Feedback & Reports

River running clear but very windy. A few small LDO hatched at around 11. Four fish on nymphs Hares Ear and Olive. One on a Klinkhammer.

5 Trout

Fished the Usk Reservoir for the first time in appalling conditions this Easter. I was the only one mad enough to stay for 5 hours in torrential rain and wind. However, the good news is that I managed to catch one fish on worm, a good specimen Rainbow Trout weighing 2lb, as fly fishing was out of the question. A note for some of my fellow anglers, clear up your rubbish as I collected fishing line and weights from one of the banks.

1 Trout

Very enjoyable day on the Usk for the first time nice to cast a line. Didn't see any fish or rises. Thanks to Barry the owner for his advice and a big thankyou to Gary Evans at Gary Evans Newport for his help and generosity.

8 x trout 6-8 inches, plus a few salmon smolts, already beginning to silver up. A dark and stormy morning with rain on the way. Nothing rising on the way up, so fished with a Goldbead Hare's Ear nymph. However, the last two fish were caught on a Deer Hair Emerger after being seen rising splashily to large dark olives at the top end.

8 Trout

Arrived at the fishery around 7am. Within five minutes of starting to fish the rain began followed quickly by a strengthening wind. The river was very shallow with only a few deeper areas to fish. Tried the full length of the beat using French leader techniques but without any success. I had intended to fish my way back to the car but by this time the rain and wind prevented any further fishing. Did I enjoy myself...yes. Did I get wet....yes. Will I return....definitely yes.

River was at good height and clarity but nothing to show for my efforts. No fish seen but the fly was swinging beautifully in all pools. The gusts didn't make it easy to cast a fly but it at kept the canoeists off the river.

Fished both the lower and middle beats in a day. The lower beat was overgrown all the way up, so fished a short line (sort of) Czech style to explore the nooks and crannies. Caught one small brownie, but tough going as low and clear.
The middle beat has a few more open spots, and took two fish, around 9" from the large pool in the middle of the beat and the one immediately below it. Where you can cast properly I caught. Lovely beat, although narrows considerably towards the top of the beat.
Flies were a tungsten head nymph with pink hotspot on the point and copper John on the dropper. 2 of the three took the point fly.

2 Trout

Fished the lower and middle beats together. Beat is fairly overgrown, so casting difficult, so reverted to short line / Czech style. Even with a short rod (7"6) still tricky. In summer likely to be impossible for large parts of the beat.
Took one small brownie to a tungsten head nymph on the point. Beat low and clear, didn't spot many fish.

1 Trout

River in good condition but still quite cold and pushing through strongly. Not helped by the gusty downstream wind, which kept all but a few hardy small sedges from hatching. Struggled to make any sort of contact on nymphs, but managed to save the day by taking a couple of 8-9" grayling from the pool just below the Clettwr Brook - amazingly on a dry!

2 Grayling

Lovely beat to look at but wind and rain stopped play.