Feedback & Reports

Hot sunny day tried a roving approach fished most swims picking up odd chub on meat,unfortunately no barbel.

10 Chub

safely returned

2 Trout

5 small trout on beaded olive nymph
1 dace on cdc dry

5 Trout, 1 Other

A lovely evening on the Usk, fishing from around 7pm to 9.30. There were a few fish rising on arrival and I was quickly into a good one that took a #18 cdc shuttlecock emerger but which came off at the net. 2 very decent trout were then landed, one a shade under 3lb (weighed in the net) and the other 3 1/4lb, both to the shuttlecock emerger, followed by some smaller <1lb fish. Rises increased at about 9pm but they suddenly weren't interested in the fly that had previously worked, nor anything else I cast at them. I finished up with two dace (a species I hadn't caught in this part of the Usk before) and a chunky salmon parr, after which I called it a night.

5 Trout, 3 Other

Spectacular day's fishing on this new-to us beat. River was high with good flow and brown in colour. Weather overcast and muggy most of the day. Many more fish than we've enjoyed on the Wye previously and the barbel in particular were much bigger too with a few in the 8-10+lb mark. Most in good condition although a few had one or two lice, some had the odd wound (lamprey bite?) and one with a markedly kinked spine. Most fish fell to feeder and luncheon meat but pellet and bread also successful.

'Other' comprised three eel and one bleak. Eels were in the 18-24" region. Not previously had eels before, thankfully with two of us we were able to de-hook and release each of them, which just leaves the slime to deal with!

Two slight negatives about this beat:
- access road after the seven bar gate is steep and in poor condition as others have commented. We were OK with four-wheel drive as the sign on the gate suggests but the description on Fishing Passport I feel should explicitly say access ONLY by 4x4 until the road is improved/stabilised.
- despite length or river available there are very few useable pegs so we stuck for the most part with the one not far beyond the lower parking spot, opposite the house with car port and garages (Swan Pool?), which also had the best mix of flow rates.
- and I guess I should also mention the high number of canoeists and paddle-boarders...

Fishing Passport Note : There is a pop up notice altering anglers to information about the track and the need for 4x4 prior to booking. 18 swims were strimmed at the start of the season. It is unsurprising that some will become overgrown if unused. It is a wild fishery. There is open navigation of the Wye downstream of Hay on Wye, other river users are inevitable, particularly in the summer months.

9 Barbel, 17 Chub, 4 Other

2 Trout

Very bright day but good flow and some colour in the water, one good chub early in the session and one barbel late, others were roach and chublets.
The beat is very scenic but there are a real lack of fishable swims, especially in the upper section. Banks pretty treacherous to access anywhere.

1 Barbel, 4 Chub, 5 Other

I walked the length of the beat and found some swims would be difficult to cast a feeder out but did have ago at three different swims with the last one being the cattle drinking swim and managed one Barbel 8.5lb and one eel looks good for float fishing

1 Barbel, 1 Other

10 Trout

A beautiful beat. The barbel were hard to find but did manage to find 2 at around 7lb. The chub were 2-5lb. All on meat and sweetcorn. The owner is very friendly and gave some some helpful advice.

2 Barbel, 14 Chub