Feedback & Reports

The only thing I succeeded in pulling out of the river was a lamb which had become trapped in a muddy bank near the weir. Pleased to say it was reunited with it’s mother. (Can I claim the first lamb to feature in a WUF catch return? I forgot to weigh it!)
The river was as full as I’ve seen it but reasonably clear. Little in the way of hatches. I only saw one fish feeding which I hooked (GRHE) but then lost.
The Wild Garlic was pungent (especially after a heavy hailstorm) and the Bluebells are beginning to show.

fished from 12.00pm to 4.00pm no fish caught , no fish seen, all the gear no idea, my hat goes off to all of you fly fisherman, it is so hard, i have fished all my life,barbel and chub,took up fly fishing for the close season a few years ago, its taken over my life,all i want to do now is fly fish,i will get it right,loved it

2x brown trout (3/4lb and 1/2lb) taken on nymphs (yellow sallie size 14, bead head Kern emerger 14). 1x grayling (1.5lb) taken on copper bead head nymph size 18/20. 1 x grayling (roughly 1lb) hooked but not landed taken on copper bead head nymph size 18/20. A stunning day fishing during which we both caught fish. We saw kingfishers. A hatch started about 2pm after the sun broke through early cloud, that had been preceded by a rainy, cold morning. Nothing taken on dries, or spiders, or surface emergers. All fish taken on indicator rigs in rifles or fast water. Best fish big old grayling. Rather manky thing its dorsal fin split 3/4 way down and bottom side of tail fin worn down and 'rounded'. Absence of bigger trout.

I caught 3 small grayling of about 6-7 inches and 2 trout: one of about 9 inches and the other, a good fish of about 13 inches. All fish safely returned. They were all caught on hare's ear nymphs except one of the Grayling on PTN. All action in the slack just beside a couple of streamy pool necks towards the top of the beat.

No fish caught. Saw only one rising fish all day. Access to banks on western end of beat not very easy - was with 10 year old son and not wearing waders. Not a problem, but would have been good to know. Himalayan balsam abundant in places - is there a control strategy on the Lugg?

A fantastic day weather wise wasn't quite matched by the fishing! 2 WBT caught on size 20 PTN's fished NZ style under a klinkhammer. Both small, about 6". A small hatch of olives early afternoon, but no fish seen rising all day. Tried dries in the flats, nymphs in the riffles and bugs in the holes, to no avail. Beautiful beat, saw a kingfisher doing a low flyby, which is always a nice sight. Thanks to Seth for pointing me in the direction of this lovely, tranquil beat.

Unfortunately we failed to interest any fish with dries, nymphs and bugs and it was only during a small early afternoon hatch that any rises (three in total) were observed.
As is always the case when fishing along these type of rivers it doesn't always matter whether fish are landed or not as it's all about spending the day in such wonderful surroundings. Although we saw no fish we did see an array of wildlife including kingfishers, roe deer and an otter so went home relaxed and seriously content.
Thanks as always to the WUF for helping us discover yet another beautiful part of the country.

A new season. The Lugg was in excellent condition, the fish were elusive and the anglers rusty. One Brown Trout and two mini Grayling. Better days ahead...

2 x grayling 16 and 18 inches, Pink Shrimp. Another mild day by recent standards. The Lugg was a nice colour, but still very high and fast. Apart from a few parr, I had a real struggle through most of the day trying to work out where the grayling had wandered off to. However, I was lucky enough to bump into a brace of good ones before dark.

A super day out but, sadly, no fish! Probably more a reflection of our lack of grayling fishing expertise rather than lack of fish. That said, it was very windy and the river was somewhat cloudy and rose in level quite rapidly whilst we were there; presumably due to rain storms up the valley somewhere! We gave it all we had; czech nymphs, beaded pheasant tails and even dry red tags, all to no avail. Definitely a beat to come back to. The extensive barbed wire fencing was a bit of trial at times particularly as stiles were few and far between and some broken. Nonetheless, a wonderful tranquil setting with some super runs - those grayling are in there somewhere and we will be back!!