Feedback & Reports

Mix of bright sun and cloud with a fair breeze. Water clear. Not much going on in terms of rises despite a bit of bug life. 1 10" brownie returned and just 1 more bite. Chicken tikka made a nice lunch. Would have liked to stay longer to see if things got busier. Lovely day to be out and about.

1 Trout

Nothing caught, brief hatch for about 20 minutes mid afternoon with a few fish rising but could not get them to take my fly. Saw a Osprey.

Tough day. No fish rising. Concentrated on faster water flows with weighted nymphs. One 16 inch fish to the net. Two others lost.

1 Trout

Two trout - one a good one of 18.5", the other 12". Both came around midday when there were a few LDOs and march browns (or similar) hatching, much tougher and quieter later on. The big one obviously isn't a top predator around here - had a recent wound with several marks on it's left flank, a nasty puncture high on it's right flank/back, and another slight mark near the tail. There are one or two cormorants on the beat but I can't imagine one leaving marks like that - assume it was an otter that bit it across the back, but it escaped! Still had a lot of fight though and otherwise in good nick, pleased to say he swam off very strongly too - tough fish these Usk trout :) Some fresh otter spraint seen on one tree root too. Lost three more trout off the hook/charging for the willows. Tricky fishing in some spots as there is a lot of tree cover along the banks, hooking them is only the start and I guess you just have to accept that in some swims the odds are definitely in the fish's favour - worth fishing with strong line and barbless hooks too! Great fun though and lovely wild fishing as with many of your Usk beats.

Away from the fishing one plus point of all that nice canopy cover - I found a definite hazel dormouse nut on one bankside, round opening with smooth face, and angled tooth marks on the outer face. I expect they may already be on record locally as the Usk valley has some nice woodland cover, but nice to know they are here all the same?

2 Trout

Fished from noon, and from them into early afternoon there were some flurries of March Brown. Caught three trout in that period, all to rising fish, two were beauties up to the 2lb mark. Fish all in beautiful condition, not a mark on them and had obviously been feeding well recently - very plump. Once the March Browns stopped it was much quieter, still got a couple of bites but the middle of the day was definitely feeding time! Beautiful on the river today, sunny conditions and many of the birds are back - lots of swallows, house and sand martins hawking over the river again, willow warblers singing on the banks and a couple fo green sandpiper too. Japanese knotweed is getting worse at both ends, beginning to spread - whacked some of that on my way through as well as the Himalyan balsam (but was careful not to take any splinters with me!)

3 Trout

I got to the river about 11am to find a large hatch of olives, and the fish rising to them, appearing not to mind that an otter was hunting amongst them. I started just downstream of the otter, who I think was hunting outside my beat, and caught a nice fish immediately on a weighted olive nymph. After that it got a bit harder, had takes on the nymphs through the day, and caught two more fish.

3 Trout

1 Trout

Four trout to dry fly one to nymph. All returned. Very exposed in the high winds and only a very short hatch of March Browns.

Enjoyable day

5 Trout

Blanked. River very low - surprised to see it was even lower than in late July, and now with lots of large, green algal mats. Some runs that usually held fish even in late July were now much too low or slow; still saw plenty of fish but most were clustered in slower pools. They were extremely spooky with the water being so low and clear, not much hatching either so they were very difficult to fish for. I had to work hard for just three bites using delicate casts and realistic, footprint mayfly imitations - but unfortunately did not manage to hook any of them. I tried nymphs and caddis patterns too in various patterns but they got no interest at all (the sparse hatches late afternoon/evening were mostly mayflies though). It really needs a good spell of rain not only to top the river up, but flush all the green algae out. Still a beautiful beat though and saw plenty of wildlife including dippers, kingfishers, a pair of green sandpipers, grey wagtails and many Daubenton's bats skimming over the water at dusk. Fresh otter spraint on a rock near the beat start. Don't know if you're aware but in addition to the Himalayan balsam (which is pretty much everywhere these days sadly), there is a nasty patch of Japanese knotweed just on the bankside beside the 'beat start' sign. Thanks and look forward to returning when the river has got more water!

No fish for the guy from Germany ;) Had to arrange with this beat in the first minutes. Thought the morning would be best and started at 6 am. Unfortunately no fish were rising.
The upper and downer part of the beat were jungle and it was nearly impossible to get trough. So I concentrated on the middle part. Steep banks and muddy shoreline, so wading was tricky - you had to find the right spot.
Wind was freshing up so no dry fly fishing from 8am on.
Tried my best with the nymph, but didn't manage to catch a fish.
I've seen and spooked some fish and spotted a very nice huge brown, but didn't get her on the line.
Scenery was perfect and I think the evening would have been better.
Stopped fishing at 11 am and travelled further.
Next time next try.