Feedback & Reports

Well here we are back for the third consecutive year and on one of our top three beats for two days. Water was lower than in previous years and with much streamer weed finding its way downstream, we knew it was going to be difficult. All four dropped into their preferred swims, 'Bailif Russ' settling into the rocky swim alongside the dead fallen tree in the bottom third of the beat, 'Two Ton Trev' made use of the ample space provided in a swim 200 yds above, 'Jilted John' found comfort on the concrete bank under the large tree slightly up stream and 'Ton Up Toni' dropped into his hot spot in the middle third. Everything went according to the scripts written before us, with very little action (with the exception of Toni of course!). Nil returns from three trier's prompted movement of swims but Toni was wedged hard and fast and catching! Final returns: A collective total of 18 barbel to 9lb 12oz and a handful of chub. I pains me to state that 15 of the barbel (including the lunker) fell to the ever artful Toni. All fell to pellet over pellet and groundbait feeder tactics. Scenery as always is spectacular as is the wildlife, to be blessed to see a pair of darting Kingfishers but a few inches above your rod tip is enough to bring you back again. Ever humbled by Caradoc's beauty, if you will have us WUF, we'll be back!

Caught 3 chub, one of which pushing 6lbs caught on pellets in conjunction with pellet/grounbait feeder. Lots of weed coming down the river making fishing difficult and disappointed the barbel did not make an appearance anywhere on the stretch. Great service from Wye & Usk Foundation though. Will plan to return to the wye next year in early season and after more research.

Struggled today on what is normally a very good beat. Fished various swims throughout the day, but only managed 1 Barbel and a few Chub between 3 rods.

The last day of our 3 days on the wye, Caradoc is a beautiful part of the river with wonderful wildlife,and when we were not watching various hawks, kingfishers, and finches we found time to TRY and catch a barbel.
As we have fished the beat before we thought we knew where and how to catch them, but as with the 2 previous days locating the fish was the hard part. We started on the gravel beach at the bottom of the beat and only managed one chub,we then spent the rest of the day fishing every peg until we found some feeding fish in the middle of the beat, and we each had 4 good barbel all between 7&8lb and 9 Chub to 4lb.The river is very low and clear and every one we spoke to said the river is fishing hard, BUT in our 3 days fishing, by traveling light and roving about we have caught 61 barbel and 27 chub between 2 of us. What a great holiday and MANY thanks to W.U.F for a wonderful service

Weather was wet for most of the day. Fished luncheon meat at the far end of the beat for most of the afternoon without success. Ended up with 3 chub to 4 1/2lb on pellet after changing tact and moving. Lovely beat with good access to the water and plenty of swims to explore!

Fishing very slow due to the river being gin clear and very low. During the day best to keep moving and try to spot the fish (either that or go to the pub !) we saw them flashing in a nearside gulley between the weed and one of us had 3 barbel out during the day. Evening is when the fishing picks up with a total of 10 barbel to 4 rods.

Fished 2 days, 5 Barbel, 4 Chub.

River was very low, with quite a lot of weed coming through which made fishing difficult. Fished a number of swims from about 11am - 9pm, with a couple of good barbel (both over 8lb) coming in the final hour to pellet. Very nice beat, will hopefully be back when conditions are more favourable.

At last managed to get on this beat! River low and lots of floating weed coming downstream. We plumbed to fish the bottom end of the beat as the flow was faster, both rods using pellets. Jack kicked off with his first barbel after about 3/4 hour and continued to take a further 5 up to lunch time. I was in a perfect looking glide and managed to blank! My fault, not the river's. I must learn to sit on my hands for longer and let the rod pull round! We fished the middle slower sections 1-4.30pm with no takes so it was back downstream and oncve again Jack was into the barbel, taking a further 8 fish to just under 9lb. I managed to save the blank with 2 barbel and 1 chub. Thank god for that!

Canoeists were all good. 1 little tip - if you want them to go on the far side tell them near side bank and vice versa because none of them can paddle straight anyway!

Thanks to everyone at Wye & Usk.

The last day of our trip to the Wye and I was at last able to get on this beat. Access is superb, being able to drive all along the bank and the croys provide a number of swims. The stretch is a mix of glides and deeper slower sections, with the bottom section being much faster. This bottom section looked superb, but as this beat is on a footpath, it seems to become a haven for picnics, people swimming etc. I would not reccommend fishing this beat on a weekend.

The fishing was very difficult due to drifting weed, which made keeping a line in the water almost impossible. 1 barbel of 9lb caught at last knockings, so well worth the wait.

Thanks WUF for a great three days on the Wye. Even if the fishing is tough, the surroundings more than make up for it.