THE old adage that ‘East is least’ should have applied to the fishing at Llyn Brenig last week, reports seasonal ranger JIM JENKINS.

A fairly strong east wind dominated the weather during the week.

However, as with all generalities and old wives tales, the truth is often very different from the reality and despite the chilly wind, the fishing at Llyn Brenig has been remarkably good.

The weather last week was very changeable and one did feel an affinity with Robert Bolt’s ‘A Man for all Seasons’, with a covering of snow, periods of sunshine, wind and April showers all having a share.

The rather muddled and unpredictable weather was also reflected in the fishing, with fish even being caught on the top of the water using the odd dry fly, which is obviously very unusual for this time of year as you would expect the fish to be low in the water.

As we know, as the conditions change then the fishing changes and the conditions changed quite considerably over the week.

As a result, so did the methods of fishing.

John Davies, from Montgomery, sounds as if he had an excellent day, catching and releasing 18 fish on a DI 3 using a bobbie.

Gethin Thomas, from Mold, also had similar success using the same method with a tequila on the dropper.

I did enjoy Mike Roberts' comments when he said "no fish, not one pull, should have stopped, went home and finished cutting the bushes down with my new saw."

That’s called knowing when to cut your losses or in this case knowing when to cut your bushes!

The rod average of 5.0 fish per angler continued the trend of the last few weeks with fishermen having some excellent days of fishing and catching lots of fish.

I dare say there will be harder days to come, but it is important to enjoy the good days whilst they last.

Although the size of the fish in general are down on the last few years, there have been some lovely fish caught, with the biggest fish of the week caught in the Brenig Arm by P Carrington from Holyhead and it tipped the scales at 6lbs.

The biggest bag of the week was also recorded by Mr Carrington, with a fantastic weight of 14lbs for just four fish.

The biggest bag for six fish caught was recorded by J Moores and weighed in at 11lbs.

Richard Hutchinson had a grand day, catching six fish whilst fishing with his son Kyle.

By the end of the day, Kyle had yet to catch but, he was determined to catch a fish and managed to land one in the end after fishing by the corner of the dam.

The moral of the story?

Persevere and thou shalt be rewarded.

The hot spots of the week for bank fishermen were Tower Bay, Hafod Lom and the visitor' centre.

Hot spots for boat fishermen were also Tower Bay, Hafod Lom, the quarry and behind Barrow Island, although there were obviously some nice fish caught in the Brenig Arm.

Top flies have been tequila blob, black and green Montana and cat's whiskers, while fish were also caught on buzzers.

There's been some excellent news on the osprey front.

Last week, the female Osprey was seen mating with a male bird, which obviously gives us great encouragement that we will hear the sound of little wings in the not too distant future.

It will certainly bring joy to many people, which is shown by Tom Sinton.

While fishing, he wrote that he "saw an Osprey fishing – magical and made my season so far".

You can’t really put a price on the feeling that such a sight inspires in us.

It is probably worth 10 sessions with a therapist!

We are continuing our monthly catch return draw, which means that if you give in your catch returns you will have a chance of winning a free boat for the day.

So get those catch returns in with your comments and observations.

Tight lines.