Feedback & Reports

Took a few hours out from a family holiday to enjoy the delights of the River Wye. I definitely picked the wrong day! The weather was horrendous and, being a non-fishing holiday, I was poorly equipped for the conditions! Lost 1 barbel and caught another around 8lbs. Whilst playing the fish, slipped over twice in the muddy conditions created by the torrential rains. Plenty of bites in this swim too but unfortunately safety first meant I had to move and caught nothing else. 4 hours fishing and I think I was wetter than the barbel I was trying to catch! Lovely stretch, definitely more like a 3/4 mile walk!

Fantastic stretch of water with some great pegs that have been cut out. Long walk which means travel light as possible. Finished the afternoon with 4 barbel and a chub and lost 3 cut off on a snag.

Started on the float but struggled a bit with the main flow of water over towards the far bank. Only one small chub in three hours. Switched to feeder tactics for the last two hours and picked up seven barbel to 8 1/2 lbs to round off a superb days fishing. It's a fair trek from the car park, so best to travel light but the beat map and parking instructions were very clear.

After quite a tiring walk along a rather wet and muddy track we arrived at the river. We fished just beyond the bend opposite the Weir Garden on a gravelly beach (a lovely spot) and began catching almost straight away, we ended the day with 19 barbel and 5 chub all caught on pellet. However around 1pm around 30 canoeists came round the bend and landed their craft on the same beach as we were fishing, they had no consideration for me as I had to stop fishing as they had totally surrounded me. I spoke to one lady who seemed to be in charge and she said that they had paid to land there which I found unbelievable. She told me that's tough - deal with it. I have never encountered such rudeness from fellow river users as I have always politely lowered or removed my lines in order to let canoes pass. I ended up losing about an hours fishing due to a bunch of loud mouthed, inconsiderate 18 to 30,s. I have spoken directly to the office regarding this (with more details of the canoe company) and I understand they are investigating the incident.

21 Barbel 5 Chub 2 Roach 3 Dace on pellet meat and corn.

19 Barbel and 2 Chub all on boilie. Biggest 9lb. 6 fish lost through cut offs. Landed a few fish with hooks still in them. Certainly a long old walk.

We tried this beat with some trepidation in view of the recent reports regarding access and talk of long walks etc. They were well wide of the mark and we wondered if those anglers are used to fishing the Wye? The directions to the beat were accurate and easy to follow. The parking area is well marked. The walk along the track to the river is on very easy terrain and only takes ten minutes or so. As soon as you hit the river bank you will see that the swims are all marked by white posts. For the Wye these banks are as good as it gets and no one should have any difficulty finding a comfortable place to fish. The upper stretch has relatively shallow fast flowing water whilst the downstream area is slower and deeper. Between the four of us we covered most of the beat and without trying too hard took 16 barbel and some chub. We will probably return in the autumn when the river is carrying a little more water and which we think will suit the lower stretch in particular.

Thanks to all at the WUF for another excellent addition to your portfolio of beats.

Last day of our 1st 3 day fishing holiday on the Wye for this year. Found directions to Lower Cannon very accurate as ever and after reading some previous comments regarding access we were relieved to find a WUF parking notice in the Farm Yard. We used the first access to the river as identified on our beat map, through both fields with the cows & calfs, only to discover on our return home that this path has now been closed. Apart from the swims from the weir down to the wall end opposite the gardens, we only managed to find a couple of swims lower down where the river slows and widens, where we blanked, probably down to a Mink and Otter which we spotted working the river. Total fish caught was 18 barbel and 4 chub between the four anglers, best single catch being 7 barbel and a single chub from a swim nearing the end of the wall on the opposite bank. Many swims were very snaggy as we all lost plenty of ledger weights, another red hot day on the Wye, looks like we captured the best 3 consecutive fine days of 2012. Be back soon, many thanks to the WUF.

5 barbel and 4 good chub. Almost a different river from conditions 5 days earlier. Level dropped and more swims fishable, and the pace over the fast sections reduced. I made a point of keeping away from these snaggy areas. Two of the barbel had bad tears caused by hooks. Farmer just cut barley, so made the long walk down easier.

21 barbel caught 8lb 8oz, chub 4lb.
We found the map of the beat was very misleading, the walk to the beat was at least 1 mile from the carpark. There should be more work done between the farmer and the Trust so that it would be possible to park at the bottom of his track. This would only make the walk to the river one field. We found the farmer very helpful on which field to walk to to make it easier for us as we are both 68yrs old. We will fish this again when the problems are sorted. we stayed at Mr and Mrs Anscombe Cider Barn at the top the track near to the Trusts carpark.

WUF note - Following a meeting with the landowner and tenant farmer yesterday, July 25th 2012, we can report that the access issues will be resolved in the next few weeks. In the meantime, there is a ½ mile walk from the car park down the track to the river’s edge (measured on Google Earth and GIS). Anyone concerned about this is asked to refrain from booking Lower Canon Bridge for now. We will announce when the improvements have been made on beat’s webpage.