Feedback & Reports

Bit of a struggle today, not as good as this beat usually is. Barbel, chub and dace to float and feeder tactics.

Arrived just before sunrise and decided to fish the meadow. The river looked spot on with a nice bit of colour and after a cup of tea and a bacon roll on the stove we settled into our pegs, several biteless hours later we were beginning to wonder what we were doing wrong as nothing we tried seemed to work. We decided to move and opted for the steps pegs where we were met with the same biteless responce. After being relieved of a few feeders and hook lenths we decided to go back to the meadow and take our chances into the evening. The sun was high in the sky at this point and our hopes of catching were diving but after a bit of casting around a fish was finally on the bank of around 6lb another two hours past before the next bite and a barbel of around 3lb started a run of fish which included a fish of 10 lb 1oz as well as two 9s. All in all 8 fish landed and two lost. 12mm pellets acounting for all.
On a final note although all the fish seemed fit and healthy some were showing signs of mouth damage, one in particular which was still carrying a complete braided hooklength was a bit of a mess which was a bit sad to see. Not a fan of low diameter braided hooklengths myself, its as good as cheese wire. Looking forward to a trip later in the year.

Fished from early morning, caught barbel throughout the day. 2x 3lb 1x 4lb, 1x 5lb, 1x 7lb and the best was a 9lb 140z and a 9lb 9oz. All on open end feeder with hair rigged pellet.

A good day, river up a little and coloured but dropped through the day. 10 Barbel to 8.9lb, one lone Chub and an Eel. Pellet and feeder was the tactic.
Lots of feeders lost in the rocks but didnt spoil the day.

Another great day on this lovely stretch of river. Arrived to find river up and coloured, this dropped throughout the day. Moved a couple of times to find fishable slacks and ended with 11 barbel to just into double figures.

Hard days fishing, just one chub between 3 rods.

Fish hard today nothing seen or caught

River was low and clear so not the most conducive angling conditions. Fished pellet and feeder for the day. Second cast of the day in a meadow swim saw a 7lbs 6oz barbel come to the net. Followed 30 minutes later by a beautiful conditioned 5lbs 2oz chub. Thinking we were in for a great day faded as time ticked by. After 3 hours and a swim move no further bites were forthcoming. So we tried the swim feeder grave yard wooded stretch. This time we found a few clear area's and caught 2 chub over a 3hr period. The barbel just didn't want to feed.
Thinking that they might feed as evening approached we returned to the meadow. This proved right as at 5pm the barbel came on the feed. 3 more barbel were landed, 7lbs 6oz, 8lbs 4oz and 7lbs 14oz.2 were lost, one to a snag and another shredded the hook link on a rock. Canoes were no problem and we caught one chub when the canoe was directly overhead the bait. So a good days angling again.

Arriving at the river at around 8am, after a long drive, we walked the meadow section and spoke to the other two anglers that we would share the beat with. They were very friendly and informed us that they had caught 1 barbel and as we chatted they proceeded to land a nice chub of just over 5lb. The river was coloured and very slightly rising after overnight rain but a good 6ft down on the our last visit. With the use of ropes and spikes (due to the slippery banks) we settled in to our chosen swims. It would be fair to say that the fishing was very slow with four rods fishing and often moving to cover new ground it felt as though it would come down to waiting it out for the fish to feed. An afternoon move down into the faster moving water of the wooded section provided me with my first barbel of the day which was worth the wait as it was in mint condition and weighed in at 10lb 4oz, a new pb for the Wye. Shortly after I was attached to another strong fish but unfortunately this was lost to a hook pull. A 6lb barbel was the last action of the day for me once the light had faded. K B had sat it out in one of the meadow swims and managed to pick up a very respectable 6 barbel, mainly in the evening, up to 8lb.

A very poor day fish wise only 2 eels to report despite trying a variety of baits and swims. Not helped by the terrible weather causing the river to rise and colour badly. Both fish caught on meat.