Feedback & Reports

Fished end pool, which was the only one available due to low conditions. Caught a few small barbel and chub in morning, then had an afternoon siesta (sunday lunch at the Wye Not Inn, Symonds Yat). Returned at 4.30 and had bigger barbel up to 8lb 14 oz. Method was blockend feeder hemp and pellets. Excellent fishing and good to see different sizes of barbel, some only 1lb!

23 Barbel, 10 Chub

A sunny sunday water level low fished cage feeders with a mixture of hook baits from pallet to sweet corn and meat on hair rigs. The barbel all came in the morning with some good chub to finish the day off.

3 Barbel, 9 Chub

First time on this beat. Caught barbel early and late, chub all day. Feeder and rolling meat. Nice stretch, lots of snags so lost a number of feeders. Caught in every swim, I kept catching throughout the day by moving around, had to work hard for the fish I caught. Lots of canoes as expected, dont mind them apart from the inconsiderate ones who think it's acceptable to moor up 10m away from you splash around, shout and scream. Didn't let it bother me though. Great day.

8 Barbel, 30 Chub

Arrived at around 7:30 and settled into the swim at the bottom of the beat. Conditions perfect, not as bright as yesterday but still warm enough. Had to wait until 09:15 for the first fish. At 11:45 I was hit by a Barbus freight train clearly en route to Monmouth, nothing I could do to stop it as it cut me off against the bedrock! Decided to take a nap after this and woke up 2 hours later. Waited for the second fish to arrive at 14:40 a nice little Barbel of around 2lb. From here in it was steady all the way to darkness. Thoroughly enjoyable day returning 10 Barbel to 7lb 7oz and 3 Chub to 5lb 4oz. Decided to try a different bait approach refusing to use Halibut pellets. All fish fell to Goose Pellets, Peperami or Corn all fished over feeders of crushed halibut pellet and hemp.
I did shed 10 full sets of end tackle during the day, so be aware!

10 Barbel, 3 Chub

Started fishing just after 10am, river looked low but had a nice peaty colour. Lost a barbel at the net, looked around the seven pound mark. Had three chub after. Don came down and we had a catch up walking back to the car. Had lunch and on went the waders. Fished out a bit further and caught seven barbel and eight more chub. Lost a few feeders but the reward of catching these hard fighting pristine fish is a very small loss.

7 Barbel, 11 Chub

Thanks to the advice from Kenny Parsons, our guide for the previous 2 days, we had a fantastic days fishing with barbel to 7lb 4oz. There was no sign of the larger chub and our best was 3lb 8oz. The river level was down a little from the previous day and we both fished the bottom pool using halibut pellets on hairs with 90 gram cage feeders and pellets. The weather was bright but overcast and we caught all day from 8:00am to 7:00pm and lost only one feeder each. Not too many canoeists and they were all considerate.
We stayed at Ferndale House B&B which is about 2 minutes drive from the beat and can highly recommend their packed breakfasts, lunches and evening meals.

24 Barbel, 5 Chub

What a difference. Yesterday G drew a blank because he wanted to use a rolling meat method. Today he listened to the my advice and used the pellet and feeder method. Right from the start he caught barbel after barbel. He had 18 in total to 8lbs 12oz.
He has just had the best fishing day of his life. However, he didn't catch too many chub which is what he wanted. I don't know you just can't please some people!

18 Barbel, 2 Chub

Fished the day rolling meat and lost lots of tackle. Caught 3 small chub. Should've listened to my guide Kenny Parsons. Lesson learnt.

3 Chub

Didn't have a great day with canoeists and I found the fishing very hard with the amount of snags and rocks. Lost loads of feeders and hooks. The only swim that was fishable was the bottom pool which my son fished and had 1 chub. It looks a great beat but I must admit I found it difficult to fish and expensive. Any angler who catches on the other swims has my full admiration.

1 Chub

4.30pm to 8.45pm. Yes it's getting dark earlier! Targeting large chub known to be in area. 14ft trotting rod/C-pin, chubber type float over large luncheon meat to size 8 hook. 7 chub in 3 to 4lb range plus one more weighed at 5lb 6oz. Most were hooked trotting at 30 to 40 yards below the bottom crib. Trout of around 12oz took when retrieving missed bite, spring on hook that I screw meat onto. I waded out but could have fished off end of bottom crib.
These chub seem to be in residence and anyone having a break from swim feeder tactics should try this. These chub go all over the river when hooked and current adds to the fun. 2 other were eel, one older eel dark and bulky possibly around 3lb. Had a bit of a slime fight on the bank but released unharmed. At 8.30pm hooked something that went for Symonds Yat, rapped my fingers on the pin, took 60yds of line in one run, had to lower the rod at lines end or it would have broken and 10lb line parted at knot on reel. Possibly foul hooked large barbel?

1 Trout, 8 Chub, 2 Other