Feedback & Reports

Great to see a lot of clearance work has been carried out on the beat since I last came in October. Loads of swims to choose from now. Tried piking in morning but no luck. Then had a go for chub and roach but again drew a blank. Finally got the luncheon meat out and caught 3 hard fighting barbel, the best of which weighed 9 pounds.

Great stretch of water, improved by what looks like recent chopping and clearing. Still some good spots close in and we had 2 low double figure pike on lures. We switched to maggot feeders for the afternoon and had several chub up to 4lbs, along with a surprise roach of approaching 2lbs at last knockings. Cracking beat, we'll be back!

7 chub to about 4.5lbs on spam or corn.

A bright sunny day and the river a lot lower and clearer than I thought it would be. A struggle to get bites all day, ended up with just 1 medium sized chub at dusk.

THE VENUE;
I initially fished the upper area of this beat; as per many of the other comments I would suggest that this area is avoided. I struggled to find a suitable area to fish, even when I finally found a small flat area the drop to the water was still around 3 feet and the over-hanging trees made it very difficult to cast. However, I have noted that work is planned by the foundation so I will be interested to see what the fishing is like once the improvements have been made. There are no apparent signs that indicate the start and end of the foundation's fishing area (hopefully this will be part of the improvements).

TACKLE;
I would suggest that you keep the tackle to the minimum; wherever you park you will have to walk across fields or on tracks. Take boots with grip as the banks are steep, muddy and slippery.

COST;
I was also approached by an angler from the Monmouthshire club who fish the same stretch of water on the opposite side. It was interesting to hear that for £35 I could have become a member of the club and fished as many times as I wanted over the year. Hopefully the cost of day tickets soon reflects this price as I will struggle to afford the £16 every week-for the time being I don't mind paying if it eventually helps to improve the fishing venue and experience etc!

CATCH;
I initially fished the feeder method and did not have a single bite (this was in the upper stretch). When I moved to the lower part I witched to float and caught around ten small Silvers.

Really easy to find this beat, directions and map were spot on! Started in the favourite swim 'Boys Rocks' - first cast and a barbel was hooked and landed about 7 or 8 lbs, followed by 4 more in the next hour or so, all around the same size. Should have moved really as things went very quiet, but it was such a nice peaceful spot, except for the traffic on the nearby road! Eventually after another 4 or 5 hours that flew by, moved further down the wilds and found a nice spot in the trees, caught another barbel about 7lbs before leaving for home. Thank you WUF

Started at Boys rocks and caught 9 Barbel to just under 8lbs on Pellets by 11.00am. 5 of these were over 7lbs
I then decided to to try the bottom field in the afternoon but failed to find the fish and the school rowing club eventually persuaded me to leave.

A difficult day; 12lb pike first cast which attacked my feeder in Boys Rocks, half hour later a 6-7lb barbel then nothing else from that peg. Be aware this is a difficult, tight peg, very steep and slippery 'path' too. Moved down the woods and found a nice but awkward swim (due to overhead trees) and had a barbel just under 9lb from close in. Both barbel on pellets.

I saw an otter working the middle river/far bank and after that I could not get another bite for the rest of the day! I moved around the few swims on the stretch but could not buy a bite.

A nice day out though, thanks.

Caught 8 barbel best a tad over 8 pound and two chub one was 5.5 lb. River up a foot, nice comfortable peg at boys rock although lost a lot of tackle in snags ! (also some litter in the peg which i took away!) but a great days fishing, in a beautiful area. All caught on pellets and meat.

Thanks WUF.

Fished Boys Rock, 6 barbel, largest 10lb 4oz all taken on pellet. Anyone who fishes this swim will use a lot of end tackle due to the large stones. I found the best way is to fish as heavy as poss and just bully the fish to the surface.