Feedback & Reports

Enjoyed a better day today, and the beat has so much to offer that we were spoilt for choice. Spotted dozens of Barbel in a shallow part but they all spooked when some pellets were fed via a catapult, so moved and caught 18 from another swim further up the beat, the other lads with me managed to catch 10 between them as the afternoon wore on. Lots of little Barbel jumping on the lower part of the beat, thinking they were Salmon it seemed?????

23 barbel to 8lb 8oz, plus a few chub to over 4lb.

Very low and clear. Lovely stretch with lots of potential but only had 3 barbel - loads of chub caught though.

As I am the world's biggest sissy when it comes to being in the same field as anything bigger than a sheep, it was with some trepidation that I booked a day on Sugwas. Naturally, the first animal I saw on arrival at the orchard was the bull, who lived up to all previous reports. A chat with John, the keeper, "assured" me that the cattle would be no problem, so I spent the first few hours trying the obvious bankside swim and the gravel island in front of the cattle drink. Caught 2 chub and hooked 2 barbel, only to have the line cut on a rock or some other snag.
Other anglers fishing below me from the opposite bank were catching regularly - so there's a damn good swim begging to be opened up under the bank in the orchard woods.
Moved down to investigate the lower section. More cows, but no bull this time. (John told me he [the bull, not John], had made it across the river, broken down a fence, and was currently engaged in pestering the neighbouring farmer's milking herd - so I'm glad I didn't meet him!) Some lovely looking water here. Spotted a number of barbel holding in the current and occasionally flashing, so tried a swim upstream from them. 4 barbel came to the net in the next 50 minutes until they had enough and the swim died. Biggest perhaps 7lb and smallest a little gem of perhaps 1lb!
Had a few casts in a couple more swims with a decent chub as result. As the evening wore on I had a couple more supercharged chub which convinced me they were barbel, and lost what would have been the biggest barbel of the day when it pretended to be a chub and snagged me in sunken branches.
This stretch has some very nice looking swims, all of which I expect will fish well on their day.
And of course, the cattle just ignored me.

Having fished Holme Lacy the day before we know that finding the fish in the very low clear river would be the key to catching, and so it proved as in the first 4 hours we fished most of the pegs on the top half of the beat for 1 chub each, but in the afternoon my ( Ghille )
Neil found the fish in the bottom meadow and caught 10 barbel ,all 6-8lb fish while I caught 3 barbel and 5 chub.
All the fish again caught on Halibut pellet.
Once again a great days fishing but I feel that with a small amount of work more pegs could be made available in the wooded areas, which would make the beat even better. Many thanks W.U.F

River was low and clear as expected. Fished upstream of the orchard and remained biteless until 3.00pm when we had seven barbel between us in the next two hours. All on pellet. Then it died again. Best barbel was an estimated near double. All the others were beteen 5 - 8 lbs.
Must echo the previous comments regarding the difficult access to the limited number of swims available in this top stretch. We weren't able to explore the whole length but from what we could see there were only three accessible swims. Two of those had to be waded to and would be difficult to access when the river was carrying extra water. The area next to the parking area seemed better suited to mountain goats rather than anglers!
WUF directions etc were spot on. Thank you.

Fished 2.00pm - 9.00pm, I had a terrible experience, my complaints are as follows:

Barbel: As a Great Ouse regular, I'm not used to starting at 2.00pm in clear water and catching a Barbel within 30 seconds of casting out. I was pouring a cup of tea when an 8-pounder tried to take my rod to Hereford. Fortunately I was only disturbed by four Barbel throughout the course of the evening.

Chub: They fight too hard. Twice I hooked large Barbel and emitted yelps of joy, only for the fish to miraculously turn into a three-pound Chub.

Salmon: I was just nodding off when a large Salmon crashed out of the river and woke me up. Please remove them from the river.

Canoes: I was lead to believe that I would be entertained by parties of canoeists capsizing, having water fights etc. Only four or five passed and all were disappointingly courteous.

Despite the above, and because I am a selfless individual, for the appropriate remuneration I would be happy to fish this beat on my own every day until the end of my life, just to ensure that no other angler is forced to suffer in the way that I was.

Seventeen barbel and three chub caught throughout the afternoon with five fish lost. The river was very low and clear and access around the orchard had only two viable swims. With extra water these will not be fishable. Other fields are very open up and down stream but will not suit anglers not wishing to fish near to livestock. There are bulls in all meadows. Nice place though.

First time on this beat. Three of us fished together; two experienced Wye barbel anglers and an eel enthusiast. The upper section in the wood was very hard work - both getting there and the fishing. Just two small chub on the float for one of my friends. By late afternoon we’d all settled into the slightly deeper water in the bottom field occupied by the enormous bull! The eel expert showed his prowess taking one of about a pound on his first cast using pellet. He followed that up by taking a smallish barbel and then all three of us struggled for bites of any sort. Two of us packed up at about 9 pm leaving the eel man to have a final cast. In the event he actually had four casts in the next thirty minutes taking three barbel and a decent chub! That’s fishing for you - never predictable. We all agreed this is a stretch that will probably fish best when the river is carrying a bit of extra water.

Thanks as always to the WUF.

Fished the 2nd and 3rd. Water low and clear so could see barbel, fished lower part first day took 4 barbel all in the 6/7 lb range & 6 good chub in the morning and one chub later in day all on meat. Fished same swim erley next day and took 14 good size Barbel & 3 chub, fished middle part in the afternoon took one large barbel 12lb.