Feedback & Reports

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.

7 chub from 3lb to 5lb. 4 barbel 5lb, 6lb,4oz, 8lb 6oz and 10lb 11oz, all caught on corn.

7 barbel - a low 7, two low 8's, and a 9.7 plus 3 others, plus that ruddy eel. Several with significant hook damage - I use de-barbed 14's.
Had to cast and rove around a bit, all from Leg Meadow swims, river at near 'normal' summer level and clear.
As the road noise diminishes and the setting sun gets out of your eyes behind the tall pines, the place takes on the Wye magic atmosphere. Pretty reasonble for an evening session with the just the one, home-made and Indian-looking, canoe.

Decided not to fish the morning session following our experience with the masses of kayaks the previous day, so arrived at about 4pm to find the river carrying a bit more colour from the overnight rain. A few kayaks and boats still on the river, but without exception they were all quiet and considerate to us as anglers.
We returned to the "Rocks" swim in the wooded section, this time being aware of the safer, rock - free areas in front of us. Using swim-feeder approach and 16mm pellet bait we caught 3 nice Barbel weighing 7lb 4oz, 7lb 15oz, and 9lb 11oz. Only lost one barbel and very little tackle to the rocks this time having found the clear runs on the far bank.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------