I,ve just joined Monmouth and District AS with a view to coarse fish their stretches of the Monnow. I notice that they control a fair bit of the River Trothy which contains trout.

Could anyone advise a (very) novice fly angler about the Trothy, and how best to approach it ? Cheers, Kev.

M&DAS has several miles of the Troddi which is a very under rated trout stream. There are no coarse fish above Mitchel Troy and the club has not stocked the river with browns since I stopped the practice whilst on the committee in the 1980/90s. So it is effectively wild trout fishing. The trout average around 10/12oz but there are plenty of fish to over 1lb and the best I have seen was 3lbs 1oz and was just 6 years old.

Fly fishing is difficult because the river is narrow with high banks and is well treed over in many places. Having said that there is a fantastic mayfly hatch - better than the Monnow - which usually lasts about two weeks and peaks on the first weekend in June. The spent gnat fishing is particularly good and there is usually at least one fish per pool.

You need to look at each pool, wait to see a rising fish and then work out a plan for approaching it without spooking it, very often this will involve casting to the fish from upstream or floating a fly down to it. In many cases you will get just one shot at each fish.

The river is very lightly fished and it is very unusual to see another angler even in the mayfly which is about the only time when the river is fished. I would reckon on rising about a dozen fish in a couple of hours in the evening when there is a fall of spent and maybe landing three or four of them.

Some features of the Troddi are that the river always has a tinge of colour and sometimes branches fall across the flow and hold a scum patch in front of them. This is a classic lie for a big fish as natural flies get held up for a second or two on the buffer wave just in front of the scum and this gives the fish a second or two to examine all offerings. It is very difficult to present an artificial without having it drag at this point. A hooked fish often just turns and bolts down through the tangle of branches with the inevitable result.

I use a 7' #3/4 rod and anything up to 8' #5 will be OK.

The best of the water is Lower Llantroddi above Dingestow but Red Barn Farm is also fairly good especially below Jingle Street bridge.

Here are a couple of pix of the M&DAS stretches of the river, this is a fairly open pool on Red Barn.



This is a typical scum patch



This is a more typical pool just above Jingle Street



By the way - it has been agreed with the landlords that the coarse water on the Wye that used to be for the salmon close season only (Oct-March) will be opened up for fishing in the coarse open season, this should lead to some cracking barbel catches. There will be some local rules about giving salmon anglers preference but this is some fantastic coarse water with huge fish of several species. There should still be some shad about when access re-opens on 16th June and these offer great sport on the fly, the Wye Bridge pool and the run out from this pool are good places to look for them as well as the Monnow confluence.

In the Monnow you will find a few surprises as in addition to the normal chub, dace, perch, grayling and roach, if you know where to look there are wild carp to 20lbs, bream to over 5lbs and tench to over 6lbs all of which are unusual fish on the Wye system.

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“There is no more lovely country than Monmouthshire in early spring. Nowhere do the larks sing quite so passionately, as if somehow inspired by the Welsh themselves. There is a blackbird on every thorn and a cock chaffinch, a twink as they call him there, on every bush...... It moved me profoundly. I had been spared to see another spring, and I thank God for it.”

Oliver Kite
“A Spring Day on the Usk”
A Fisherman’s Diary

A brilliant reply, thanks Sewinbasher ! Yes, I noticed that the Wye is open for coarse fishing in the salmon season, very interesting. Thanks, Kev.