Feedback & Reports

The river was up about 4 or 5 feet making the fishing a little difficult. Lost a lot of tackle but ended up with ten barbel and three chub between two of us. An enjoyable day in testing conditions.

10 Barbel, 3 Chub

Torrential rain the night before rendered the river up and chocolate but absolutely bursting with life and perfect for Barbel. Used standard feeder tactics with pellets and boilies. Day started slowly on the tail of the Vanstone pool but came alive late afternoon after changing swims. Barbel from 6½lb to 8½lb and a ½lb and fought like tigers. More salmon jumping all over the beat than we have ever seen before. All the wildlife both in and by the river treated us to breathtaking entertainment all day and at dusk. 7 Cormorants seen, all flying downstream. Thank you Wye and Usk for an exceptional day.

9 Barbel, 1 Chub

First visit to this beat and we had a really good day.
The barbel seemed to start feeding from mid afternoon onwards. Most fish falling to swimfeeder and pellet but also a few on meat. Best Barbel of the day weighed 8lbs 7oz with most being around the 6lbs mark. Other fish were eels caught on meat. Hope to return here on next trip.

13 Barbel, 10 Chub, 2 Other

Having read the advanced information we planned to fish the meadow but arrived to find two anglers already on there. We happened to bump into Don on the bank who helped us find two decent swims in the woods.
It was our last day of the trip so we only managed to fish 10-3 before having to make the trip back north. I managed two good barbel, both 8lb+ and a chub of around 4.5lb. My fishing partner managed just one smallish chub.
Much like the day before on another stretch upstream it felt like we hadn't got the tactics quite right. It also felt that it would have switched on more had we been able to stay on until dusk.
We liked the stretch and would definitely fish it again.

2 Barbel, 2 Chub

Parked at the farm behind the gate as look to steep and muddy for our little van (short walk). Lovely looking place, there is a noisy pump in the middle of the beat though didn't run all day. Good conditions we caught 5 eels in this area on meat, did a lot of walking and covered whole beat. Plenty of places to fish if you clear swims in the downstream area.

1 Barbel, 3 Chub, 5 Other

The beat was tricky to find, but we got there in the end. The access to the river was excellent. Unfortunately my fishing companion fears anything that moo's, so we were limited to one field, which I suspect was not the best part of the river. Undeterred, we found a nice looking swim and I proceeded to catch a chevin first cast. A tough day followed, with a further three chub and the smallest barbel I have ever caught. My beef fearing friend struggled, blanking, which was no more than he deserved!
Nice beat, but unlikely to return until the cattle go to slaughter....
HFG

1 Barbel, 4 Chub

River in great condition. Met Terry who was very helpful. Only had time for an afternoon session. Had Barbel jumping clean out of the water, saw Salmon jumping too. Caught two cracking Chub in the 5+lb bracket and saw Dippers, Kingfishers, Kites and Buzzards. Had a great time and will return. Thanks for your work.

2 Chub

River rising, lots of weed coming down. Caught on pellets and meat.

1 Barbel, 6 Chub

Returning to the Wye after a fabulous week last year, this time I brought my wife with me and today was her first outing!! I am not sure which of us was more anxious. It was a grey overcast day, but warm. The river had a good colour but wasn't chugging through and there wasn't any floating weed, logs or other obstructions apart from the steady flow of canoes. Having introduced the Mrs to the basics and how and why we would be fishing a hair rigged pellet below a swim feeder, we moved onto casting. Fortunately the swim we had was wide enough for two and provided access to water level. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly she picked it up. Needless to say she had the first bite and the adrenalin kicked in, she didn't know what had hit her, so I took over and just as well, the fight was on. 15 minutes later we had 'her' first barbel in the net at 9lb 8oz!! The day carried on like this with a regular bites and about a fish an hour. the other barbel were 5lb, 2x 8lb and 10lb dead. The two chub were healthy and were around 3 and 4lb respectively. The other was an eel! It was a great day, plenty of wildlife the canoes weren't really a problem and generally polite. It was a great introduction for the Mrs. I was convinced she would enjoy a day on the Wye and I wasn't wrong. She may be hooked!

5 Barbel, 1 Chub, 1 Other

A hard day on a beautiful venue. Fished all our usual swims but last nights rain meant that a slightly different approach was required. We both had a good sized chub each from our first swims then it all went very quiet.
After a few hours with only one barbel to show for our efforts we spent an hour practising Wallis casting in the field. This paid dividends as M had his first barbel on the Wallis cast and centrepin which went 9lb 10oz.
Stayed until dusk but couldnt manage anything apart from another smaller chub.
We expected a few more bites but after the rain last night the water had risen and felt colder than expected for September. Who knows what the reason was but it was an enjoyable day nonetheless.
Top wildlife from today was a goldcrest, a pair of nuthatch and a green woodpecker.

2 Barbel, 3 Chub