Feedback & Reports

7 brown trout , best 11" plus one smolt. All returned.
PS. This beat is shorter than described. Nearer 1,000 yards i.e. just over half a mile.

Good Large Dark Olive hatch despite cold NE wind. Hatch started about 12:00 and continued all through the afternoon until we left at 5:00. Small trout rising freely. 6 fish between us to about 3/4 lb. Olive comparadun, royal wulf, olive goldhead and goldhead pheasant tail.

Fished on Saturday (and on Tuesday after the river had cleared). Lovely beat. Caught (with partner Becca) 7 on first day, 13 or so on next all on dry fly and all to consistent rises. Was delighted to see biggest March Brown hatch I have seen on the Usk in seven years although we caught mainly on LDO (and Grannom imitations) just as we do every year. Must try a March Brown soon! Lovely beat, good weekend to fish it.

A very pleasant day. Cloudy/mild. Good hatch of pale ephemera at lunchtime and a few large dark olives. Missed two on olive klnkhammer. Cauught and returned 4 around 1/2 ponnd mark on beaded olive nymph. Thanks to wuf for a very nice day.

Nothing landed, one hooked and lost, a couple missed. There were great numbers of large dark olives and grannoms (I think) but few fish rising. This is not the best beat for a sunny weekend afternoon. There were dogs being swum in the river and a large barbecue party on the bank, complete with swimmers and a rubber dinghy!

Early this afternoon in the big pool at the top of the Glan-yr-Afon beat just below the Crawnon and fishing a #14 Olive Emerger on a 6X tippet, I landed and returned a 21" (nose to tail fork rounded down) brown trout. It took about 15 mins to land after taking several desperate long runs and then holding station in the relatively strong current before I managed to coax it into a quiet eddy.

Using Weight in pounds = 0.000427 X Length in inches3 from page 81 of 'The Trout' by Frost and Brown, I calculate a hefty 3.95 lbs!! The fish was in good condition so I assume this to be a realistic weight. This is only my second trout of the 2010 season. Later I hooked a greedy 6" dace on the same fly. It's all about luck!

All Taken on a Dry Spent Mayfly.

1 x Brown Trout 11" Taken
1 x Brown Trout 12.5" Taken
1 x Brown Trout 6.5" put back

Weather was good, several hatches, but not many rising.

Stayed at the Bear, a nice place to stay.

Nice beat. Water low and clear. Weather bright, sunny and warm. No significant hatch all day, and only the odd fish rising here and there. Fishing 10am-5pm, two of us managed 10 trout between 8" and 12" on a variety of nymphs and dries. There were a few Grannom around in the morning, but the afternoon was virtually hatch free. My theory is that the LDOs were confused and thought it was June. Easy mistake given the blues slkies and 18 deg temperature.

The morning of 3rd March found us travelling on the M4 full of anticipation. Our first glimpse of the Usk at Glan-yr-Afon filled us with hope. The easterly wind was doing its damage throughout the day, penetrating my 5 layers of clothing and the wading was treacherous. Scouring the gutters and deep pools with a cocktail of heavy flies did not produce anything. Even the latest gammarus inspiration that was tied especially for this trip did not produce. So it was perching on a rock with a comfortable padding of lichen and waiting for the large dark olives. Suddenly at around 1:30 in the afternoon they started popping one by one on the surface. Eyes fixed on the water and head revolving like a periscope, I waited for the fish to rise. It was not to be. I could have changed to spiders, but resisted the temptation for more than an hour until it was obvious that surface action was not on the menu. Eventually I succumbed to a waterhen bloa and a partridge and orange with a gold head on the point and headed for a fast glide. A few casts later a lovely wild brownie became airborne and marked the beginning of the season. I had another pull and that was it for the day. Companion number two managed to find some fish rising further upstream and lured three to the dries. That’s the Usk. A lovely river, but it does not give up its wild fish easily.