Feedback & Reports

Last chance for a Wye salmon form this season but sadly it wasn’t to be. The river rose around 14cm during the day but the level and clarity were pretty good. I possibly saw a salmon out of the corner of my eye, albeit not close enough to cover. Lovely day out on the river and it was nice to see the owner and her husband.

Arrived 14:00 to find river level 0.27 M at Hereford Bridge and clear with good flow of water after previous days rain. Upstream wind and plenty of leaves making life interesting.
Fished with 12` rod with floating line and medium sink polyleader and small double cascade courtesy of John Symonds
Fished most of the beat including Lady Alexander`s until rain set in about 17:00 when reluctantly packed in.
One of my favourite beats on the Wye and can’t wait to return

Fished from 9am t0 3pm quite cold with heavy mist am. Fished the lower section in the morning to no avail. Fished the top section in the afternoon and had four grayling, the best of which was about pound and a half. Good to see the the top half made accessible, but it's still hard work for a 71 year old negotiating the track.

4 Grayling

Fished from 9 - 6pm on a beautiful wind-free autumn day. The first overnight frost of the year meant that it was still only 2 degrees when well wrapped up in the last of the mist at the start. Water now cool at 8 degrees. Fished bugs, spiders and unweighted flashback nymphs, and emergers, and all worked at different times and places during the day. Very few rises as there were very few flies - until after midday, and then just a few small olives / PWs, together with some small olives at the bottom of the beat after 4.30 p.m. The latter welcomed by the grayling as well as me! Had fish on pink shrimp, size 18 FB dark olive nymphs, Red Tag, and size 18-20 pale HE and olive Ducks Duns. Whilst the risers took the DDs, most of the ladies who came up for them were non-risers, mainly fishing foam lanes, and often in seams in pretty shallow marginal water. Grayling from 9 -14” plus one 11” OOS trout.
A great day out, on one of the best upper Wye beats, was also made so much better by the great work from the Beat owner; the significantly improved and safer access to the top half of the beat is most welcome, especially for old men with dodgy knees and aging decrepitude - thank you! Just a pity that 1m of water on the NRW gauge was pushing through a tad too much to get the best out of it.

1 Trout, 15 Grayling

Great day! River clearing after yesterday's heavy rain. Caught a hen salmon (roughly 33") on a #6 Munro Killer at the head of the Lady Alexander's Catch beat. The fish was carefully released and seemed to be none the worse for being caught. Fished a floating line with a 5ft fast sink polyleader.
Dippers and kingfishers were busily flying around today; I also spotted a white wading bird - little egret possibly?

1 Salmon

With a peak at over 2m yesterday and at the gauge at over 1.4 this this AM, the Wye here was a different river to the summer with the fastest water being unapproachable but easy wading over the middle of the beat where previously it was dry. Water was very coloured with 6" visibility. 4 Grayling didn't fully commit and one at about 15" to the net, quickly returned. (Crystal Prince interpretation). Lovely day.

1 Grayling

The river was at a good height (0.99m on the Erwood gauge and dropping 5cm during the day). Clarity was also reasonable despite having lifted by over 60cm a few days earlier. At this level it was possible to give the salmon flies a good swing through most of the pools. A path has been strimmed through the wood, making it much easier to access the upper limit of the beat (much appreciated bankside maintenance, many thanks!). I was surprised not to see any salmon but two nice oos brownies (up to 1.5lb) saved me a blank.

2 Trout

Great pleasure to introduce my friend, who caught his first grayling, to this beautiful beat. Ten fish in all. All caught on spider patterns.

2 Trout, 8 Grayling

Very difficult windy conditions , two fish missed , river low . Hardly any fly hatching .

1 Grayling