Feedback & Reports

Arrived at the beat at 8am and the river was very muddy after heavy rain through the night. Decided to give it a go anyway as fishing days are hard to come by these days. Found a couple of seams where the muddy flow joined clearer water gently flowing from pools so approached them with some upstream nymphing which paid off with 3 trout all around 12".
On another note I fished today in felt soled boots which I decided to try after fishing the last 3 seasons in vibram soled boots which, despite the added studs, never gave me much confidence. They were a huge improvement, I would not have been able to wade in my vibram boots today, the visibility was so bad that I could not see 2" below the surface let alone the river bed. The felt soled boots have another level of grip, I am aware of the risk of transferring parasites between rivers if not dried properly but if this is done, I don't fish regularly enough for this to be an issue, for me felt soled boots will always be the way forward.

3 Trout

All on nymphs, no rising fish.

4 Trout

5 x Brown Trout C&R. Fished under the instruction of Chris Price who was excellent and I'd highly recommend.

5 Trout

Very hot, sunny day (24C) - but surprisingly the fish were taking klinks and nymphs quite happily until 13.00 when they suddenly disappeared without trace. Not a single bite after that.

8 Trout

This is such a great beat, but today was not our day. Warm and overcast, there were no fish showing: not a rise in sight. So, sadly, a blank.

First time I have fished this stretch of the Usk and have to say that I enjoyed it. I caught 4 trout, all around 12" in length which, for me, is a respectable performance. All were caught on a size 16 winged Adams.

4 Trout

Weather clear and sunny with slight upstream breeze. Water quite brown. flat waters were murky. Brecon level = 0.31.
Should've done better but could not find the touch. Found plenty of fish and hooked 8 but lost them all before the net.
I advised one canoeist that he was out of season and that there was hardly any water anyway. I can't believe some people. Still, he was polite and did leave the water - after I stood and watched him for a while.

Heavy rain during the night so checked the gauge and it was just about safe so headed to the beat. When I arrived at 8am, the river was dark brown so no possibility of catching on the fly. I only had until 2pm to fish and the river would not be clearing sufficiently before then so headed home.

River quite settled and clear. Although many fish were rising through the day, they were very picky, and many fly changes were made. Of the seven fish we caught, about half were on dry and half on tiny nymphs. Best fish was 1.25 lbs, with the others at around the pound mark. Just a note to the foundation; in the six consecutive days we have been fishing on the Usk, we have seen quite a lot of mink. Particularly on the Ashford House beat. Within a two hour period we saw three mink, two of which were dragging some hapless creature back to their respective lairs.

7 Trout

River still quite high, but clear, following rain at the weekend. Mostly fished the top half of the beat, and found many fish rising, as a good show of fly on the water. We caught 18 trout between us, many of which were caught in the rapids, the fish hitting the dry flies, like lightning. A good buoyant fly helps you to follow it, but sometimes, you just hit the splash.....exiting stuff! Most fish were around the pound mark, but we did get one of 2.5 lbs, 3 of 2 lbs, and 2 of 1.5 lbs. A great days fishing!

18 Trout