settled in the lounge with a glass of wine, we also enjoyed a very special slide show on fly fishing in Wales presented by Sue Parker and Pat O’Reilly, two well-known Welsh fly fishing instructors, to help kick-off the rest of the week-end.

Thanks to Nica’s great organizing skills Sue & Pat had agreed to join us on Friday to fish for brown trout and European grayling on the beautiful Severn River some distance away. We had an early breakfast and set out over the mountain roads to this famous Welsh fishery. And, it didn’t disappoint!! What a jewel of a little river! Some caught grayling, some caught brownies, and some caught both. Some fish took tiny Klinkhammer flies, and some took small red sedges (caddis). Others showed us they preferred bead-head gold-ribbed hare’s ears and Prince nymphs.

It was well-worth the drive.

Instead of taking a packed lunch with us that day we opted for lunch at the river-side pub, the Lion Hotel, and it was a fabulous choice. In the middle of a rain squall, we quickly moved our outdoor table under cover so as not to ruin our exceptional lunches of a warm baguette filled with ham, cheese, and greens from the hotel’s gardens. It was hard to leave the river for lunch, but just as hard to return. The afternoon produced more fish for all, and by 6:00 we were heading back to the hotel and another marvelous dinner. Julie from Ireland was able to join us that evening and we were all delighted to see her again.

Saturday started out cold, windy, and rainy, and it didn’t get any better throughout the day. Two of the boats with Beth, Gretchen, Lesley, and Nica caught fish, but all the rest of us did was cast until our arms nearly fell off. Because of the conditions we retreated to the hotel for tomato soup and bread for lunch to re-charged our batteries and then headed right back out for more. After about another hour, though, we were all crying “uncle” and heading back to the hotel. But, Nica, Lesley, and Barbara were smart enough to have a go at the bank fishing from the far side of the lake. What a smart decision that proved to be!!

All three of them caught sewin (sea-run brown trout) of 2-lbs and over, and made the rest of us jealous. It seemed that a fresh school of sewin had just entered the lake and congregated for a time just off the point where a small stream entered the lake. Braving the wind and the rain, they took advantage of it.

Sunday proved to be still cold, rainy, and too windy for the boats, so we all decided to fish the bank from the area where the others had had such good success the day before. Julie had to leave us early that morning for her return to Ireland, but the rest of us hurried to get wadered-up to make sure that we could occupy the best spot on the point. Our two intrepid ghillies headed over there as soon as they arrived to help “hold” our casting area.

Even though the school of sewin apparently had moved into the deep section of the lake, we managed to catch several nice brownies. Then, on a lucky cast, Gretchen landed a lovely sea trout. Early in the afternoon, Lesley and Barbara had to leave us for their drive back to Scotland, but the rest just kept on fishing. We didn’t catch any more fish, but the weather improved, and we enjoyed ourselves, nevertheless.

Everyone but me had headed home by Monday morning, but I still had a couple of days to enjoy the fishing that Wales has to offer. I decided to head back to the Severn to spend the day on Monday. Because of the storms we’d had over the week-end, the water was high and dirty. Still, I managed to land a few small grayling, and then to experience lots of 2-lb brownies competing for my bead-head black streamer in a large pool right below the bridge. It was exciting even though my catch rate wasn’t high.

As I drove along the “motorway” (freeway to Americans), back to Manchester, it was hard to accept that our wonderful event had ended. But, the culmination of the fantastic week-end was the commitment made by Lesley Crawford of Scotland that she would host the next IWFF Gathering in Scotland in late June in 2011. We all cheered her decision. So, mark the last week in June, 2011 on your calendar and begin right now to make your plans for joining us. This time it will be brown trout and sea trout in Northern Scotland! Stay tuned for details!

I’ll see you there!

Pudge Kleinkauf June 15, 2009