Feedback & Reports

A cold but beautiful day on a lovely beat. Water clear and level a good height. Main challenge was the ice forming on the line and rod for the first hour or so!
Tried weighted wets as well as nymphs but yet again struggled to find the fish. Although no action in Lady Alexander's and Stone Catch pools, they are both great stretches to cover.
Tried the top end of the beat, just down from the Edw stream and did catch 1 small grayling. Two fishermen on the other bank also worked the same area and had no luck.
A great stretch and very well maintained.

1 Grayling

Back again to this fantastic beat. -3 showing on the thermometer on the fishing hut, river was crystal, very bright sunshine when it cleared the hills. Trotted red maggots was the method of the day. Initially struggled to find the grayling, but every section I tried was full of trout.

Lost count of the numbers, but a guess of between 35-45 would be a conservative estimate. Fish between 8 and 18 inches.
Where are they in the summer when fly fishing? Eventually found some grayling at the bottom of Lady Alexander's just as the sun dipped back behind the hills. 10 fish between 10 and 14 inches.

A memorable day for my last trip of the year.

10 Grayling

A blank, doubtless owing to it being below freezing most of the morning. Had to pack up at 1 pm - whilst loading the car saw an angler arrive who must have parked further down the lane, not in a designated parking place, and move into the swim I had just vacated. Was pike fishing. White male, 5 feet 10/6 feet, medium build, 40s, camo jacket and rucksack, single olive rod sleeve, large fold up lure net. Nobody else booked on, I found upon arriving home and having internet connection, so can only assume was poaching. Have fished two W&U beats so far this season, this one twice, never had a ticket checked, so might be time to wise up a bit?

Cold, but beautiful winter's day on the Lugg. The only problem I had was my line freezing in the rod rings!

River running clear, but at a nice height.

Car thermometer registered -2 when I arrived and -1 when I left.

7 Trout, 37 Grayling

Had a first go at trotting for grayling. Not as straightforward as it looks. Used an entry level fly fishing centre pin + 5lb Maxima. Despite a good flow and drag fully off the current couldn't unspool line.
Was confined to short trots of 10-15 yards. Still got takes, managed a couple of fish to hand and lost others. Need to research more appropriate trotting reels (and buy one!) before next outing.

2 Grayling

River had a nice flow and slight colour, weather cold and crispy just right for a few hours nymphing for grayling. Caught three nice sized grayling (around a pound) all from the deep slow runs, fishing right on the bottom. First two on hares ear, then the last one on a shrimp. Some pools were tricky to fish but thats half the fun. In one moment of madness I was tempted into fishing a particularly enticing run, where catching the grayling was the easy part, landing it was another matter altogether, but we shook hands in the end and perhaps we'll meet again another day.

3 Grayling

No fish seen, touched or risen. Lovely winters day though.

1 Grayling, 13 Chub

Blank for both anglers but a good day out as always.

Quite cold early on but otherwise conditions were near perfect. Unfortunately the fish did not share this view - not a nibble all day. Tried 3 different swims in the wooded area and various boilies, meat, maggots and pellets. All were treated with indifference!