Feedback & Reports

Occasionally the angling gods smile down on you and today was my day. An early start saw action from the second cast with a 4lb Chub. Then the Barbel moved in. Apart from a spell between 09:00 and 12:00 with no bites, I caught Barbel regularly all day, and what fish they were. I had 20 Barbel in total with 3 fish between 9lb and 9lb 13ozs. These were topped by my first Wye double that went 10lb exactly. Simple feeder and pellet tactics were all that was needed. If you ignored the taps from Chub, the Barbel bites were rod bending, bait runner screaming, unmissable takes. On days like this it seems ridiculously easy. It makes up for all the difficult days when the fish will not co operate. I have caught large numbers of Barbel before and I have had a handful of 9lb fish before, but to catch this many large Barbel in a day is exceptional fishing in anybody's book. What a fishery! Time to plan my next trip I think.

20 Barbel, 4 Chub

Lovely day. River low but otherwise good. Fished pellets and ground pellets all day. Stupidly left my tripod at home so fishing in the woods was less easy than it might have been. Lots of interest in Legg Meadow, mostly mid-stream. Started with an eel but then moved on to chub and, eventually, thanks to a generous tip from another angler, a barbel. Thanks WUF

1 Barbel, 5 Chub, 1 Other

After an early start set up in my favourite swim in the woods and after a slow start to the day I continued with persistent baiting of hemp,pellets,groundbait etc which paid off! Although believe it or not had to work hard for bites! Managed 8 barbel in total 5 of them being over 9lb...! Biggest fish of the day went 9lb 8oz and smallest went 8lb. All fish caught on hair rigged hooker pellets wrapped with paste. Always enjoy a return to the Coutfield as it is a beautiful place to be and has some cracking barbel fishing to offer.
Will be back later in the year after the doubles for sure!

8 Barbel, 2 Chub

5 Barbel

Arrived at dawn to find the river very low but having good flow. I started in the middle of beat and had lots of attention from chub but no barbel. They were all good fish with the biggest at 4lb 13oz. I was also surprised by a large eel of 3lb plus. I decided a move was in order due to excess loss of terminal tackle and lack of barbel but upstream section was not looking good as now hot and bright. There are also few accessible swims unless you have a very long landing net handle.
In the afternoon I had a look at lower end of the beat as I had only fished here once before. I ended up fishing at bottom of iron steps but didn't hold out a lot of hope. There were several anglers on the opposite bank most in the process of packing up, presumably due to conditions. So after losing yet a couple more feeders imagine my surprise when hooking up a cracking barbel, weighing in at 8lb 6oz. I would have liked to have stayed for the evening but too tired.

1 Barbel, 6 Chub, 1 Other

Great June 16th! 8 barbel, biggest 9lb 1oz, 3 others over 8lb. 7 chub to 4lb 1oz. Pellet and boilie fished on running lead rigs did the trick. Back in 2 weeks!

8 Barbel, 7 Chub

Hard day, river very low and clear.

1 Barbel, 3 Other

07.00 first cast bottom of steel steps salmon of around 8lbs followed around 30mins later a similar sized salmon from 20yds downstream in top end of willow run. Both on single barbless yellow/silver f/c. Also a very deep bodied shad that would have been 3.5/4lb, few years ago I had a shad of just over 6lb which must have been an Allis Shad from Wyebank that was also noted as deep in the body, it would be good to know we still have Allis run the Wye.
It should be noted that a pattern in Wyebank/Courtfield seems of early morning catches in the quiet nearside pools and we think the fish hold up after running the downstream rapids overnight. Several times multiple fish have been caught and often groups of fish seen still moving upstream in surface layer at early dawn. Probably the salmon held up below Monmouth have not dispersed much in reaching here.

2 Salmon, 1 Other

A lovely pristine deep springer of 17lbs from the 2nd swim of Legg Meadow, below the Pumping Station on a flying c at 1.30. Rudi Lighert had a 30" kelt followed in by another at the Boat Pool at 2.15pm.

1 Salmon

Our second day and we arrived to a high and fast river but at least it wasn't raining. I last fished this stretch in September and estimated the river to be about six feet higher than it was then. We all set up along the meadow, fishing close, in the slacker water. Turned into another tough day but just after 3pm, JC and myself took two barbel towards the water works end, 8lbs 12ozs and 8lbs 14ozs respectively. A few knocks through the rest of the day but the only fish to come to the bank was an eel about 2lbs to MB. Despite the tough conditions we all enjoyed our visit to Courtfield. I would recommend the bunk house at the Jovial Colliers in Upper Lydbrook. Ideal cheap accommodation for anglers. Also recommended is the Indian restaurant at the back of the Forge Hammer pub in Lower Lydbrook. Excellent meal and good ale from the pub. Looking forward to further visits next season.

2 Barbel, 1 Other