Feedback & Reports

Another smashing day on the Wye weather not great - clear blue sky & chilly downstream gusty breeze made trotting hard work but no problem on the feeder, had 11 barbel - 6 beautiful (2 lb / 3 lb) fish plus 5 better fish to 8ish lbs plus 1 chub many thanks WUF.

Tough day with lots of weed coming down river - lots of tackle lost. Day saved by one 5lb barbel. But interesting beat and will fish again in better conditions.

Slight increase in water level and flow compared with the the previous meant lots of weed making fishing very difficult. Only fished for an hour without any bites.

Great day - 1 chub 7 barbel, biggest 7 1/2, which had 2 lots of other tackle attached to it, including a 2oz feeder. Surprised it was still feeding but did appear in good condition, one BARBED hook in its mouth had started to grow over. Will return to this beat.

Water level down - the boy caught 2 barbel early in the day both on pellet. I went on the pin feeding hemp and corn under a loafer float with corn on the hook. Chub and large dace a chuck until Mr Pike turned up - went back on feeder fished pellet and had 4 more barbel and 3 decent chub to round another enjoyable day on this lovely stretch of the Wye.

15.30 to 18.00hr. Wading, long-trotting and feeding maggots on 16 hook under overshoted small chubber and expected the small barbel and chub to move into swim at lower end of Wyebank, several dace to 12oz but slow going and bites ceased after sun left water.
18.00 to 20.00hr. Same swim, ledgered large halibut with heavy swim feeder solid in mid-stream. Instantly into barbel so they were there! Total of 12 barbel, 6 to 10lb 14oz, non of the recent small barbel nor any chub. As it became darker the bites became more prolonged little tugs prior to powerful runs presumably as barbel feeding on smell omly.
It seems when this shoal of large barbel moved in the small barbel and chub caught recently have possibly moved out. One barbel with scar on side was present when large barbel were caught earlier in season when water levels were similar to todays. Hopefully if autumn levels are maintained these fish will show in Octobers catches.

16 chub 1lb-4lb, 28 barbel 1/2lb-9lb4oz, various baits.

Despite hoards of canoeists and some of the hottest days of the year the barbel fed well and over a day and a half we banked around 28 barbel, most in the 2 - 5lb range but a handful were in the 8lb bracket. Several chub up to around 4lb were also caught. Big feeders filled with scalded pellet doing the job, with bites sometimes coming 'on the drop'.

Caught around 30 fiesty young barbel in the 1.5 to 3lb range. This is very encouraging to find two to three year old fish in what appeared to be large shoals. Rarely catch barbel under 5lbs usually. We also caught a few chub to 4lbs and half a dozen barbel in the usual 5-8lb range. All taken on halibut pellet.

As suggested in the Wye and Usk Handbook, an ideal venue for 5 coarse rods with 3 anglers making the most of Courtfield with the other 2 ‘Old Timers’ settling for Wyebank.
Arriving late morning after travelling down from Lincolnshire on what must have been one of the warmest late September days on record, like many other previous reports we were met by the owner Don Macer-Wright. Don made us all most welcome and then spent the next hour or more, first identifying and describing the most productive Courtfield swims, after which he took the time and trouble to walk the full extent of the Wyebank beats, which apart from Holme Lacey once, has been the only bailiff we have ever seen on any WUF water after many bookings, many thanks Don.
Total fish caught from Courtfield between the 3 rods was 8 Chub to 5lb and 11 Barbel ranging from around a pound up to 9lb plus.
The 2 anglers on Wyebank shared a catch of a single Chub and 10 Barbel, again with fish from as small as a pound up to over 9lbs.
All the fish were caught on ledgered pellets, we should have taken the time to read previous reports and taken some waders and float fishing tackle to open up much more water, never the less considering the bright sunny conditions and extremely clear water for the time of year, it was a most enjoyable start to our annual 3 day holiday on the Wye, watching the many varied birds and regular leaping salmon.