Feedback & Reports

An excellent finale today after an infuriating start. The height at around 1ft 9ins was perfect but the water peaty and coloured though the clarity was an improvement on last Friday.

Fished down Bridge Pool at 11am with 3/4ins Willie Gunn tube. Nothing showing until a large fish jettisoned itself at the fly between the visible mid-stream rock and the submerged one closer to the bank. I felt the pull, the rod bent and line was taken followed quickly by nil contact. On pulling the line in I discovered that my leader had developed an unhelpful liaison with a wind knot which provided the unhappy explanation. Good to have James K following me down the pool to witness this ineptitude.

Fished Gravel and Rock pools with no takes or fish seen and then gave it a rest until 5.45pm when I fished the Bridge once again with a #8 Usk Grub. I had expected the water clarity to have improved but there was little change before the rain fell heavily once again. A very gentle take in almost slack water above and slightly on the inside of the submerged boulder turned out to be a massively strong 28lb (42ins head mid-tail) cock salmon eventually brought to the bank and returned very positively having never left the water. My largest salmon to date.

I fished down again to see if I could tempt a second fish that had shown whilst playing the first but nothing doing.

1 Salmon

Not a day for trout fishing, this! The river was in flood yesterday and the gauge was down so didn't know how high the river was. Took a flyer and went anyway ... To be honest it was a waste of time... there was not a sign of any fish of any species. Most notably, there was no sign of running salmon. I met a gentleman called Mike and he gave up at lunchtime. I plowed on in the hope, but to no avail. Better luck next time Mike!

Later in the day, the gauge was back on and the river must have been around 2.

11 Barbel, 3 Chub

4 Barbel, 5 Chub

Fished all the way down from Armies Pool to the Spring Pool Gutter @ Gromain, water was dropping at the start, rising at the end. Was a last chance to get in on the action of this latest water, next stop Ireland in a few days - good luck to all those out this week, will be watching the catch returns!

2 Trout

A few on dries others on traditional wets. Biggest was a cracking 14" dark spotted cock fish. Good day.

7 Trout

River running at 1ft, which made getting around fun, but worth it, Usk always seems to fish well with some stain, a gold headed fly with a fluro red tail did the business, making it stand out well, catching in sheltered water. and quieter water just off the main stream.

20 Trout

First day of a five day trip. Nice to see the River up and looking gd. Three of us fished 2 in the bottom field and one in the Church field. Caught 17 Barbel between us straight lead and pellet feeder. Spoke to the Land owner nice chap a fellow Yorkshireman living the dream in the only place I would live outside Yorkshire. The Mighty Wye!!

17 Barbel

5 x trout 6-8 inches, Rusty Klinkhammer. Today could have been easier on my patience, one way and another. To begin with, I was washed off from a day with a client on the upper Wye after the river rose following heavy showers. Irfon and Usk alternatives were also in flood, so we rescheduled. Then I thought I would cheer myself up by fishing the Cannop Brook near home. However, after catching a few at the bottom end I got less than halfway before running into a series of dog-swimming parties. To be fair, it is a Saturday morning in summer and a new path has been opened alongside the stream. Everybody wants to enjoy themselves. "Caught anything?"they ask, hefting another stick into the water for the dog. Smile back, because it's all a test of character.

5 Trout

After water levels were dropping yesterday and the river clearing, I was hoping to be in for a good day today. Alas, more rain came in and the river up at 3' this morning - If yesterday we were somewhere around the colour of the inner workings of a Mars Bar - today we had drifted firmly into the arena of a Yorkie. With great regret, I did not fish, already back home. Poked my head in on the upper Usk, much the same story. I imagine quite a lot of fish will be picked up next week when this settles down, wish I could be there! I did see an Egret knocking about, hard to get the scale of it - could it be a Great White?