Feedback & Reports

Arrived with river 0.76m and looking perfect. First day out with spring in the air, although a cool easterly breeze limited fishy activity.
Both gave upper stretch a good going over with the double handers but no sign of a needle in a haystack. A sporadic hatch of Olives occurred at 1p.m. but only a handful of rises all day. S.M. had 2 trout, one of 1lb on a Waterhen Bloa on the dropper (also had the same dropper snapped of in a violet take) and one 1/2 lber on a leaded olive nymph on the tail. S.B. had one of 4oz on same nymph.
Very nice to be back out again after a long winter.

3 Trout

Fished 3hrs for salmon. Weather and water perfect at .78m No luck at Wires and Rock. Switched to trout at 12 and landed two trout below Rock. Best 8oz. John Phillips landed 3 and lost 3 at the wood stream.
Previous two visits water too high at 1.9m and 1.1m so unable to wade and casting proved difficult from the recently eroded banks.

5 Trout

Many thanks to owner Barry for the invitation today. A fine spring day after the fog cleared, but I drew a blank for salmon unfortunately. I did briefly shake hands with something which felt more deliberate than a trout, but a couple of head shakes and it was off. After lunch I was able to watch a brief but intense hatch of march browns and some explosive rises from trout in response. As, in my wisdom, I had brought no trout tackle in the car, it was indeed a matter of just sitting on the bank and watching.

Fishing Saturday afternoon and Sunday. River level at first over the metre, fining down nicely. Wading at this level is unwise. However, on Sunday, I did manage to get in just below the bridge by the gauges and a little further down towards the cables. This is normally slower water, but at the 0.9m range I managed to fish the fly well.
Upstream where the water is faster, I fished from the bank and platform on both sides. Sunday was a perfect day filling me with confidence. Alas no fish for me.
The good news is that a salmon has now (12th March)
been caught below and I did hear of an earlier fish lost upstream. Good luck to all for the New Season!

Arrived at 7.45am with 0.76m on the gauge and falling slowly. A little too much colour at first but by end of day had dropped 5cm and colour perfect.
Had a head and tail take to my Golden Killer (single hook) fly after 15 minutes and a 9lb colouring cock fish was duly landed and safely returned.
Fished hard for another 9hrs but didn't see a fish. The curtain came down on a memorable season fishing Rock pool in the company of L.T. from Creigiau with perfect water, a rainbow to our left and a beautiful sunset to our right.
Thankyou to the WUF and owner Barry for making all this possible. Here's to next season!

1 Salmon

Arrived at 8am with the river steady at 0.56m on the gauge. The predicted Arctic blast was under way with a strong downstream wind making casting challenging.
Saw a small red grilse then a larger specimen head and tail on Rock whilst tackling up. A 13lb colouring cock fish accepted my Golden Killer and was safely returned after a lively 15 min fight.
Persisted until 4pm in dazzlingly bright conditions and a strong northerly wind but didn't see another fish. Left for a warming cup of tea, once again counting my blessings.

1 Salmon

Perfect water. Lost red grilse. Nothing else seen.

The river was still high and coloured after the rain on Thursday. Barry contacted me to see if we could possibly fish the next day instead but our plans could be not be changed in time. Nice of him to try and help us catch some fish!

Arrived at dawn with the river at 0.6m on gauge and reasonable colour. It rose 10cm in next 4 hrs but then steady for next 3 but just fishable. Saw 2 salmon by Chine and 2 below the bridge around the cables. Worked hard with fly and spinner, the last 3 hrs in a complete deluge. Retired soaked and defeated after 7 hrs with the river rising again and colouring badly. Forget Friday. Sat and Sunday... tight lines!

Fished unsuccessfully for Salmon in the hope that fish would be running but no such luck. We did see four or five salmon rising in the first half of the day but these may have been resident fish. Ideally needs another 6-8 inches on the river before the fish return.
Nontheless a beautiful beat and the owner of the water came to visit us and was especially kind and courteous, going so far as to lend me some spare waders as mine were full of holes! Cannot thank him and the Wye & Usk Foundation enough.