Feedback & Reports

First time here and was disappointed to find the river up, coloured and pushing through quite fast, not really fishable so almost went home without casting a line. The beat looks idilic and with the river at normal level and clear I suspect wading would be easy but being unfamiliar with the stretch and not being able to see where I was walking I was a little dubious today as I'd already showered that morning!
Made my way upstream and came to a double barbed wire fence with no way over so crossed the river but then couldn't get back down as the banks were steep and the river deep, or at least it looked it. Had a few casts in likely looking areas, lost a few flies and gave it up as a bad job. I'll give it another go on a better day.

Weather fantastic, light breeze, sunshine and clouds - Great Days fishing 3 WBT caught 10", 14" and 17" - 1 on spider, 1 on Adams and 1 on GW and 3 lost - Should have bagged many more fish however over indulged the previous evening and recovery was very slow.

3 Trout

River still quite coloured from the rain fallen the previous days; czech nymphing for a couple of hours anyway, but no success at all. I will be back on this beat later in the season, it is extremely beautiful.

River fining down after flood. Warm day, perfect for a hatch. Short hatch of march browns and ldo. Fish did not rise to them! Had few on the nymphs.

6 Trout

Our second visit to this part of the Usk - this time the river was very different; we had good water levels which really opens up the whole of the beat and there are hundreds of pockets of water that will hold fish.

The day started well when I had a small brownie come up and smash my dry fly but didn't connect with it. My fishing buddy was in the pool below me so i went and saw how he was getting on. Just as I arrived he struck into a lovely fish on a nymph that was around the pound mark, we had a couple of snaps then he was slipped back to grow on. The next cast J had another fish that was 3/4 of a pound. I then had a couple of casts and had a fish of a pound and a quarter.

A little breather after that to soak up the sun and pleasure of catching such beautifully conditioned fish. A wonder further up river produced another aggressive take on my dry fly but I saw it rocket up from the bottom of the river and struck too early!

A quiet couple of hours followed with a very small brownie that found an emerging olive pattern irresistible. Just as the light was beginning to fade I was trying likely spots that hadn't yielded anything during the day. But 10 minutes into casting I saw a flash, a crater appeared in the river and I was met with very solid resistance and big head shakes. The fish then jumped and I realised how big and special this fish was. I shouted down stream for some help, panicked. J ran up river, I told him it was a monster, then the fish jumped again to show us how big he was. What ensued was an epic struggle, running 100 yards down river, tripping over rocks and hoping the fish didn't come off.

After a nerve racking tussle J gently tailed the fish, we looked at each other in amazement and he passed my trophy to me. 3.5 lbs or more, 23 inches of perfection in trout form and my new PB! A couple of quick photos in the fading light before I slipped the fish back, which shot off like a rocket. Amazing feeling that I still can't get over it!

5 Trout

River was just about fishable but very cloudy

3 carp to 10lbs caught on pellet in the margins

3 Other

5 Trout

Washed off. River was high on friday and came up 2ft overnight.

River in spate and coloured. By 5pm it had dropped to 2.5ft at the gauge in Brecon. Water clarity 15cm. Decided to have a go at about 17:30. Fished the slacks for an hour and managed to pull 3 out on the bugs! All fish returned.

3 Trout