Turning up at Rhayader we didn’t really know what to expect. The Wye around Builth looked pretty high, with some colour but, it was fishable great for the upper reaches!

It’s always somewhere I love to go, It’s a picturesque part of the river with some weird Bat and spider like features along the way. Not just decoration for Halloween!

Walking to the bottom of the beat, me and Bishy decided to stop off and have a few chucks through one of the most productive pools. The river was surprisingly low, normal actually, after the rain we was expecting an inch or two of water.

Bishy chose one of his finest Klinkhammers and 2.4mm tungsten headed nymph. My cast wasn’t too dissimilar just ammend the Klinkhammer for a F fly and a 2mm tungy nymph.

Working my way up the margin, while Bishy fished the middle and far side, my FFly shot under as if the fish came from distance and at speed to take my nymph. The net slipped gently underneath and my first grayling since Italy was netted.

Keeping a keen eye on Bish, I walked to the bottom of the pool and worked by way back up with heavier nymphs, deeper than what he was fishing in front of me. It wasn’t long before Bishy moved into the next run and posed for a beautiful shot showing the beauty of the river Wye.

The wind started to pick up slightly with a slight chill brought with it. The trees started to rustle and the leaves started to fall, filling the surface of the water and producing double headers of leaves nearly every cast!

Listening intentively I heard something which wasn’t too dis-simmilar to a rise… keeping a peeled eye I spotted the little bastard in the middle of the run choosing it’s appropriate gaps between the leaves. Off came the nymph and a smaller F Fly with an orange wing was swiftly tied on. First cast into an open gap and the grayling snaffled the fly with no intention other than eating! As I struck i could see the fish heading back down to the bottom of the river, without my fly in its mount. A 5 minute chill out, and there it rose, again, and for the last time that day.

Re-tying my nymph to an extended dropper, I landed 4 fish in that pool in all. I walked upstream to find Bishop to see if he had such luck. The leaves were being caught in the underflows and swirls of the more awkward pools, releasing them when a surge of energy pushed them out creating a constant trickle of leaves throughout the better runs. Shame really.

I walked upstream to find B’ playing a fish on a slow glide, hooked on the dry fly as it was on the dropper.  A slippery one there JB!

Following Bish upsteam, It was a pleasure to watch, watching someone so enthusiastic and putting your information into practice after fishing so long together… It’s like watching your child grow up. It really is. Well, sort of.

Keeping the Fly line and the Leader mostly off the water to fish the eddy behind the stone with no drag… just how the grayling like it. Usually anyway.

The Wye had treated us to a few of it’s prime ladies and a few out of season brown trout. With 3 of us taking in access of 20 fish in just a few hours before the rain started to pick and we called it a day. A cracking start to the winter grayling fishing to come!