Feedback & Reports

I had been looking forward to fishing this beat for some time and nothing was going to spoil it for me. The fishing was slow to start but the surroundings breathtaking. The canoe traffic was substantially less than the previous day on Wyebank and just as courteous. Most of them will share a joke with you if you engage with them. After a wander and a chat with the other two anglers on the beat, Don arrived. From this point on and after taking on board all of his clearly substantial knowledge, I moved swims to the top of the beat where the deeper water runs. I opted for the swim known as 'the new swim' and it was not long before I was into the first fish of the day, a chub of around 4lb. It would be another hour or so before the first barbel arrived, a beautiful fish of around 6lb. This was followed by my best fish of the day at 8lb 4oz. A further 2 barbel and 1 chub were added before the light gave up on me. All fish fell to double glued halibut eclipse pellet, hair rigged and 3 foot hook lengths. I cast to the far bank aiming at a spot some 10 foot short of the far bank foliage. All of the credit must be given to Don, an extremely obliging and knowledgable river keeper and a real gent! I will most definitely be back on Courtfield in the future.

4 Barbel, 2 Chub

Tough conditions once again on this stunning beat. Had two barbel and 4 chub. Thanks to Don and WUF. Will be back!

2 Barbel, 4 Chub

Conditions were quit hard with very low water and lots of canoes!!! (most were ok ). Feeding time was early morning and dusk but did take 2 fish in the afternoon around 3ish. The fish were all in great condition, barbel was 9lbs 8oz and had a good chub nudging 5lbs. Bait was pellet and home made paste and hook baits. Slow fishing but a nice place to be.

1 Barbel, 8 Chub

Barbel to 7lbs 15ozs and chub to 3lbs 8ozs all caught on pellet.

2 Barbel, 3 Chub

Another great trip to the Wye and the chance to share in a good friend's first success with barbel. He didn't quite manage a double, but 9lb 13oz was close enough. Our results included another two 9's and two 8's so, all in all, a good average size. All fish were in great condition and fought well.
The sunny and low, clear conditions meant feeding spells were short and confined to the early morning and late evening periods. Canoe traffic was heavy, but no real problem. The people that lost their camera (see 25 August report) even returned with wet suits and snorkels to continue the search. Thankfully, they found it pretty quickly and so the disturbance was minimal.
Lastly, a recommendation for the Chinese restaurant at the back of the Forge and Hammer pub in Lower Lydbrook. The decor is certainly 'unusual' and we did wonder what we had let ourselves in for. The food was, however, very good and we didn't feel at all out of place in our shabby fishing clothes!

15 Barbel, 5 Chub

9 Barbel, 5 Chub

This was the second Day guiding R and D. Breakfast in the hotel was at 8.30am so we agreed to meet at 6.45am to see if we could winkle out a barbel before breakfast. We managed 3 by 8am so mission was accomplished, nothing large (all about 5lbs). After they returned from the breakfast feast,D said he had never seen an eel so we wandered off to a deeper stretch and within 10 minutes we had an eel of about 1lb so that ticked that box. We were just talking to Don and saying we hadn't caught any chub and with that the rod arched around and we had a chub of about 3.5lbs. So 6 chub later we were made to eat our words. The chub were quite large too, 3.5, 3, 4.4, 5, 4.9 and 4.8lbs. Then two barbel followed by 3 more chub to 4lbs 10oz ending the day on a high.
R and D thoroughly enjoyed. Thanks Don and W&U Foundation. Looks like the beat is pretty full for Sept good luck to those fishing there.

6 Barbel, 9 Chub, 1 Other

Fished from 2pm till 8pm, Very disappointing day, not a single bite. Will be back.

2 eels caught river very low & slow.

2 Other

Guided R on the beat last year and he caught some huge barbel and he wanted a repeat session this year. I also guided him on Wyebank last year where he caught 32 barbel in a day!

He brought along his young lad Dominic for the day. Richard caught a good few chub and barbel. He even allowed his lad to land his first barbel of 6lbs 9oz. Richard landed a beautiful 8lbs 12oz barbel. Plenty of chub to 3lbs 12oz were landed. A few fish were lost due to the hook links being parted on sharp rocks.

As normal the fish came early in the morning and late in the afternoon. A great days fishing.

4 Barbel, 8 Chub