WHAT a contrasting week of weather we have had here at Llyn Brenig, writes seasonal ranger JIM JENKINS.

At the beginning of last week there was a cold easterly wind snaking across the lake like some avenging angel hell bent on freezing all in its path.

However, by the end of the week, all memories of its presence were gone as we basked in glorious sunshine like beached walruses.

Over the Bank Holiday weekend, the sun shone and the visitors came in their hordes - not only for the fishing, but for all the other activities on offer and Llyn Brenig was buzzing like the proverbial bee.

There was an excellent balance between the fishermen on the boats intermingling with visitors who took the opportunity to take advantage of the leisure boats.

Meanwhile, the bank fishermen shared the peace and tranquility with the walkers and cyclists.

As for the fish, I think they were a bit confused by the sudden change in the weather and they weren’t sure whether to stick or twist.

With the top of the water having warmed up by the end of the week, the fish were drawn to the surface, but the very bright sunshine soon drove them down again.

The result was that it was quite difficult to determine the best method of catching the fish.

One thing that was noticeable was the huge increase in insect activity by the end of the week, especially the amount of small black beetles.

As we know, bright sunshine isn’t the best time to catch fish and as a result, the fishing was a little bit difficult towards the end of the week.

The fish had also tended to move away from the Brenig Arm, which had dominated the fishing for a large part of the week.

The rod average of 3.1 fish per angler is well down on the previous weeks and does reflect the more testing conditions.

Still, 3.1 fish isn’t a bad return in anyone’s book and would be considered a good day’s work by a fisherman.

Nathan Williams, from Tal Y Bont, certainly had a good day's fishing, catching six fish from Nant Glyn bank and writing that he ‘returned another 12 up to 2lbs 14ozs'.

He said it was a 'fantastic five hours' fishing, much better than work and glad I took the day off now’.

I think we’d all agree to the work bit!

On Thursday, North Wales Police held a competition at the Brenig. Fifteen fishermen caught 157 fish, with a rod average of 10.4 fish.

The top rod was Colin Jones and Ian Hughes came second.

The biggest fish of the week was caught by Gethin Morris, from Bala, who landed a 3lbs 8ozs rainbow using a buzzer in Sailing Club Bay. The biggest bag of the week, which weighed in at 14lbs 8ozs, was caught by Kevin Prince, from Wrexham.

The hot spot for boat fishermen at the beginning of this week was the Brenig Arm, but by the end of the week it was fishing well between the cages and the quarry, and also along Hafod Lom.

Bank fishermen had success along Nant Glyn shore and Hafod Lom, with some fish being caught in Sailing Club Bay as well as the Visitors Centre.

Top flies have been black nymph, black and green montana, black beetle and various blobs, boobies and buzzers.

Next month we are trying out two new ideas, the first of which is ladies Day on Saturday, May 11.

The purpose of this is to try to encourage more women to participate in the sport.

It would be an ideal opportunity for fishermen to bring their wives and partners to the Brenig and to develop a shared interest.

The other innovation is the early morning boats, which will take place on Saturday and Sunday, May 25 and 26.

This will mean that the boats will be allowed to leave the jetty at 6am.

They do say that the early bird catches the worm, so it would be a great opportunity to see the sun rise over the Brenig whilst catching some fantastic fish and enjoying the peace and solitude that comes with that time of day.

The main gates will be shutting at 7.15pm this week and all boats need to be back on the jetty by 6.45pm.

Tight lines.