Feedback & Reports

First time on the upper Wye and Craig Lyn did not disappoint, river still low and clear but managed to take a few on dry fly from 8:30 to 9:30, after that it was nymphs as the dry fly fishing switched off. Met the owner who was very friendly and knowledgeable on the beat, shame it was at the end of the day, I’m sure his pointers would have been useful earlier! Will definitely be back.

2 Trout, 5 Grayling

Another hard day with low water, bright sunshine and minimal fly life. Managed to winkle out 3 small trout from the streamier sections on nymphs (black perdigon & the ever faithful copper john) and a chublet on dry fly.

3 Trout, 1 Chub

This morning, the weather was perfect for fishing – sunny and calm, with no wind – but unfortunately, the trout refused to bite actively today, and between the two of us we caught only one trout (after paying for twelve ????).

1 Trout

Nice little stream with good water levels for this time of year. It goes past a sewage treatment works which you can smell, but it's OK - seems like it's operating correctly. Two decent trout to the net, one 10" on a #20 Klinkhammer, one on 8" a #20 weighted nymph.

2 Trout

Very little water, with very few fishable stretches. No sign of any fish.

Quite a surprising day. First surprise was a couple of days ahead of fishing when i saw that Fownhope 5 had no-one booked on for the Sunday. So made plans with the wife to head there for a pub lunch followed by an afternoon on the river. Next surprise was getting the bill in the New Inn at Fownhope for the excellent Sunday lunch we had there, very reasonable (especially compared to the place next door!). After lunch we headed the long way round the woods. Given recent catch reports i fully expected to find the opposite bank fully loaded with HDAA anglers, so third surprise was finding Lucky Stone pool completely deserted. Fishing in to the obviously faster water, another surprise came my way in that despite it being the middle of a very sunny day, the fish were exceptionally obliging! Chub and barbel came regularly though some bites were missed (probably chub) and a couple of fish threw the hook at the net (definitely chub!). Predominantly I fished the feeder with usual groundbait/ pellet combo and either meat or pellet as hookbait. I also waded across the very shallow section so i could trot the middle of the river with sweetcorn but it wasn't as effective as a static bait (though i did manage a decent chub on the float which was great fun!). Total of 6 decent chub and 4 barbel, biggest of which i weighed very quickly at 8.13. That was a somewhat surprising return given the conditions and the fact that we were only there for about 4 and a half hours. Last surprise was the canoes - or lack of them! In the time i was there i saw less than 10, plus a group of 3 paddle boarders... all immaculately behaved, went through quickly with a wave and a hello from me which was politely returned. Could have stayed longer and would definitely have caught more but with the walk over the hill and the drive home looming I was very content with my day. Superb!! Thanks to all at WUF and landowner for making it possible.

4 Barbel, 6 Chub

Nothing

Hard work today on a low and clear river; with most of my fish coming before 10:00 am. This included 5 Grayling from the same run; when I briefly entertained hopes of bagging up. Not to be though; with the day petering out - and scarcely a touch after lunch. The Grayling were the typical Lyepole 8-10 inch fish, but one of the Trout went 14 inches. An early finish for my lovely wife's supper of Pork Tenderloin with Armagnac and Prunes

3 Trout, 7 Grayling

4 Trout

5 Rainbows on a mixture of black and gold Mepps, and gold Tobies. Best fish just under 3lbs, the remainder all around 1 and three-quarter lbs. End of the day spoilt by a group of campers on the opposite bank who decided to start blaring out music from 15:30 onwards, ruining our lovely peaceful fishing trip. I will think twice about visiting this reservoir again due to this.

5 Trout