Feedback & Reports

River in lovely form - slightly higher than normal summer levels and with a greenish tinge. All fish came to pellet and meat on groundbait feeder dropped in the margins of the faster water at the pool at the bottom of this beat. Difficult to hold bottom - giant feeders needed. Plenty of snags to worry about. Lost more fish than we landed. Other swims looked tempting but we were lazy after the previous days exertions. Great to see Don again. Many thanks WUF and owners for looking after this wonderful river.

7 Barbel, 1 Chub

Hot hot day and long walk from youth hostel car park. There are not many swims you can get down to at the moment and I'm not one who minds a bit of adventure but short of a small chainsaw and petrol strimmer there were not many options! We only fished one of the rods due to lack access but it produced a couple of nice sized barbel which this stretch is known for. There are, we found (following a canoe recon trip later in week) some swims beyond the pumping station but it is a trek!

2 Barbel

Roving along beat 1 fishing pellet on the swim feeder. 3 barbel and 4 chub in the morning, 1 barbel and 2 chub mid afternoon, 8 barbel and 6 chub early evening. River coloured and slightly up on summer levels. Fantastic opening day to the season. A long walk so travelled light, fantastic scenery along this stretch!

12 Barbel, 12 Chub

River high and off colour. Conditions not great but good day out. Few small fish seen in slacker margins.

Halibut pellet, hair rigged on a 2oz running ledger rig.

1 Chub

A good days fishing with a new PB barbel of 11lb 13oz. A tough day to begin with. The fish didn't turn on until late afternoon. Five bites then came in quick succession resulting in 2 x chub around 3lb and three barbel weighing 7lb 10oz, 8lb 12oz and 11lb 13oz. In summary a nice stretch of river. It is a long walk but that was expected. My criticism would be the lack of swims due to fallen trees etc. With the river high we were a little limited. We also struggled to accurately workout were the fishery began and ended (maybe a sign would help). My angling partner didn't fair so well only managing the one chub around 3.5lb.

3 Barbel, 3 Chub

Having fished the Wyebank and Courtfield a few times we decided to have a look at the other side.
The track to the Youth hostel parking is interesting and requires care but is not a problem and the parking is fine. The Hostel seems to operate a cafe which is worth investigating further.
The walk up to the beat is not unpleasant and takes about 15 mins. There is plenty to go at, we walked to the top of the beat and even with the river a couple of ft over it was no problem finding swims. The banks are steep in places but easy enough to get down. In hindsight we should have fished fewer swims but with the bright sunshine and great company it just happened the way it did, the fish were a bonus. Great to catch up with Don. Looking forward to fishing this beat again in the summer, especially if the water is high.

2 Barbel, 2 Chub

The river is within its banks, still lots of colour, was flowing through faster than I'd imagined, struggled to hold bottom with a 4oz lead! Also it was our first time on this stretch and conditions made it hard to establish any river bed features. 1 chub caught by my friend, I'm gutted to have blanked but a very nice stretch of river and I will definitely give it another go when its not carrying so much pace.

1 Chub

We arrived at the car park at first light full of excitement for the day ahead. We decided to walk up to the top of the beat as this was our first visit to Home Fishing and wanted to see what we had to work with. We noticed that most of the beat is inaccessible due to the large number of tree's and bushing along the bank. There are however a lot of gaps which would be ideal to stick your bait in for 20 mins if you could last that long. We started at the top of the fishery, dropping in a few swims to try and find the fish. After an hour in the first swim I had no bites so I went to see JJ to see how he was getting on. It turns out he was doing worse than me. As he set up his chair he realised he had lost a screw and had no chair for the day. I of course found this very amusing. We each worked our way through the very tight spots this best has to offer with no joy. It was looking like it would not be our day. We each found another tight swim which looked promising so hope was restored. First cast with a huge piece of meat produced a 2lb chub for me, the bite was almost instant. I got my meat straight back out and waited patiently whilst watching the anglers on the far bank throwing their bait at each other. (They must have been bagging up). All of a sudden my rod wrapped round and instantly I knew this wasn't a small chub. It was a slow powerful fight so I knew I was in to a good barbel. Shaking with excitement I slipped the net under a stunning Wye double. I rushed a couple of bushes along to JJ to take the all important photo. As I got to him he was just releasing an 8lb barbel. I posed for the photo after weighing the 11lb beast with a cheesy grin on my face. It seemed they were coming on the feed! After celebrating in my usual fashion, I quickly cast in with the hope of another. It wasn't to be. Tried various baits with no joy so we decided to have one last swim change before dark. First cast JJ looses all his gear in a bush and the curse words swiftly followed. With no more action we headed back to the car after a satisfying day. We had to work very hard for our fish which made it very rewarding. I'll take a double any day. After catching the most and biggest fish, I had all the bragging rights on the journey home. JJ was just glad to be sat down after his chair trouble. We rounded of the day with lots of Guinness. Can't wait for the next visit to this fantastic river. Thanks WUF.

2 Barbel, 1 Chub

A stretch for those who like to stretch (their legs). One of our party who fished right at the top for a while (where he caught the 'other' - a prime gudgeon) estimated he walked 7 miles in total over the day. A nice stretch with a lot of wildlife to see - including an otter putting in a star appearance. Fish caught mainly near pumping station and the obvious swims at the bottom of the fishery.

3 Barbel, 9 Chub, 1 Other