Feedback & Reports

7 barbel to 9.4 and 1 chub of 3 all on pellet-all caught during the evening session, which compensated for the very quiet earlier periods.

7 Barbel, 1 Chub

A lovely beat, with clear directions and a good parking spot within easy walking distance to the river. Water level and flow good for short line nymphing, but only caught one - the rest came to dry (#18 black gnat). As with most other returns, I will be back.

5 Grayling

A warm and gentle day with sun from time to time, one would have thought there would be plenty of surface activity but it was the opposite. I saw only 3 rising fish and caught them all, 3 trout 8-10 “ on size 16 and 18 dries, 3 Grayling 8, 10 and a massive 16 1/2 inches, the first to a dry and the others to a copperhead PTN. Felt like late summer not early autumn!

3 Trout, 3 Grayling

4 wildies (starting to colour-up) to 14" and one bright 12" (and therefore presumably a trip.) stockie. French leader/black PT bug.
Tough going in excellent fishing /water conditions. Am pretty sure they're starting to think about things other than feeding....

5 Trout

11 Barbel, 3 Chub

Decided to fish at the last minute so only for 2 hours but caught well on a range of baits. Best barbel was 7lb and best chub was 4lb. River in good condition.

6 Barbel, 2 Chub

River up 18 inches and coloured , conditions looked ideal .A barbel each in the first hour then nothing until between 3 -4 pm when a few bites came but then switched off completely , we bailed out just before dark a little bit disappointed after a good start.

2 Barbel

No fish , but saw two in the Rectory Pot.

Poor choice of swim (first time I'd fished The Creel) resulted in a wasted hour and a half first thing. Moved to below the Church Stream Pool at about 9am. Plenty of signs of fish but it was 10am before the first fish arrived. No more action so another move at about 12 to the upstream end of the beat and a switch of tactics to maggot feeder resulted in 5 chub and two Barbel, including best fish of the day at 9lbs 2oz, and two lost to snags (and a Dace which somehow hooked itself ) Last move of the day was back to the field nearest the footpath back to the church. A swop of tactics back to Pellets resulted in four more Chub and three Barbel to finish the day off nicely.
Water looked "spot on" but the bright warm weather (in fact it was too hot at stages) may have slowed things a bit. The last Barbel was only "hand sized" but a great sign for the future. The rest ranged from 4lbs 12oz to 9lbs 2oz
Great beat with loads of swims to fish, some easy and some more challenging.
Be careful on some of the upstream banks where the undergrowth creates a "false bank" which can catch you out.

6 Barbel, 9 Chub, 1 Other