Feedback & Reports

A fine day fairly cloudy. River up a foot or so from the previous day and a lot of weed coming down river towards the end of the day. But by then we had caught 7 barbel, the biggest 6.5lb and 5 barbel for my dad with his biggest touching the 8lb mark. Can't wait for next season to come and will be back at Lower Ballingham for sure!!!! Tight lines fellow anglers (women can fish) hehe!!!!

12 Barbel

Only fished from 10am to 1.30pm. Tried up by the islands and down by the old bridge but couldn't avoid a blank!

Fishing was generally tough with sunny weather and low water conditions. On the last hour got a few barbel and chub by the bridge. Before that I walked the very long stretch left and right and was disappointed to find very few swims prepared for such a long beat. They weren't great either, also twisted my ankle walking along the bank (as someone else posted here) so be careful there! After walking upstream I found a chub shoal by the island in the fast shallow water and got a good few there. All fish to pellet and feeder tactics.

3 Barbel, 12 Chub

Heavy rain the day brfore ensured that the Wye was high and in good flow, not quite a raging torrent but more than slightly perturbed I would say. The water was the colour of chocolate and the weed came tumbling down. I had a hard fighting Barbel early on but then it went quite with only 3 Chub later on.

1 Barbel, 3 Chub

Fished by the old bridge, lovely spot. River high and rising. 3 barbel to 7lb. 1 chub. All on pellet.

3 Barbel, 1 Chub

Despite the very low clear water (or maybe because of) fish were hard to find in any number and we didn't catch many when we found them. We did do a lot of healthy walking!

5 Barbel, 4 Chub

Tricky conditions with a lot of weed coming down the river constantly dislodging the leads. 2 peregrines over the river made a nice diversion.

6 Barbel, 2 Chub

A nice beat not always easy to find a good swim and after some rain can be hard going getting down to the water. Most fish from the faster water river low and clear all on meat and pellets, nice day thanks.

4 Barbel, 4 Chub

No fish caught. River bit on the low side.

I would recommend using the upper parking area (despite the overgrown brambles)if fishing by the bridge or islands as it's quite a long trek over several rikety stiles from the lower parking area. I was disappointed to find a very noisy generator/pump extracting water from the river. I understand life goes on and fishing is secondry to agriculture but never the less it did prevent me from fishing my usual swim. River was low as you would expect at this time of year. No Barbel to be seen, anglers on the opposite bank didn't appear to be having much luck either. A nearby pub by the upper parking provided a good evening meal and a place to drown my sorrows.

2 Chub