Feedback & Reports

An unbeleivable warm day for time of year. Fishing in bright sunshine and shirt sleeves. Water only 7 degrees but still managed 3 Barbel around the 8 to 9 pound mark. A lovely stretch but limited in swims due to nature of high banks.

Morning spent on the lovely Courtfield. River cold with snow melt, coloured and falling. 2 x 5lb Chub on meat and 7lb Pike on a spinner, not a bad mornings work!

None.

Wyebank Section. 16.00 to 18.30, overcast but mild. Evening walk to use maggots left from trip to Glanwye. Met 2 W&U anglers leaving after blank day for Barbel. River falling and clearing but water very cold the probable cause of the lack of barbel. Trotting, centre-pin, chubber float lightly over shot to size 14 hook on 4lb line set at 3 to 4ft and held back on edge of flow. Loose feed maggots with 2 on hook. 1 x 3lb plus chub followed by dace to 12oz every other cast until very dark. During this summer only caught occasional individual dace when using sweetcorn for barbel/chub and thought the heavy presence of a cormorant family and immature goosanders had cleared most of dace so good to find a large quality shoal present again.

1 X chub2.5l bs. Very slow with virtually no bites - possibly due to drop in temperature. Locals weren't catching either. Beautiful section of river with some great looking swims. Will try again in better conditions.

No salmon seen, but wonderful fly water in the bottom section (Wyebank) Both of us had trout around 1lb. Would have been great to see a few salmon.

Mon 11th October, 16.00 to 18.45. Wyebank section. River slightly coloured, 3 barbel 6-8lb, Halibut pellet on rolling ledger of one swan shot over loose halibut feed on crease of eddies.

Tues 12th October, 16.30 to 18.30. Wyebank section. 1 barbel of around 8lb at dusk. No takes on halibut or meat, tried last cast with whole processed ragworm left from sea trip, instant take, must have hit it on head!
All fish in prime condition and fins well coloured. Pike on prowl in centre section as light faded may have been cause of no bites until dusk. Goosanders and immature cormorants fishing below island.

Three days spent on this wonderful fishery. 1 Barbel, 4 to 5 pounds, 3 chub at 2,3 and 4 pounds, all caught on ledgered meat in the bottom pools of the fishery. Plenty of dace caught on maggots also. Exellent natural fishery well worth a visit. Big thanks to Don for making us feel so welcome. Planning next visit asap.....

Access was typical of so many Wye fisheries: down a steep and slippery bank, especially at the bottom where receding floodwaters had left the ground quite muddy. Turned out to be an expensive day, as 10+ feeders were lost in a snag which I was later informed might be the carcase of a motorbike dumped a year or two earlier, and slowly being washed down the fishery by each flood (thanks for that info Rudi). However, the snag turned out to be the fish-holding feature, and when the casts didn't go awry 4 barbel were the result, 3 estimated between 5-7 lbs, and a pristine beauty of 11 lbs exactly. Pellet/paste combo was the main producer, with only 1 fish falling to meat. Other fish caught were a chub of about 2lbs, and the real surprise of the day: a 4lb jack pike which grabbed the pellet as I began a retrieve to refill the feeder. Stunning surroundings as ever, even with the Ross road a few yards behind (and above!) me. No less than 20 or so different bird species seen and/or heard throughout the day, the highlight being a juvenile sparrowhawk fly-past on the oppsite bank. The only downside were the incompetent canoeists who insisted on hitting the sides of their canoes with each paddle stroke creating a fish-scaring racket - and surprisingly there were more today than when I fished at Caradoc on Bank Holiday Monday.

River rose 2m overnight from yesterdays successes at Middle Hill with large branches, sheds and stray boats bombing past. Consequently fishing was nigh on impossible even if you could find a swim with some slack. Should have brought a beachcaster and some grippa leads! Nothing caught except a baitrunner reel which has cleaned up nicely, shame because one of our party caught a 10lb 13oz barbel here late the previous evening as the water was beginning to rise. Other fishermen and bailiff all very approachable and helpful which was nice and all too rare these days.