Feedback & Reports

5 Wild trout: 3/4lb, on CDC green drake. 1 "slightly smaller" on goldhead ptn. 1 at 8", and 2 at 6". All returned.

Started early at 8am and fished through until around 1.30pm.
Water was still very cold, which may explain why we only caught 1 small WBT between us. There was sporadic rises to the odd mayfly, but again due to cold temperatures even they are not up to large populations yet. Excellent beat though and can see the potential for catching lots in the right conditions.

3 WBT to about 10oz caught- all then deep on tungsten caddis. Despite cold wind brief hatch of olives p.m but only saw one or two fish raise to them. Very interesting stretch of river - just a shame lack of surface activity.

8 WBT caught largest about 1.5lbs or 37cm. All taken upstream nymphing with size 16 goldheads, Icelandic Peacock and HE. Fishing slowed off in late afternoon with very bright sunshine. Strong gusty wind, some fly life coming off with occasional rising fish seen but it still does not feel much like late spring !

13 Brown Trout to 2½lbs. Lost 6. 19 Brown Trout hooked. All fish taken on dogsbody dryfly. 10 Brown Trout on a size 16. 3 Brown Trout on a size 14. A lovely water and what a fight from the big fish!

17 x trout 8-17 inches, taken on various spiders, Dark Olive Sparkle Dun and Deer Hair Emerger. The spring weather threw about everything at the river Usk today, hot sun, cold winds, drenching rain. There were very sparse hatches of both large dark olives and also march browns - just a few - and rather than intense, these hatches went on for most of the afternoon. The fish were definitely interested, but it was necessary to work out which insect they were switched on to in each pool. The spiders were used for when nymphs were being taken in the fast water; the dries for fish feeding on adults in the slow glides. There were some fabulous wild trout in the catch, quite a few at 15 inches, and the best pair at 16 and 17 inches, proper black-spotted "Usk leopards." The Abercynrig estate was looking at its best and spring fishing doesn't get much better than this - altogether a memorable day.

15 brown trout caught and released. 5 on dries, 10 on nymphs - best fish 2.75 lbs. Cold wind stifled hatches and very few fish seen to rise but fish feeding lower down, the occasional fish would come up to take a dry. River in excellent condition.

River had cleared nicely but the water was very cold and there was a howling downstream wind which made any thought of fishing upstream out of the question. Nevertheless, there was an appreciable olive hatch from about 1pm which continued sporadically into the afternoon. I saw 3 fish rise (in total) and I connected at least briefly with all of them on spiders and landed one, a 14" beauty (returned). I had no success at all fishing blind.

Having sorted out the problems from the day before, we very much enjoyed our day on this beat. Extremely cold wind blew all day which put fish off from feeding on the surface and made for a hard days fishing anyway. My son caught two trout, the largest of approx 1lb. Both returned. Again, many thanks for all your help and advice. We will be back later in the year.

Fishing conditions difficult with a cold northerly breeze (max temp 8C). Few fish rising. 8 fish caught beween .5 and 2.5lb. 2 fish on dry fly the others on nymphs. 2 fish kept (1lb and 2.5lb).