Feedback & Reports

1 barbel and a few chub between three of us. Very hard and the river as low as I have seen it.

Good day 20 plus chub to 4lb on sweetcorn, most taken trotting a stick float using a centerpin. No barbel landed.
Fished the entire stretch on both banks. Water is very low so I was able to have a good look for future visits.
Thank you.

Four of us fished Vanstone/Corner Tree/Maddox swims. Total catch four barbel to 8ibs and three chub. I fished Vanstone pool and I agree with another report about the snags. I was also not impressed to find discarded tackle (hair rigged hooks, swivel links) plus several long lengths of monofilament in the mud and bushes and even a collection of beer cans deposited in the bankside undergrowth - all removed.
My next purchase will be an Anglers version of an Exocet missile to prevent yet another kayaker (the majority of whom were pleasant and "exchanged waves and good luck") doing demonstration rollovers about four feet from a friends rod tip - the deliberate, boorish behaviour was a disgrace and ruined what should have been a pleasant session even if the fishing was hard. We will probably not visit this beat again.

Caught 2 Barbel 6lb each and 1 small chub. Vanstone extremely snaggy and fish not present in numbers. River lower than I've seen it in probably 40 years (though some of those years are a bit hazy). Spur of the moment booking as I saw that I would have the stretch to myself.

Met Adam the friendly and helpful bailiff, who suggested going back to Vanstone pool (where I had caught the first barbel) until dark (which I agreed with totally. Immediately had 2nd barbel first chuck, well before dark, but then spent the rest of the evening tying hair rigs as I was losing a hooklength every other cast.

If fishing this area, I would advise against using bare hooks, as it was the hooks and not the feeder which was getting snagged on the rocks. When I eventually gave up hair rigs and using meat with hook buried, I stopped getting snagged but no further fish came , except for a small chub which nicked my meat from about 5ft out as I was packing up.

Hardest fishing I've known on this stretch. Desperately needs monsoon, and soon. Apart from that, Peregrines, Buzzards, Dippers, Pair of Kingfishers, loads of salmon leaping while leaving the upper end of Vanstone pool heading upstream, but no biggies. And millions of fry which were eating everything I put in the feeder.

Rain please, and lots of it. (Lovely day though.)

The water was very low and clear restricting the choice of swims. We fished from the concrete croys for most of the day with just a few chub on pellet and bread. We moved downstream for the evening and had a good couple of hours, taking 6 barbel to 8lb 8oz to end the day on a high.

Started out at around 10ish spotting and dropping some bait in likely areas. Chub up to 4lb seen a'plenty and the salmon were giving it some welly leaping around. Started at the very under fished bottom end where the water runs shallow to wade but dont be fooled. You can easily be out of your depth in the many gullies that hide under the weed!
Had eight chub up to 4lb between us in the afternoon for a very pleasent day. At 3pm we started the walk along the baited areas but the barbel were still very well hidden.
In the end we ended up with five barbel from 3lb up to 9lb from all over the length. Had one, then moved on.

Beautiful day, weather, wildlife and good company.

On a side note, many of the canoeists get a bad press but everyone of them were polite, friendly and held back when playing fish. Never had that before. Some even glided upon approach to avoid spooking in the clear water!!!!
Thank you.

The river was very low and clear, difficult for the Barbel during the morning and afternoon with only 3 caught before 18:00 pellet and paste doing the trick. Chub fishing was better though with 10 taken from 2.5lb to 5.10lb caught on sweetcorn and pellet. After 18:00 the Barbel started to show with 5 being taken in the last hour all fell to pellet, some nice fish too, 3 over 9lb unfortunately none quite made 10. A very enjoyable day dispite the low water levels.

We arrived at dawn to witness a multitude of leaping salmon, we would of been there earlier had we not been stopped by the police in Fownhope! "You've driven all the way from wiltshire to fish? You're mad!" She was right, we are.

The fishing was tough. A smattering of chub kept our hopes up through the morning, one of them nearly pulled my companion into the river! He was certain it was a barbel and I couldn't disguise my glee when a chub surfaced at the net. The canoes were not too bad, we caught a brace and ate them with a nice salad for lunch.

I contacted and immediately lost a barbel early afternoon, then it seemed to switch off. We couldn't even raise a few tiddlers trotting bread punch. Late afternoon a dinghy with an outboard attached chugged upstream, soulless git. It was around 6pm when things started to liven up. I took a barbel from the mouth of the Lugg and the chub came back on the feed, providing some entertainment for my comrade.
We fished hard until dark. One more barbel fell to my rod at dusk from Upper Sally's. My friend remained barbus free but I think he's gone off them after being attacked by a shoal at Backney last year.

It was a lovely day all in all, one of those days when a couple of hard won fish provide a great deal of satisfaction.

Just like my previous trip to White House, the river was very low and the weather pretty hot & sunny. I started fishing at about 8am, but didn't manage to catch a single fish until about 6pm. The last 2 hours of the day were a great improvement with 3 Barbel up to 8lb and 2 Chub up to 4lb.

The fish were all caught on Halibut pellets. After such a long fishless spell earlier it was a great ending to the day.

Excellent fishery. Caught 6 barbel of between 6 and 9 pounds. Lots of swims. Access very good. Very useful fishing hut.