Feedback & Reports

Nice stretch of river. 4 of us fished most of the morning and evening for around 12 fish between us, including barbel to 7lb and chub to 4lb. All the fish came to cage feeder and pellet. Tried rolling meat for some time but to no avail.

Late start on the beat due to a flat on the Transit which was compounded by being unable to get the spare wheel off due to a securing screw shearing which meant that we had to get into Ross to get the flat repaired!

Finally got to the beat in the pouring rain! First time on this beat for us and it's certainly a lovely place. After a general explore our first impressions were that there is a lot of water but access to the vast majority of it is difficult at best and downright impossible for significant distances. We did spot a few barbel at the bottom of the beat but it was difficult to find enough swims with reasonable access to the water to accomodate all four of us and therefore we elected to fish at the orchard end and even here there was only just enough access for the four of us (we didn't venture further than the field above the orchard due to the presence of a rather large bull with his hareem!!) We definitely felt that more access needs to be opened up to make this beat more viable for four anglers.

The river was very low and clear and by the time we got fishing the sun was shining brightly just to make things a bit more difficult! We finished with 2 barbel & 9 chub to 2 rods with the other 2 rods fishless although I'm sure we would have had more as the light intensity dropped but alas we had to leave before then!

Worthy of note is the high average size of the chub with the majority of them definitely pushing 5lbs. I'm convinced one of them was well over this but before I could get it in the sling it flipped and promptly landed back in the water and shot off like a missile! Rather summed up the day did that!

Turned up mid afternoon and fished the lower middle section, not much happening so I roved around a bit, finally found a peg where the Chub were having it including one around the five pound mark. No sign of any Barbel until about 7.30 then it was a fish a chuck until 9.30 when they seemed to switch off and it was time to leave.
The river was very low and clear with many fish rolling and flashing in the shallow sections but oblivious to any baits presented, this is a huge section of river which will take many visits to fully explore I feel and will fish better with a bit more water in. All fish caught were in perfect condition and the Barbel fought very hard indeed.

Stunning stretch - every swim looked fishy. 8 barbel caught. Will definitely be back.

Nil! Fished in the middle section. Very quiet indeed! A couple of tentative bites which I assumed was chub but no barbel. Limited access on top section.

A warm day, overcast with some rain, good conditions. 10 chub caught up to five pounds, and three barbel - best one about seven pounds. Carp baits were best (pellets) and bread paste. A great day.

Weather hot, river low. Fished middle section river stuffed full of chub, lost count of how many caught. 10 barbel - good considering how bright it was. Various baits used - pellet, corn, luncheon meat, cheese. Had a super day, many thanks Wye & Usk.

p.s. someone left a big bag of rubbish by the car pull in where the stile is. TAKE YOUR RUBBISH HOME!!! Otherwise valuable fisheries like this will be lost.

Caught five barbel and one chub, all on halibut pellets. Found it tough going during the day when it was hot, bright and sunny. Clouded over in afternoon when the barbel showed up, all in very good condition!

Excellent directions, a nice beat with easy access to the water. Very quiet during the day with a few small chub. Things improved towards the evening with four barbel and a small trout all to pellets and feeder. Very nice day - thank you very much.

Since Sugwas has become available to the W&U, the reports lead you to believe that this beat has exceptional potential for the coarse angler, I can now advise that to be true!
The four members of the WBCaAC (Wye Barbel Catchers and Aspirers Club) set off even earlier than normal this time around as we were itching to spend as much time as possible by the waters side. This meant alarms at 02:00 hrs in order to arrive in time for first light. Arriving in the ‘Orchard’ car parking area on first viewing it was apparent that it may be difficult to fish this top end due to the lack of water. After much discussion amongst the four after perusal of the swims available, we opted to drive to the other two areas of parking further down stream. ‘Two Ton Trev’ and ‘Ton Up Tony’ surveyed the lowest section whilst ‘Bailiff Russ’ and ‘Jilted John’ (John the only ‘aspirer’ left in the party) cast their eyes over the middle section. It was the middle section that took the fancy of all and as Russ and John were in position first so had the first dibs on swims. John was placed in the swim most suited to his comfort and set about organising his ‘Tackle Shop’ of equipment (shame he forgot the milk!) and Russ settled into the swim below between a pair of trees. Trev and Tony arrived on the scene soon after and promptly settled on two swims below that of Russ. We broke at lunchtime, for a civilised glass of cabernet sauvignon and celebrated the loss of John’s Wye barbus barbus virginity!
We fished until approx 20:30 hrs with a return for the 4 rods of 47 chub to 5lb, 9 Barbel to 8lb and probably the catch of the day falling to Tony of a 2.8 lb Perch! The majority of the barbel were taken on pellet fished over hemp although the four did catch fish on 8 different baits.
It was a long journey home, especially for Trev and Tony in their BMW (Barbelless Men’s Wheels).
On a serious note: We would like to take this opportunity to thank the W&U for their normal professionalism with special thanks to Adam for his patience in talking to Trevor! We will be back later in the year albeit under our new guise of WBCC (since we no longer have any aspirers).

Thank you!