Feedback & Reports

4 barbel and 4 chub from the top half of the stretch. Took a bit of finding and effort in 4 foot on, and make swims as you go. The parking in the field is good as you can be out of sight behind big hedge. The walk down the track is twice the Hill-of-Death at Middle Ballingham and Fownhope, and take the right-hand overgrown track at the SECOND bird-feeder drum, otherwise you'll be fighting the wood and not the barbel...

Tuesday 19th June, the river had dropped significantly in the past 48 hours and had returned to its normal colour. However, fishing was very slow, with nothing caught until mid afternoon. 3 chub to myself on small cubes of luncheon meat & feeder, 4 to Tim on similar tactic. These came from section 3, end of island and under the trees at the top of the section. Thanks to Ian who was very helpful and was on time to open up the access gate to the fishery.

13 barbel and 2 chub. Floody conditions at 4 foot up meant moving around, even the big pool had pace. Plenty of snags though found fishing 'blind'. A really special visual place, with total quiet much of the time, provided no-one on the opposite bank. A result.

River still about 7ft up and very coloured. Although this is a lovely beat there are very few swims in these conditions and the only water I found fishable was down below the island.
Had a really good day catching 18 barbel on halibut pellets, the best was 8lb. A real bonus was meeting Colin the keeper, a really nice man.

River still high and flowing fast, although level had dropped. Fished along straight stretch before bend. Caught an 8lb barbel fairly quickly and it then went very quiet. Despite moving beats only only managed one other barbel. Think Bob further down did much better. Hard going but weather and scenery glorious.

1 chub...river still high but dropping. Only water that looked fishable was being fished by a great lad from Gateshead.

Lovely looking spot although the river was up approx 12 feet when I first arrived on Saturday, in fact my normal dog walking routes were under water around Ross. This meant only a limited number of swims were fishable,I found an area of slack water and fished the crease for seven barbel to about 7lb and two lost. Will try again in September, this beat was new to me and looks worth exploring.

Fished the afternoon and early evening, sun out and the river dropping steadily. Fishing the near margins, I settled myself in, cup of tea in hand and a beautiful silver salmon leaped clear from the water 2 metres from my seat. It stayed there all day! Anyway, fishing was productive. I missed a couple of rod bending bites, all on pellet but in the end I managed to catch 2 barbel, around the 5-7lb mark and 3 Chub.
A wonderful and relaxing afternoon, a picturesque beat and a good cup of tea!
Thank you Wye & Usk Foundation.

A dozen barbel and 1 chub between the two of us, best barbel : 8lb. Sunny all day but despite the falling river (though still coloured), no fish from mid morning till late afternoon.

2nd Day on Courtfield and River dropped back from 8 foot above normal height to 5ft above normal during the day. Still only Legg Meadow swims really fishable and fished the 2nd and 3rd pegs again. 5 Barbel caught between the 2 of us (and pulled out of 1).... 4 during the morning between 10 - 13:00 and one around 16:30 Fish were 6lb 6oz, 6lb 6oz, 6lb 10oz, 7lb 2oz, 8lb 5oz and 9lb 4oz all on double Ellipse pellets. Tried various other baits. Nothing much in the way of activity apart from the fish. Lots of wildlife again.