Feedback & Reports

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.

Another great days fishing on a cracking beat. Arrived midday and after an interesting scout around the top of the beat (very large cows and even larger bulls) I found a very fishy area and caught 12 barbel most over 7lbs to just under 9lbs and 1 good chub 4lb 11oz. Trip back to orchard again interesting (bulls) I think their name suits them very well!!! In truth they didnt seem bothered by me at all thanks again Wye & Usk.

Difficult access except middle fields beyond orchard. I ended with 4 barbel up to 6lb plus 6 chub to 4. Andy had 5 barbel plus some backing chub.

Arrived about 10am and walked the venue to decide where to fish. This resulted in an excellent days fishing with my son, between us we caught 20 barbel and 7 chub. The largest barbel was 9lbs 1 oz and all were in immaculate condition. The river was very low and clear but we caught throughout the day. Access to the river in the orchard area was difficult so we parked at the designated spot on the road and fished that meadow. All fish were caught on pellet.
It was a wonderful day in a beautiful setting and I would like to thank the Wye and Usk foundation for making this stretch of the river Wye available. We will definately return. There were cows in every meadow and a bull with each herd and although we were wary they gave us no problems!

Having booked the beat for two days on first arrival we walked the complete stretch and found that although large sections were not accessible the barbel, in low clear river conditions, were not hard to find. It also became clear that the one of us that had thought to bring chest waders and didn't have an illogical fear of cows was going to have the upper hand. I would say that we were expecting the fishing to be easier than it was and only through changing rigs, baits and swims did we manage to land the dozen or so barbel we had over the weekend. I would suggest traveling light to help over the styles and cover the large areas were there seems no access to the river.

Very disappointed with access, top section which reads very promising is virtually impossible to walk never mind carry the gear and fish, middle section also poor access, the stretch really needs some work.
However very pleased with the fishing 9 barbel to approx 8lbs, smallest around 5lbs and 3 very nice chub. All of the fish were in superb condition and were extremely strong
Enjoyed the day but wouldn't like to be in a party of 3 or 4, there are not the pegs to fish with "company".

Having fished here 2 weeks ago, we thought we knew pretty much what to expect.
The river however was even lower than last time and it was extremely bright and hot with very little cloud for most of the day.
We started the morning in the area of the orchard and really struggled in the conditions with just 2 small barbel and 7 or 8 chub between us.
We broke for lunch back at the car at about 2.00pm then returned back to the same swims we'd been fishing on the basis that we'd put in a fair amount of bait over the past five hours, and we didn't really fancy any of the other areas in those conditions.
It was now even hotter and we were anticipating a gruelling afternoon.
For some reason the barbel disagreed and we were stunned to start catching barbel immediately. We ended up with a further 20 barbel between us, average size was probably 5 - 6lb with a biggest weighed for refernce at 8lb 12oz. We also had approx 30 chub including some really nice fish with one of about 5lb and the majority averaging 3 - 4lbs - much higher average size than we've found on other stretches.
Virtually every barbel and chub caught was absolutely immaculate with fantastic colouration unlike some we've caught elsewhere - possibly because this is still a relatively new stretch?
Quite literally a brilliant day - and we have the sunburn to prove it!

7 chub, 9 barbel. Found access tricky in places.