Feedback & Reports

Cold ds wind. Very few MB and LDO seen. Very few rises. Some nice fish caught on nymphs and dries.

6 Trout

Very hard beat to fish. You can wade only 10% of the beat.

10 Trout

Six fish all on dries. Sparse hatch of LDO and MB early afternoon

6 Trout

Lovely to be back on the Usk again, although good grief the water was cold! That was quite tough below waist level as you have to wade a lot here, the water is still pretty high and cold and the winter floods have carved out some pretty deep holes in a couple of places that were previously easy wading near the banks. Above waist level great though, especially as I got to try out a bamboo Granger Special 8.5 I found over winter - my feet may have been numb but casting that sent a tingle up my spine, a rod over 75 years old and it still casts so sweetly. Perfect fishing tool, those old rod-builders really knew what they were doing (and while it may be just a tad heavier, far superior to any graphite I've ever fished with!). Not much hatching so the fishing was slow, but there were just a few LDOs and march browns trickling off in the early afternoon and while those brief hatches were on I managed to catch two - the best a nice one of 14.5" caught off the top on a March brown CDC Emerger to start the season in style!

Fish were in decent condition, only a little lean after winter. Interestingly the bigger one had lost about half a cm of it's lower caudal fin from sitting on the bottom over winter, and also had a long, perfect V-mark on it's shoulder (see photo); the latter must have been an old wound from a fishing bird (cormorant seen on the water today as well!), but completely healed.

Thanks for a lovely day out, great to be out on the Usk again after the long winter!

2 Trout

I walked the beat in as much as that was possible and decided not to fish. I was disappointed to find that access was pretty awful due to debris and fallen vegetation from the winter floods not having been cleared and the water was too high and fast for productive fishing, especially as it is a left bank fishery with much of the depth being on our side of the river. Frankly it didn’t feel safe and I fished the Usk a lot so it take a lot to put me off . I’m sure that this is a lovely beat in late spring and summer but one to avoid at this time of year and with this much water about. I cut my losses and went to a different beat.

Staying very close by in Pennorth so couldn’t resist a cast on the last day of the season, more out of hope than expectation. Top half and very bottom of beat inaccessible as whilst waters had receded after v heavy weekend rain, access was still limited. No sign of salmon but a couple of o-o-s trout swiftly returned and plenty of knocks.

2 Trout

Too hot and bright all day. I saw two fish move on the upper part of the beat during the day. Caught nothing but sunburn.

Water high, fast, cold, and murky. Limited areas to fish from this bank in this water condition. Couldnt even get to upper area of the beat (upstream pf islands). Saw 2 rise just before sunset. No bites

High waters and windy so it was a tough day fishing but still managed to land 3 brown trout about 1lb using small dry flie. all fish were returned

3 Trout

Very mixed day with spells of rain then sun, also long slow periods which were very tough but also a few mayfly hatches which gave some good fishing - caught 4 trout on dry mayfly emerger patterns, big range in size - 6, 9, 15 and a nice one just over 18" (photos below). All in superb condition - plump, fin- and scale- perfect. All returned as usual.

Had a kingfisher fly straight over my shoulder at one point, think I must have inadvertently been standing near the burrow in one of the banks! Frequently had a kingfisher within sight through the day, and of course the masters completely outclassed me for long periods! :) Also a pair of green sandpiper seen on one bankside. The river is looking a nice level now thanks to the recent rain, great to see after the drought last year. On the downside, the Japanese knotweed and Himalyan balsam is now completely blanketing the banksides at both ends of the beat, it's a real jungle now - difficult even getting through it and down the riverbank in many places. I know both these non-native invasives are hard to eradicate, but if you are looking to form a work party to attack the bloody stuff at the end of the year and at least give the natives a chance I would happily volunteer a day or two. There is so much on the banksides now that it threatens bad downstream spread too. Apart from that another lovely day though on a wonderful bit of river - thanks again to you and the owners for letting me fish it!