Feedback & Reports

1 Trout

Did not land the two that i connected with. Owners have greatly improved both parking facilities and access to the river which was wonderful to see. Looking forward to my next visit.

First time for me on this beat and shared with Ian (nice to meet you!) who arrived at the same time in the early afternoon. Found some rising fish straight away to March browns and large dark olives, landed 3 including a beauty of approx. 2lb. Several other large fish fixated on smaller stuff. Headed to the upper end for the late afternoon, where there was a continuous hatch of LDOs, olive uprights and some Turkey Browns (?). The trout were on them throughout, reaching a peak around 5.30-6.30pm. Landed 3 more and lost as many more including some brutes. Decent stamp of fish and only 1 tiddler amongst them. All landed on home tied CDC emergers or split wing patterns. Lovely day and nice beat, will be back.

6 Trout

1 Trout

Hoped to have this small beat to myself but sadly not. Some great fish here but not a lots of 'shots'.... lost both the best 2... so frustrating!!!

Great new work by the owners for access. Respect.

5 Trout

Nil caught. One lost fish. Bright, mostly sunny day, light breeze.

Didn’t fish

have to say, this beat feels like it has been overfished, and on top of that, the trout population seems to be a shadow of what it used to be. I was fortunate enough to have ideal conditions but despite that, very few fish were rising, and the ones that were rising displayed all the hallmarks of being over pressured. A great disappointment.

Fishing Passport Note : Compared to other popular Usk fisheries, and club waters, Upper Tower would not be considered one that is over-fished. Rods are limited in number each day.

6 Trout

Tough day with very few rising fish and a downstream wind. Despite fairly coloured water, the fish were very picky.

4 Trout

Was surprised to see a few changes to this beat on arrival - a new bankside style over the fence to the beat start, a grip on the fencng further up, some boards with pool names and some signs of clearance amongst the jungle of Himalayan balsam and Japanese knotweed - even a few pockets of nettles, garlic mustard and celandine poking though, more than I can remember at this time of year. Very well done to the new owners Rachel and Shaun - it's great to see that this beat has now landed in good hands. I've offered to help with a working party here before, and will offer an extra pair of hands if you want to attack that further later in the year! (I do habitually destroy some of those invasives as I walk along the bank, worth all visitors doing that too to make a dent - just make sure you don't take any scraps away on your boots or let it fall in the river -every little helps!)

Anyway, to the fishing. It was very tough for most of the day, but I did manage to find a couple of small mayfly hatches in the early afternoon. A few LDOs but also some smaller, darker mayflies - I think maybe iron blues? They completely ignored my LDO patterns anyway but a switch to a small iron blue dry produced three. The biggest was a beauty - 19", and led me a merry dance down the river. I was worried I would not be able to get that in, as it powered off into the main surge of the river which was pretty high after the recent rain. However the through action of the bamboo did it's job beautifully not only with a gentle cast but cushioning those runs (a Phillipson Powr Pakt #5). Still nearly lost it nearside, as the crafty bugger then ran under a log projecting under the bank - I had to wade out for some instream gymnastics to gingerly poke the line off the end, thankfully the fish was still there. After that everythign switched off again, a couple of half-hearted knocks on wets but they weren't really interested. Thanks again for a lovely day out!

3 Trout