Feedback & Reports

A combination of bright sunshine, numerous swans, canoes and cattle contributed to several periods of disruption throughout a challenging day. The river appeared to be in fine condition, with a hint of colour, but we again found that appearances can be deceptive, with the presence of weed also creating some difficulties.
The warm sunny weather remained comfortable for us fishermen throughout the day but that meant it was less conducive to deceiving our piscatorial quarry. Despite our best efforts, rewards were limited to some small Chub and a young Barbel of 1lb 12oz, although it's great to see the next generation of fish looking so healthy. (One person seen fishing on the opposite bank, and several cormorants were unfortunately very active along the stretch).
Overall, a great day was enjoyed on the river, commemorating BP’s retirement and birthday in fine style, with the scenery and wildlife providing a wonderful backdrop.

1 Barbel, 8 Chub

Got to the beat about 8.15am. Chilly to start with until the sun burned off the morning mist. Then, with only the slightest breeze the weather was at it's autumnal best. The flushing effect of the recent rains had transformed the Arrow since my last visit to the wild stream beat back in August.
Fish could be spotted feeding subsurface in the obvious spots. The combination of a Klinkhammer Duo trailing a PTN proved productive from the first cast at the bottom of the beat. By mid-afternoon seventeen fish had come to hand. All were in excellent condition with more than half of sufficient size to have me reaching for my net. Of those just one came to the Klinkhammer and one other in the last half hour when I tied on an Adams out of curiosity.
Drove home listening to that remarkable World Cup Rugby match between Japan and South Africa. All in all quite a memorable day out.

17 Trout

Bright and clear day with abundant fly life, but tough fishing.

2 fish caught on worm. Great place to spend a day fishing.

2 Trout

2 on spinner, 1 on worm.

3 Trout

After a lovely mornings canoe trip down the Wye in the morning mist (I know anglers on the Wye despise canoeists much of the time but I enjoy both sports - rivers aren't just for fishermen to enjoy!!) with my dad we got to the river a little later than planned. I stuck it out on pellet this time and managed a ludicrously hard fighting barbel of just under 8lb on pellet. My dad didn't have the patience so kept switiching back to smaller baits where he had a lot of fun catching smaller chub up to 1lb and dace with a couple of bleak thrown in for good measure. Another lovely stretch of river. Around sun set a few rats appeared nosing though the undergrowth which was a good reminder not to leave left over bait which attracts them and also for all fishermen/women to be aware of the risks of Weils disease caught from rat urine - remember to wash your hands before eating or sucking your thumb!

1 Barbel, 20 Chub, 15 Other

River was too low for salmon.

1 Trout

Nice water height, good clarity, and nice for fly fishing, but hot and bright. Fished for a few hours but didn't see any salmon, which was a surprise as the lowish water levels should suit the beat. Met Nathan Jubb, the beat's Ghillie who showed me some work that had been done to cut out steps. Access to the beat is definitely heading in the right direction. Little run, triangles and cockpit are all accessible. Crescent and one or two of the lesser runs definitely need work but the owner and Nathan are working on this. Once finished, this will be a really nice little beat.

It was my first Time on the Taff and I had a nice afternoon fishing some excellent pools. Fish were rising to the dry fly and I had a few takes on greenwells glory and Tupps indispensable but my rustiness meant I missed some good surface takes! I saw two other people fishing at the foot of the railway viaduct. The river banks are so very steep I found accessing the river quite tricky at times and had to waste quite a bit of fishing time walking to find a suitable access point. Maybe some help could be given to anglers with this. Inevitably with this kind of semi-rural river there was a considerable amount of debris in and around the river including a bike, the occasional traffic cone and general litter. However it didn't affect my fishing too much on a lovely river which was full of interesting features. The river itself is obviously in very good nick and there was an abundance of fly life, kingfishers herons and trout (elusive though they were on this occasion!)

No fish caught or seen; fly fished the morning with a variety of sink tips and poly leaders.