Feedback & Reports

We arrived early and found the water high but clearing well. Fished through the beat expectantly but nothing moved. A delicate cast through the upper Rock Pool with a size 8 cascade met with a steady pull near the dangle late morning but I was on tender hooks and perhaps lifted too eagerly, would not take again. Went to Sweets in Usk - just fabulous! Evening raid with renewed enthusiasm after talking with Jean and hearing of 3 landed that day and buying some Usk Grubs but sadly nothing took hold. Many thanks to all as always.

J P landed a 10lb hen fishing above the chine
on a cascade. Water 0.7m slightly coloured. Time 9am. Fish slightly coloured and returned OK. Persistent rain and 35mph wind thereafter making fishing difficult.

Released a 10lb hen just starting to colour at the gills at submerged tree below the Rock to an orange fly.

This was our first visit to Chainbridge. We arrived after a night long fall of rain to find the river rising and coloured. Barry, the owner of the beat, was river side casting a spinner as we arrived. He offered to show us the beat and that was very helpful. We could see it had the potential to be an excellent water and the catch returns filled us with hope. Alas the water continued to colour up, a flotilla of jetsam arrived early afternoon and we threw in the towel around 3pm. I had a couple of sizeable trout below the bridge which was too overgrown to fish with a fly. It was an enjoyable day but, with the absence of any showing fish, fell short of sublime!

Following an unsuccessful day at Ty-Newydd the previous day we thought we'd try the Usk as it looked as though it had dropped a litle overnight. The river was running at 9.4 on the gauge at Chainbridge when we arrived with maybe a foot of visability (although still very red in colour) and dropped to 9 by the end of the day. James landed a 13lb colouring cock fish from the Rock Pool on his fourth cast of the day which put up a good scrap. The fish took a small Park Shrimp tube fished on a floating line. No more action then until around 4pm when I landed a fresh 5lb grilse spinning from just below the bridge from the steps by the gauage where it didn't seem possible to fish the fly. We didn't see any other fish all day but no doubt they were there. A very enjoyable days fishing.

Arrived at 8am, 0.84m on the gauge. Fell to 0.74 by 4pm with a rapdly rising barometer. Should have been perfect but river was carrying too much colour even after 8hrs of steady fall. Saw two large fish running through neck of Rock. Where are the grilse this year? No pulls but another lovely day. Single speycast is not a total disaster now!

Nil. Nice day in the sun.

A near cloudless day with bright sunshine so not ideal for fishing. No fish caught. I stayed until dusk when a few salmon showed below the hut.

Got up at 4am anticipating another scorchio. Fishing by 5.45am. Gave Rock and Upper Rock a good going over with the double hander. No fish seen, then one 18-20 pounder showed a couple of times under the trees between Chine and Woodstream. Tried in the shade with a shrimp [impossible to reach with a fly] but no interest shown. Gave up at 2pm with temperature rocketing. Last seen falling asleep on a lounger at 5pm with beer in hand. Till another dawn!

Hooked a 16lb plus hen salmon just upstream of Rock. Played for nearly 10 mins. Lightly hooked on orange small brass tube, long distance release. 0.65 on Chainbridge gauge with a little colour, a few showers, perfect. Another salmon seen splashing through at narrowing by Rock. Fished also below bridge to Oak/Cables. Fly working well and wadeable at this level.