Feedback & Reports

10 x chub 6-9lb. 3 x barbel 3-4lb

250 mile journey to get there meant that I didn't start until 10am. First barbel at around 12.15, then bites for 45 mins, then swim died. Topped up feed and stopped fishing for an hour. More bites and fish from 3pm to 4pm then died again. Topped up but this time nothing. Bites again around 7pm.

6 barbel all around 3lbs - 4lbs all perfect condition. Lost three what appeared to be larger fish in a big snag mid river (also lost 3 rigs in same snag).

Great day will be back as soon as possible.

Canoes most of the day but only those on "corporate team days" really caused any problems!

Fished the top beat. Used swim-feedered halibut pellets 4 hours, hoping to attract some barbel, but did not have a bite! Changed over to sweetcorn, on the float and leger, and had some grayling, dace and a couple of trout.

River was low and clear as expected. Fished upstream of the orchard and remained biteless until 3.00pm when we had seven barbel between us in the next two hours. All on pellet. Then it died again. Best barbel was an estimated near double. All the others were beteen 5 - 8 lbs.
Must echo the previous comments regarding the difficult access to the limited number of swims available in this top stretch. We weren't able to explore the whole length but from what we could see there were only three accessible swims. Two of those had to be waded to and would be difficult to access when the river was carrying extra water. The area next to the parking area seemed better suited to mountain goats rather than anglers!
WUF directions etc were spot on. Thank you.

A hot and sunny day. Water very low and barbel on evident in one spot just below the viaduct. There were a lot of fish flashing, perhaps rubbing against the rocks to rid themselves of the Argulus that they are still carrying. Caught steadily throughout the day and did not suffer the fish losses of the previous day at Backney. Played the fish from high up the bank to keep the line clear of snags.
Finished with 13 fish to 8lb 13 oz, my partner had 4 fish to 7lb. He caught a couple from a clean run down towards the island in the morning, and then moved up later in the day to fish the same spot as me beneath the viaduct. It was eveident as the day wore on that the average size of the fish increased as the bigger barbel moved in. Resting the swim and going for a walk after baiting up was also a good ploy, you nearly always had a take after recasting.

Third visit to this beautiful spot on the wye. Fished from 5am till 10am until the dreaded canoes arrived. Lots of barbel and chub caught on sweetcorn trotting and ledgering, Great fun! Disapointed to find beer cans and a used meat can left on the first croy by a previous fisherman I would have thought Don's lovely fishery deserves better than that....
We both had another great trip and will be back asap

After a night of over indulgence and four hours sleep I arrived at the fishery full of anticipation. The river was very low and clear with lots of weed so I plumped for a swim near the Vanstone Pool with a clear channel down the middle. Fishing by 8 a.m. I had a 3lb 2oz chub almost immediately so I was expecting great things. Sadly it proved to be a false dawn and as it was a Sunday the river went canoe crazy. All were, to be fair, sensible and courteous but a series of bizarre sights drifted past constantly and made fishing almost impossible so I decided to catch up on some sleep as it was a very hot and bright day anyway and far from ideal for fishing. Around 3 hours later I woke up feeling dehydrated and pessimistic but at least the boat traffic had died down a lot. I cast out a feeder more in hope than expectation. After around half an hour the tip smashed down twice very quickly and I struck into what was obviously a big barbel. I counted my blessings as, for reasons best known to itself, the fish stuck to the clear channel in the middle of the river and tried to head off upstream. I am sure if it had tried to get into the weed at the sides I would have lost it. Anyway after several long and powerful runs I prised it up off the bottom and eventually could see it up in the water. When I finally started to get the upper hand I thought it would be virtually impossible to net the fish without it getting into the weed first. Once agin I was lucky and she was as quite as a lamb as I drew her to the net. A new p.b. she weighed exactly 10lb 8oz and to say I was elated would be an understatement. Anyway a quick photo and the fish was returned safely and swam off strongly. Immensely broad across the 'shoulders'. Later on I lost another fish in the weed and landed a small chub.

The following day I made and early start lost a barbel and landed another of around 4lb before the swim died as the sun started to roast me so I packed up and made my way home around noon unable to stay until the evening when I suspect the fish would have been on the feed again. Excellent trip and will definitely be back soon.

Fished 2.00pm - 9.00pm, I had a terrible experience, my complaints are as follows:

Barbel: As a Great Ouse regular, I'm not used to starting at 2.00pm in clear water and catching a Barbel within 30 seconds of casting out. I was pouring a cup of tea when an 8-pounder tried to take my rod to Hereford. Fortunately I was only disturbed by four Barbel throughout the course of the evening.

Chub: They fight too hard. Twice I hooked large Barbel and emitted yelps of joy, only for the fish to miraculously turn into a three-pound Chub.

Salmon: I was just nodding off when a large Salmon crashed out of the river and woke me up. Please remove them from the river.

Canoes: I was lead to believe that I would be entertained by parties of canoeists capsizing, having water fights etc. Only four or five passed and all were disappointingly courteous.

Despite the above, and because I am a selfless individual, for the appropriate remuneration I would be happy to fish this beat on my own every day until the end of my life, just to ensure that no other angler is forced to suffer in the way that I was.

Quiet start on pellets, changed to meat and caught 5-1/2lb barbel straight away. Four other good bites but didn't catch any more, left mid afternoon.

Seventeen barbel and three chub caught throughout the afternoon with five fish lost. The river was very low and clear and access around the orchard had only two viable swims. With extra water these will not be fishable. Other fields are very open up and down stream but will not suit anglers not wishing to fish near to livestock. There are bulls in all meadows. Nice place though.