Feedback & Reports

Had a lovely day at Luggsmouth....we had about 7 barbel (up to about 6lb) between us and a couple of chub....river low and clear, could do with a fall of rain! Sadly had to end the session early, but will definately return.

2 rods. Only 2 chub caught (5lb and 3lb). 3 barbel were lost. Looks like it could produce when everything just right.

Arrived to find to river low and clear. We had to work hard for the fish and ended up roving to catch 1 or 2 from each swim before moving. I ended up with 5 barbel upto 6lb and 8 chub all around the 3lb mark, my partner had 4 barbel and 2 chub one of which weighed 5lb 10 so made his day.

Very slow day, bright & sunny, only a few Chub all day up to about 4 pounds.

First time on the Wye, river was running off nicely at just over a foot above normal levels. Fished a morning session only (on cricket and beer festival tour) from 7am to midday. Stunning scenery and cracking sport, baited up my swim (1 rod swimfeeder with hemp, halibut pellet groundbait, with hair rig pellet) 2nd rod ledgered hair rig pellet) caught a chub 1st cast, 2 barbel (7.5lb, 6.5lb): FIRST EVER BARBEL!!!!(Perfect condition,no sign of previous contact with homo sapiens). Followed up with lots more chub (best 4lb, 3lb) and got dragged all over the place by a large barbel that eventually snagged and snapped me!! Won the game of cricket as well!!! Happy days, can't wait to come back to the Wye!!

Fishery is heavily overgrown with Himalayan Balsam but managed to fight our way through. Caught 6 Chub around 3lb each and one Barbel of about 6lb between 2 rods. A very enjoyable day although I suspect the Barbel are not as prolific on this stretch. Excellent Chub fishing though !

River level looking good at last, but rained all day. Seems like the barbel have moved from their low water tightly shoaled areas, as the usual spot only gave 2 small ones for me. Wobbly legged dad managed a load of chub and as we were packing up I looked upriver to see him, rod hooped over, trying to pull a barbel from the far bank snags while sat in a pile of mud. I did laugh.

He took a tumble trying to save his rod which was rapidly disappearing into the river and without his crutches couldn't do much but sit there in the mud and try to haul it out. To his credit, he didn't lose it and finally got his first barbel this year at about 6lb. :) Happy, soggy days.


p.s. Should be noted that the field and track to the river was still very solid on leaving, but the small area between the inner gates was getting slippy and if the rain continues, the safest way to get in/out will be to open the two inner gates at the same time, and drive straight through without stopping. Stopping between gates is going to create a mudbath and make future visits a bit more difficult.

I think we were lucky to catch the river fining down nicely after last week's much needed flush of rain.
I had 6 barbel to 9lb from 3 different swims, and 3 chub to 4lb. Fish caught on pellets and little boilies.
J M caught 5 barbel to over 7lb and lost what seemed to be a bigger one on last cast of the day.
We both suffered the obligatory losses of feeders and end rigs - I wonder how many feeders and hooks festoon the Wye barbel pools!
A good day's fishing on this lovely river in beautiful countryside - worth the 200 mile round trip.
Just one observation which slightly takes the edge off the fishing... When I started looking I noticed that most of my fish had other quite fresh hook marks in their mouths. One fish had evidence of three recent hookings. It seems to be a feature of the Wye that the barbel tend to be concentrated in quite small areas. With the continual increase in angling pressure, some of these shoals are being fished for every day. Just an observation - and as this has been our first year fishing the Wye, I admit to being part of the problem. The fish don't seem to come to harm and the fishing is too good to pass by. I wonder if the barbel will eventually become as wary of tackle as the fish on our local Avon and Stour.
This short beat gives a very nice day's fishing for two anglers, with easy access and enough likely swims to be interesting.
Thanks WUF

We arrived at dawn to witness a multitude of leaping salmon, we would of been there earlier had we not been stopped by the police in Fownhope! "You've driven all the way from wiltshire to fish? You're mad!" She was right, we are.

The fishing was tough. A smattering of chub kept our hopes up through the morning, one of them nearly pulled my companion into the river! He was certain it was a barbel and I couldn't disguise my glee when a chub surfaced at the net. The canoes were not too bad, we caught a brace and ate them with a nice salad for lunch.

I contacted and immediately lost a barbel early afternoon, then it seemed to switch off. We couldn't even raise a few tiddlers trotting bread punch. Late afternoon a dinghy with an outboard attached chugged upstream, soulless git. It was around 6pm when things started to liven up. I took a barbel from the mouth of the Lugg and the chub came back on the feed, providing some entertainment for my comrade.
We fished hard until dark. One more barbel fell to my rod at dusk from Upper Sally's. My friend remained barbus free but I think he's gone off them after being attacked by a shoal at Backney last year.

It was a lovely day all in all, one of those days when a couple of hard won fish provide a great deal of satisfaction.

Managed to break my current barbel drought at last. Spent the bulk of the day watching my dad hauling chub without getting a single nibble myself. Wet and windy, so I wasn't that keen to go roving, but I'm glad I did, because at about 5pm I found the barbel tightly shoaled up and proceeded to take 7 in 90 mins, averaging 6lb, 7lb the biggest. There seem to be fish all over the stretch, mainly chub, but in low water conditions the barbel obviously hold up in one or two areas. Find these and the sport is very, very good. Not as big as the barbel in some other WUF stretches, but quite willing to eat baits, and many were completely unmarked with no evidence of having been hooked previously. Great day.