Feedback & Reports

9 x trout 10 - 16 inches, on various mayfly patterns. That might seem like a rather slow day for two rods, but doesn't take account of the number of fish, some of them of good size, we rose, missed, turned over or otherwise pulled out of during play! For some reason, it was one of those days when they tended not to stick. It was a grey, murky day, warm and close, and ended with a sharp shower of rain which soaked us. And of course Monnow Valley, overgrown as it is, is always "rough fishing." But what fun it was, and full of incidents. Consider this example: While I'm stood changing my fly on a pool tail, a trout of about a pound and a half suddenly leaps up about a foot from the surface and not more than five yards upstream and neatly takes a mayfly on the wing. Noting that we have just fished and waded through that shallow place, with somewhat trembling hands I tie on the largest Mohican Mayfly I can find in my box and flick it up there. On the third run down, a silver shape comes shimmying up through the slightly coloured water and sucks it down. I set the hook and, as often the case with trout hooked in shallowish water, this one begins a series of high leaps. After the second leap the fish comes off. I am left fishless, but chuckling with sheer delight at the whole game. Monnow magic!

River fined down a bit from last week. Overcast day. A few mayfly and yellow mays started to hatch sporadically from mid day. Had 17 trout through the day, best fish 15". All taken on a dry Greenwells.

THE GOOD: Fished sections upstream of house and caught 6 good trout up to 14in in first 1 1/2 hours.
THE BAD: Tried to find the next wade-able section upstream of this section. No paths, no markers, broken stile. Expensive waders at risk of tearing. Very hot day so got very sweaty hacking through the undergrowth. Couldn't find the next section and after 1/2 hour gave up and had lunch.
Decided I wouldn't bother with the upstream section and left.
One day with a brush-cutter and a few coloured sticks as markers would transform this fishery into the state it deserves. I will not be returning to this beat when there are so many better beats available.

Nil caught. Lovely warm weather and a pleasure to fish the river. Access was difficult in places as others have commented. The river was quite coloured which was surprising given the recent hot weather. A few mayflies were about and some pond skater type insects. The fish however showed no interest with no rises seen all day. All in all a bit disappointing.

No fish seen rising or caught, access rather difficult.

A pleasant day. The river is still pushing though a bit, with a touch of colour. Plenty fly hatching - mayfly, yellow may dun, etc. Finished with 8 brown trout, one 9", the rest all 11" - 13". All came to dry fly - large olive klink worked fine. If you could find a rising fish, it didn't seem fussy on pattern.

2 x trout 6 and 14 inches. I really struggled with Monnow Valley today and I wonder how the previous day's party got on? I had of course checked the webcam before booking, but somehow the water turned out to be rather higher and definitely muddier than I had appreciated. A little colour can be a good thing, and may even help avoid spooking trout on a shallow pool tail, but this river was really quite thick. A certain amount of fly was coming off, notably yellow may and a very few true mayflies, but almost no fish reacting at the surface. I spent the day marching up and down trying to find rising trout, but without much luck. One little fellow rising on a pool tail at the top end - got him on a size 16 Adams. OK, a 6 inch trout is a start. A more interesting looking sip against the alder roots a little above the mill - got that one on the same fly, a handsome fish arrayed in the Monnow colours of 14 inches. That's a brace I thought, but that turned out to be all. About an hour later, another good one in a similar location - only pricked him. Another hour and another rise - managed to put that one down. So the day went on. The temperature got up to around 25 degrees, some warm clothing was discarded and I had plenty of exercise for my brace of trout. Oh, and I kicked a poacher off the lower part of the beat and informed the owners. Still, it was an enjoyable day if rather a challenging one. In a couple of days time, with the water cleared and the mayfly properly on song, it may fish very well indeed. It was also interesting to see the changes wrought by the past floods, which were quite dramatic. There is debris in trees up to 10 or 12 feet above the surface and the Mill House was quite close to being flooded they tell me.

Nothing caught & nothing even seen...

No fish caught. Weather quite cold and breezy with no apparrent fly life or fish activity. Stayed for only approx 90 mins due to weather.

River in flood so fishing was pretty difficult. No fish caught.