Feedback & Reports

Caught 3 barbel and 6 chub for 4 rods, very hard fishing and disapointing return from a normally good beat.

Thankfully after our pantomimes of the last two days we arrived at the beat with no mishaps other than the self-harm caused by our lack of restraint the previous evening.

The river was two feet up and tanking through carrying plenty of colour so our hopes were high although we knew it wouldn't be easy as in our experience MHC is quite difficult to fish due to the proliferation of snags in many areas, it's a real tackle eater. However, whilst the numbers of barbel caught here are often lower than other beats, the average size seems to be high with plenty of clonkers being regularly reported so it's well worth persevering with.

We weren't to be disappointed and although we had only 4 barbel and 5 chub between us (and lost loads of terminal tackle) 2 of the barbel were over 9lbs with the best going 9-11, a thoroughly deserved p.b. for TC!

It could and probably should have been better given the conditions and the effort we put in but it would be churlish to moan after 2 such fantastic, fin perfect fish!

Just a couple of other things of note.

The canoe flotillas were out in force and the number of d***heads that pilot them never ceases to amaze me and is getting progressively worse as every season goes by! I've no issue with the folks who do it properly, they've as much right as me to be on the river and I've found them universally polite and considerate but words fail me on some of the rest!

We observed a large amount of fish activity at MHC with numbers of large salmon AND barbel crashing out of the water at regular intervals throughout the day. One of the barbel that leapt out directly in front of me positively dwarfed the 9-11 I'd just seen, it was huge!

A totally different day to monday, found some decent swims at the very top of the beat, casting over the main flow amongst the streamer weed caught 2 very nice barbel 7lb 6 oz and my new p.b dead on 10lb, very happy!

Fishing for Barbel & Chub in inclement weather, only took the one Barbel of about 8lb early eveing fishing at the far end of the beat (the Vanstone). Walk most of the beat couldn't find any outher swims outher than up river from parsons tree stream.

A hard days fishing covering the entire beat. Access to some swims was difficult but with a little thought on foot placement most were visited. Word of warning to be careful in the wet as it became very slippery after the rain.
Three barbel to 8lb and a hatful of chub up to 5lb came our way in a beautiful location that even the rain couldn't spoil. Bait was meat of various descriptions and pellets through a feeder. Suprised how much the river bed had changed since last year as bolders that I remember in certain locations had either disappeared or gone completely! The only down side was the amount of line and litter we collected up including disposable bbq's. I do not think these were left there by the paying guest but by others fishing illegally as we removed around twenty single line rigs from the water attached to various implements from willow rods to pieces of metal wedged in the bank. Some appeared very recently added. All were destroyed and taken away!

WUF note: this information has been forwarded to the fishery bailiff.

A very disappointing day, access to one side of the river was no longer available even though it said on the map it was double bank fishing, it now has a construction site in opperation! The side I could fish had a few what I call good looking swims that were easy enough to get close to the river and fish properly but alot were far to overgrown to attempt and mixed with the bright, extremely hot sunny conditions meant I ended up with just two chub! It's a shame as the surroundings are beautiful, just a bit of attention needed to the swims to make them a bit more fishable and being able to get near them, I could not even attempt going through the wood to the bottom swim as it was thick and shoulder high with over growth! Not sure what I'm going to do Wednesday as I'm booked in advance here again, it's a worry.

Two rods caught 3 barbel 5lb, 7lb14ozs, 9lb2ozs. All fish were caught from van stone pegs using meat and pellets fished up against streamer weed. Very hot day put fish off feeding until cloud cover at 4pm. Fantastic scenery and a great place to fish. Definitely will come back again.

Fishing Saturday the 25th we found the river up and colored but settled in to swims that have produced for us in previous seasons. The fishing proved to be quite challenging almost as much as some of the canoe parties that passed by. Making subtle changes to location and presentation did pay off and the barbel were begrudgingly coming to our nets. Finishing Saturday with around a dozen barbel, a chub and some eels for good measure between two rods. Returning on Sunday 26th our concern was on the forecast for bright sunshine and temperatures close to 30 but this was before we saw that the river had come up over night by a good 3ft and was transporting large trees out to sea! My previous swim was now in the river and hopes of fish were slim. We stuck it out and some how did manage to land the odd barbel, the biggest just shy of 9lb, at times in mad fishing conditions.

No salmon but one trout 3/4lb and one chub 5lb both on salmon fly, the latter got the heart pounding for a second. Did see a few salmon before the boats started to come though but all went dead.

We fished on and off all day with 2 barbel and a chub for our efforts. Static and roving approaches, mixture of baits - the barbel just didn't want to know. They spawned in April so unless they have had a second round of it then it was inexplicably quiet. Lovely to be back out bait fishing on the river.