Feedback & Reports

Fished the middle section of the beat using pellet. A very pleasant day but no fish caught.

The river was low and clear and quite different from the previous weeks. The fishing reflected this.
However still managed 6 barbel and 4 chub. The weather was stunning as was the autumnal look of the sun on the trees. Size wise the barbel went to 9lbs plus and as the two anglers hadn't caught many barbel before they said it was probably one of the best days fishing they had had.

6 Barbel, 4 Chub

Was after Barbel but no action all day. It didn't matter: the Wye for me, is about being there and I'm grateful for that. Finally changed to light gear and pulled out plenty of silver fish (couldn't miss). Easiest beat I've fished in terms of parking/access to the river, cleared swims etc and very lovely part of the world as usual.
Lots of weedy/grassy stuff coming down all day made fishing difficult and re casting necessary every few minutes.That's nature, I guess.
Only had about 20 canoes all day, which is good, but they don't look out for anglers as a priority. They see you then apologise for being close but they don`t look for you.They should be looking for anglers ahead then moving away in good time.
As an angler I sit in peaceful surroundings but i can hear a canoe coming several hundred yards away and its not the boat or the paddle or the water: its the vocal occupants. They aren't rude or unruly or deliberately disruptive, they just chat with each other, at normal and slightly louder volumes and don't think about anglers.

15 Other

Difficult day. Slight rise in river level combined with lots of weed made fishing more and more challenging as day progresed. By 2.30pm we decided to finish early and hope conditions improved by Friday. Not a single bite which is unusual.

Tough day despite what appeared to be ideal conditions. 3 barbel and 10 chub to pellet fished on running lead rigs.

3 Barbel, 10 Chub

Great day again on this lovely stretch of river. However was stunned to find plenty of litter, food wrappers and the top of a luncheon meat tin plus a a good few beer tops. Obviously the day before anglers didn't clear away rubbish. I hope the W&U send a note to these people. I took it all home.
The barbel fed throughout the day the largest being 9lbs. All in very good condition. Pellet and feeder was the method.

8 Barbel, 2 Chub

First time I have fished this beat. Great stretch. Unfortunately weather very wet and cold. Only one chub for my efforts.

1 Chub

The second day of our trip and we stayed in the woods stretch after our successful previous day. We changed swims round from the previous day which resulted in me having the greater number of fish as they were definitely present in greater numbers further downstream. The day was largely overcast so unlike the sunny previous day we did manage a few fish duirng the day. Once again though it was the evening (after heavy baiting and resting the areas) that produced the lions share of the barbel. By dusk I had managed eleven barbel to 9 lbs 12 ozs and an average size chub and SE had two barbel to 9 lbs 6 ozs and a 4 lbs + chub. Three barbel were also lost, one cut off and a couple of hook pulls which are such a rare thing with barbel's tough mouths they leave you somewhat dumbfounded! Feeders and pellets again the successful tactic. There was a lot of weed drifting down which made fishing difficult at times but by switching to 4 oz feeders it was possible to hold the bottom for a reasonable length of time on each cast until the weed built up too much on the line. The canoes were plentiful but caused no problem. Some good banter was had and polite requests to move out a bit to avoid our lines were always granted. Some anglers get frustrated with the canoes but they don't affect the fishing and mostly go through in the unproductive parts of the day anyway. We finished our weekend with 27 barbel which is fabulous fishing by any standards. We have been here a few times so have a good knowledge of how to get the best out of it, particularly the productive areas, but I see a lot of catch reports where anglers have fished several swims during the day, not caught much and gone home late afternoon dissapointed. To get the best out of this stretch you simply have to fish until dusk. If you don't catch during the day don't worry, just keep feeding the swim and come evening you will hopefully get your reward. It's not guaranteed of course but it has worked for me just about every time I have fished at Courtfield. Finally, thank you to WUF and the landowners for making Courtfield available to us. A wonderful place to spend a couple of days and some of the best fishing I have experienced.

13 Barbel, 2 Chub

First of two days and once again Courtfield spoiled us. We fished in the woods area (which I have always found more productive when the river is low). The morning was slow with only a barbel to SE and a chub to me to show for our early start. The day was bright and sunny and as a result was unproductive so we concentrated on keeping our two swims fed in preparation for the evening. As we have found so often, as soon as the shadows moved over the river in the late afternoon the fish started to feed. It was never hectic but a steady run of bites up to dusk produced another eight barbel to SE (including two super fish of 10 lbs 1 oz and 11 lbs 14 ozs) and five barbel to 7 lbs 7 ozs and one chub of 4 lbs 10 ozs to me. The only down side for me was my swim was quite rocky on the bottom and I got cut off a couple of times on hooked barbel. All fish were taken on feeder and pellet tactics. Same old tactics but it works!

14 Barbel, 2 Chub

Was very hard going during the day as it was sunny and clear water, was savage in the first half hours of sunrise, but really a hard struggle through the rest of the day, till sunset, where it picked up again, biggest of the day was a 5lb chub and 8.5lb barbel

4 Barbel, 6 Chub