Feedback & Reports

Booked early on the day after overnight rainfall in Wales. Arrived at the bank early to find the river in spate at a good 3 foot over LSLs. Hunted out the slacker water off the crease. Could not find feeding fish till late afternoon when the river had fined down to around 18" over LSL's. 5 barbel to 7.5lbs, 3 chub to 2lbs all on pellet. The other gentleman who had booked on the same stretch (Paul), I witnessed weighing a perfect 10 3/4lb barbel.

Lovely day, near perfect conditions - mild, river up and coloured. Had 3 barbel, 5, 6 and 10.75 lbs. All taken at the lower end of the fishery on pellet. Lovely beat, excellent fishing. Thanks to all at the WUF and to fellow angler Simon for helping to photograph and return the fish. Limited access to the lower end of the beat.

Beautiful stretch of river, could do with a sign to confirm you are on the right beat (at least for "out of towners"). Arrived early but was woefully inequipped for the river, no fish in the 5/6 hours I was there, another chap had fished the previous day with no luck either. Fished the Vanstone Pool and was even more snaggy than I had imagined. Advice - take lots of heavy weight and be prepared to lose some tackle.

Overall great place to fish with enormous promise.

Tough going today, tried the obvious beats on the upper section with no joy then moved downstream to some of the newly cleared (to me anyway) swims and roved around for one barbel of 8.12, then headed back upstream at dusk for 2 more barbel and a chub plus one lost to a snag, once again pellet was the bait to catch on it seems.

With the river only about a foot up on conditions that had been kind to us before we were both confident of a good days fishing. K.P had chose to fish for barbel while I opted for a change and targeted the pike. I walked the whole stretch fishing the most likely looking swims and was pleased with the two pike I caught which although only small were very nicely marked and in great condition. K.P did catch four barbel to around 7lb which he had to work hard for, moving swims and changing tactics paying off.

River just under 2 feet up, looked really good but finding the fish was not easy. Ended up with 8 barbel to 7.5 pounds and 1 chub. Most of the fish did not come from the more popular swims on this beat. Pellet again!

First visit to this stretch, managed 3 Barbel to 10.06 which is a p.b to one rod and 1 Barbel of 7.14 to the other rod. Conditions far from perfect with bright sun all day. Fish started feeding in earnest at dusk when we had to pack up.Take plenty of leads/feeders!

4 rods, complete blank not even a chub.

Arrived at 7.15am to find the river clear and looking perfect. The weather was nice and sunny, a beautiful autumn morning. We settled into a peg where the Vanstone Pool empties. After an hour I had missed a couple of knocks, lost 2 chub to an unseen snag and caught a 12lb pike on an old plug I found in the bottom of my box after it insisted on trying to eat my feeder every time I reeled it in.

Three hours later not sign of a fish so a move was on the cards. We moved to a new area and immediately resulted in a few fish - I had 3 barbel and a chub in the first few casts and again got pestered by pike trying to eat my feeder. Out went the plug and I had a 16lb pike first cast, followed by another double next cast before going back to my barbel fishing.

We ended the day with 8 barbel between 5 and 7lb, 5 pike to 16lb, 2 chub 3 to 4lb and a suprise carp I had last cast (12lb common) so a good day was had by both of us. Middle Hill Court has to be the best looking beat on the Wye at this time of the year.

Lovely day - some stretches of the beat looking very appealing for fly.

But the bank really could benefit from a little bit of management for creating access down to the river.
On the lower part of the beat the white pegs are very visible for the coarse fishermen. But above the Vanstone Pool it is very difficult to find access down to the river. This could easily be marked with a coloured plastic strip tied to a tree and a small path through the growth cleared.
Not knowing the correct access points down to the river, I got stuck in some very deep mud by the bank and only managed to free myself with great difficulty.

Thanks for all the work you are doing.

WUF Note: We will look into the access issues described above before the start of the 2011 salmon season.