Feedback & Reports

A cold downstream wind made the fishing quite tough but I managed a few on spiders (Waterhen Bloa and Dark Moorgame), and at lunchtime there was a decent hatch of LDO's, and I found a few fish rising in the pool at the top of the beat. They readily took a size 14 CDC Dun. Nothing bigger than a pound but a pretty decent haul for the day. The gauge was about 10 inches at Glanusk which is still a little high for this beat in terms of wading for trout fishing. Maybe this is a better option for lower water conditions. On the whole it feels like this beat could use a bit of TLC. The access isn't great and the walkway is falling apart with bits of stray barbed wire here and there which took a fancy to my new waders! Perhaps this is a good salmon beat but I would say that this beat struggles to justify its high price tag for the trout fishing when compared with other WUF beats. That said, I'm sure that the beat holds some excellent trout and if you run into one or two lunkers, it makes the price easier to accept.

12 Trout

Water level low, no fish seen.

1 Trout

I found the river in excellent shape, a few inches up and slightly coloured, and immediately started getting busy with trout to a pound or so on heavy nymphs and the spinning rod (most returned). It was a fine day and I didn't think there had been much rain, so I was surprised when the river began to shoot up - I measured four inches in 15 minutes at one point. Unsurprisingly As the water coloured up the trout stopped taking and the fun was over. No sign of salmon except for one heavy splash from the head of the pool. I stuck to the main pool, which amounts to a good 300 yards of some of the most salmony-looking water on the Usk. It's easy enough to fish when lowish, but it gets a bit tricky once the walkway is under water (ie when there's more than about a foot of extra water). At any height most of this pool is far too rough to wade, and because of the high bank and trees it's very difficult to cover it with a single-hander - I was alternating the spinner with a trout leader on a double-hander. There is some justification to earlier comments about difficulty of access on this beat. It doesn't appear to be possible to reach the left bank unless it's low enough to wade across by the island. The upper part of the right bank is extremely overgrown (though very trouty when low). Please note that the 'white gate' is long gone - there's just a gap leading to a steep and narrow path down through the jungle to the water. Best to access the main pool by following the public footpath downriver and climbing over the barbed wire.

6 Trout

River was too fast and dangerous to fish.

River was low and clear, we tried most options all to no avail sadly, must do better next season!

River level not ideal but tried with various small flies - couple of bites but nevertheless had a great day in beautiful surroundings..

Water levels relatively high. Small trout caught.

1 Trout

We found this beat rather hard to fish. The long flat at the bottom of the beat was up to waist with the river at summer level so would have been very difficult to fish with any more water coming down, as would the streamier run alongside the walkway. Access from the high bank was difficult. Fish were rising most of the day coming to mainly drys, sometimes targeting a rise and other times speculating. Best fish was 16". SC caught what he is sure was a small sea trout approx. 12". JT spotted a Mink in the undergrowth and then climbing an overhanging tree. A good day with bright and warm sunshine which didn't seem to put the fish off

14 Trout

River perfect, four good fish up to 3lb, all taken on dry fly, no fish taken.

6 Trout