Feedback & Reports

We fished a clear 0.48m river on a perfect warm autumn day – thin cloud, no wind and water 11 degrees, kingfishers, and otters for company twice! We fished in all historically productive spots from the glide below Grandstand up to Little Glaslyn (though DC hasn’t fished CLG for five years). Not unexpectedly, hardly any fly, with little midge and a handful of what were probably LDOs, and certainly nothing to elicit a rise. Where appropriate, we tried surface patterns, duo, spiders and EU-nymphed bugs but struggled to find obliging fish, apart from four small OOS trout, 10 5” graylets and only two adult grayling - an 11” fish on a dark olive Duck’s Dun and a lovely 40cm 2.25lb lady for GR on a weighted orange spider. In the many years DC has fished CLG, he’s never had such an unproductive day in such promising conditions. CLG is still a beautiful location but where were the fish and, in particular, the adult grayling? Must come back in 2026 when there’s more fly life or drown some maggots in the coming months!

Note for other anglers, the riparian owner and WUF: the footpath alongside the island in the river, from the stile upstream of Grandstand to the cattle grid, is overgrown with brambles. After some bushwacking, avoiding trip hazards and potentially punctured waders, and line-grabbing branches and briars, a careful reverse was made back to the stile and to the gate from the car park. Access along this footpath should be much better managed and until this happens, we recommend that, like us, anglers should use the farm track from the car park to get upstream to the cattle grid instead. Access elsewhere is fine.

4 Trout, 12 Grayling

A couple of hours on the Beacons. Flat calm to start, so some fish on dries to 1lb. As wind increased fish were caught pulling wets or small lures. The level is falling rapidly here. I did notice a large number of very big signal crayfish in the reservoir, which I could see crawling on the bottom in most areas when it was calm. It is a worry - these were not present a couple of years ago. No doubt eating a lot of the fly life, which may explain why the trout in recent years have been smaller on average compared to what they used to be. The sedge / cased caddis have all but disappeared.

6 Trout

13 lb cock fish caught Saturday morning on cascade tube.

1 Salmon

2 Barbel, 1 Chub

Barbel to meat and pellet as were chub. Sporadic throughout the day from top end. Good number of accessible swims and beautiful venue with lots of pheasants making the flight across the river! Conditions good with temperature around 16, air still. River slightly coloured with 4-5 foot in the flow. Could hold bottom with ounce lead/feeder. We will be back!

5 Barbel, 4 Chub

Stunning conditions on the beat with the river in good flow and pushing a little bit of tint. Both relatively new anglers, the wading is certainly challenging in areas with deep holes and channels. 5 grayling to the net and a further 4 or 5 hits not converted. One small out of season trout. Best fish 16" and c1.5lb, two other great fish over a pound and two smaller 10-12".

A wonderful beat in full autumn splendour and one of our best days of the season.

1 Trout, 5 Grayling

4 Trout

Not the best day. Fishing with a pair of nymphs.

6 Grayling

Tough day, although conditions are very good.
1 chub.
Not many accessible pegs.

1 Chub

Our first time to this beat.
We had read several previous reports about the walk up and down heart attack hill to avoid the land slide in the wood. This is no exaggeration, if you aren't adventurous and reasonably fit I would stick to the top end of the beat which has several nice swims with normal Wye type access.
Over all a very nice beat
Thanks to the Wye and Usk for all the great work in providing us with such great sport and scenery.

4 Barbel, 2 Chub