Feedback & Reports

Was nice bowling up at one of my favourite wild stream beats . . . . Arrived at bang on midday , with the temperature reading 29 in the truck and the River Arrow looking very very low and as clear as gin !!!!!
Initially I tied on an eighteen parachute Adams, as in some of the small pools there were rises despite the baking hot sun I caught my first feisty Arrow brownie after ten minutes of tackling up , a great start !!!
I chopped and changed between the Adams dry , and a tiny GRHE nymph , as some pools were slow and a bit lifeless to say the least , although second fish , same stamp as the first about seven or eight inches nailed the nymph , lovely colours as always , and in great condition considering the conditions . . . . . .
Further up stream the water levels in places were just a trickle through the rocks , and sitting down in the river bed scanning the next pool seemed to be a good tactic , as my next fish was rising under an alder tree , so on with the Adams and a carefully cast , had him on , ditto in size . .
Half way up the beat , I nearly bumped into a young buzzard , sitting on a rock mid stream , appeared exhausted with the heat , no injuries , so left him be , an impressive bird too !!!!
Last brownie again on the Adams , splashy take and feisty run around at the top pool , just down from the weir , which incidentally has no flow over it what so ever !!!,
All in all a really fun three hours sport and was just the place too be in the cool of the shade in the Arrow valley , four little crackers caught and released , a pleasant wind down in this sticky heat , back soon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4 Trout

1 Barbel, 5 Chub

Clear blue skies, very hot and no wind. River quite low. A few Grayling rise in the morning. No movement after midday. Fished until 5:30pm no takes on any combination after midday. One other person on the beat not sure what they were catching if anything.

3 Grayling

Caught 12 barbel and lost 4 more in the streamer weed, river very low with plenty of weed drifting down from probably canoes and feeding swans. All fish caught using pellet and ground bait feeder with 8mm pellet on the hook.
D.C & J.V Rayleigh

12 Barbel

Worst day I’ve had on the Wye to date. Fownhope is a lovely section but it was yesterday spoilt by the total ignorance of a group running a dog agility competition in the field behind. Totally disgusting to see hundreds of dogs being pushed in 30degree heat. The tired dogs were then literally being thrown in the river all around me for hours on end. With the low conditions it recked the day. Far too little oxygen in the river at present..... will be leaving it alone until later in the season.

1 Chub

Fished a morning session which, given the river conditions and the heat, we fully expected to be hard work. We were pleased though to catch eight Chub to around 4lb and a Barbel in the 6lb to 7lb range before midday. After lunch and watching football taking another step home, we returned for an evening session with the hope of further good sport. This did not really materialise though with the evening session yielding just a couple more Chub and an Eel before a last cast Barbel of a similar size to the previous one to finish the day. All fish caught on feeder and pellet.

2 Barbel, 10 Chub, 1 Other

1 chub - 1.5lbs River very low and canoeists were an absolute disgrace. They should not be allowed to ruin our enjoyment.

2 small eels on meat. The canoeists ruined the swims we had built.

It was probably the hottest day of the year so far, and due to the lack of rain. The river was seriously low.
Despite this i managed to catch some reasonable size chub by using stalking techniques. Wet wading and floating bread crust, using the float only as a controller. Early attempts at bottom fishing just produced large quantities of algae.
We managed to find some fishable water off the crib by the hut. The barbel didn't start showing any interest until about 7pm. I managed 4, whilst my fishing partner blanked, not even a chub for him. A difficult but enjoyable day in the baking sunshine.

4 Barbel, 5 Chub

Madness to even attempt to fish on the hottest day of the year so far, the reservoir was low and water nearer the dam end was pretty warm even at 7:30am. Fished till 11am, then watched the football and returned at 5pm to fish through till 9pm. I had a few lethargic follows to a team of small wet flies, which I consider a result in the conditions. Second visit to Talybont and it has its own magic, will definitely be back in more favourable conditions.