Feedback & Reports

Landed 1 small grayling on a Hares Ear nymph. Very nice B&B at the Majors Arms - Bishops Frome

3 x grayling 6-16 inches, 12 x out of season trout 6-12 inches, fishing short nymphs. A day of fog and rain, but temperature still in double figures. One good grayling here, but it was the unseasonable trout which were really to the fore, occupying the feeding lies at heads of pools. One salmon redd seen. Unlike the trout, it seems they know what they should be doing.

1 X 14" Grayling + a handful(!) of fingerlings and one o/s WBT. All fish returned safely. Nice venue.

3 grayling caught - all small. Fish caught on both nympths and dries. River high and coloured. Enjoyable day despite small size of fish.

Healthier water levels at last for the Arrow but still running coloured on Sunday. However it was a beautiful sunny warm day so I fished for a few hours in the afternoon with nymphs taking two out of season small WBT. I couldn't find a Grayling in the deeper water but eventually caught a tiddler experimenting with spiders in shallow fast water. Despite my failings the beat looks very promising and should be perfect when the water clears this week (I also note someone did much better than me yesterday upstream at the Court of Noke).

River at summer levels - three grayling - first and two on black and peacock spider. Last fish on Endrick spider.
Largest fish weight estimate one pound. Thank you for great fishing day.

2 x grayling 15 and 16.5 inches, 1 x out of season trout 8 inches. A nice brace, but I think I was quite lucky to get them. I haven't fished the Arrow (or Lugg) for months as the webcam has shown no sign of fresh water for a very long time. However, I had booked the Leen well in advance, remembering what a very productive beat this can be in October, as well as a charming place to spend the day. When I got there, however, I was taken aback by just how low the river is. Almost no flow through the pools, slime over the bottom, duckweed in the edges and pond-skaters the only insect life to be seen. A rise somewhere might have provoked a dry fly approach, but I didn't see one. The only method which seemed to work was hand-retrieving a couple of light nymphs very slowly along the bottom of a deep pool - because there was no flow to move them in the normal way. The grayling caught there looked healthy enough, but fought rather sluggishly in warm water. I left early afternoon, with the temperature in the high 20's, and concluded that the Arrow is best left alone till some proper rain actually falls on Radnorshire and N Herefordshire to cheer it up a bit, after which I am sure it will fish as well as ever.

3 x grayling 15-16 inches, bugging. A really beautiful winter's day, still and sunny, with the temeperature hovering just above zero - although there was no visible frost, the air being so dry. River still a little high but looked in nice condition. Nevertheless, fishing was very hard work and by mid-afternoon I had made no contact. At 4.30, with the sun going down and the rod rings beginning to ice again, I found a pod of nice grayling in a very deep run. It was one of those places where a man of my height finds it necessary to wade to the armpits and bounce around on tip-toe, while envying those tall young fellows from the Foundation who no doubt take these deep holes in their not inconsiderable stride. If you have visited the WUF, you will know the ones: always first to be aware when it starts raining. Lost one good grayling and netted three, which made a very satisfactory end to a lovely day. I'm sorry to see that we lose this beat at the end of January; whether the fish are co-operating or not, it's always a nice place be. Can the WUF get it for next year perhaps?

A most enjoyable day with water level returning to fishable height from recent floods. Sadly no grayling could be tempted by our nymphs and shrimps!

Nice conditions to greet us on arrival, temperatures hovering above zero and a river that was somewhat low and crystal clear. Certainly a slow start until we located a shoal of feeding fish where we were able to connect with some fine specimens including a cracker estimated at 2 1/2lb caught by Peter on a small JT nymph. This beat has many inviting pools but as so often at this time of year they are not all occupied by fish and sometimes a lot of fruitless searching is required before finding them. 9 good sized Grayling and a couple of out of season trout between us, certainly worthy of a return in the future.