Feedback & Reports

Got on bank around 12-30, river still high but the muddy colour had eased and you could see vegetation 2ft down. Chose first swim over bridge, pellet/feeder fishing on a hair rig was a real pain to get back, because the flow pushed feeder and hook deep into bank side snags!! Opted for straight lead (4oz) and a paste of ground Elips pellets and a binding agent.

I used a big heavy bait dropper to put in regular small numbers of 10mm pellets, nothing for the first 4hrs !!!
then 2 reasonable Barbel all in the last hour. Quite happy with that bearing in mind it was very cold last night and the barometer was well over 1012. Think I will give the maggot a go next time, may induce a few silver fish to feed ?

2 Barbel

Very difficult conditions indeed. Only 1 fish, 10lb plus.

1 Barbel

River was in full flood, so fishing difficult. 4 chub were taken to 4lb. 5oz feeders were needed to hold bottom & only achievable in selected spots.
Could of been good on a different day, but that's fishing ! Will be back.

The River Wye was bombing through and in angry mood only about 30 % of the beat was fishable with 4oz plus of lead needed everywhere!
We did find one peg later in the day with some slack water free of debris and had one big barbel bite that produced an epic scrap nearly pulling my son in! Sadly a hook pull at the rim of the landing net ended hopes of a happy ending-the eight year old was surprisingly mature at this disaster (far better than his distraught 37 year father!
Should be prefect by Thursday-good luck to whoever has booked on Thursday you lucky souls!!

River was very high, fast and coloured. Had a great day despite the conditions. Did have some trouble holding bottom, but did manage to catch one barbel that fell to pellet. Will be back in the New Year for another go. Thanks.

1 Barbel

The river was all but impossible to fish but perseverance paid off. A beautiful stretch of the Wye. I will definitely return.

4 Barbel

River high and pushing through. Fished 5oz feeder in the edge with two 12mm spicy sausage pellets on hair. 1 Eel and 3 Barbel going 5lb 15oz, 6lb 14oz and 10lb 1oz.
Worth the 220 mile round trip!

3 Barbel, 1 Other

Tried the Meadow and subsequently the Woods stretch, but as the whole beat is on the outside of a massive bend and there was an extra 6 or 7 feet of water. There was a distinct lack of slack enough water in which 4oz of lead could keep a bait. The banks were treacherous too and with the rain lashing it down, we'd had enough by lunchtime, so moved to a stretch a few miles downstream where we caught six barbel to 9lb in a few hours. I know it's tricky in that you tend to have to book Courtfield a few weeks in advance, but if you suspect rain, I'd suggest a different stretch where you can find some slacker water.

WUF note - When the river is high slacker water can be found at the bottom of the beat by the Courtfield Inn, see where to fish guide http://www.lowerwyefishing.co.uk/the-courtfield-water/where-to-fish.

First time on this beat, river rising and pushing harder than yesterday if that's possible! One rod fished middle of beat which was practically unfishable no bites, 2 rods fished last two swims at bottom of beat which offer slack water they had 1 barbel each. Will definitely give this stretch another go, the near side gulley gives great trotting opportunities, a good number of cut out swims.

2 Barbel

Tried every swim opposite the garden with various baits but no joy. Later in the day decided a move to the lower end of the beat to find some slack might be a good idea. Good move, 3 Barbel on paste in the last hour!

3 Barbel