Feedback & Reports

The day was too hot and sunny.

I suppose it is hard to have a blistering hot day and fish. We tried every method but failed absolutely. Saw a few fish but they were not feeding and they were all small.
Have not fished this water since it was split with Dinas and probably prefer fishing a longer beat. As always it is a joy to be on the Usk regardless of catch and despite having just come back from the prolific waters of New Hampshire.

A bit of a struggle under a blazing hot sun with a constant procession of canoeists, most of whom spent more time in the water than in their craft. Surprisingly two of the three fish caught came around midday. The evening seemed to hold promise but then only produced one fish.

3 Barbel

Fished the church pool and where having a great day until it was spoiled by a bunch selfish canoeists who decided to land on the beach directly across from us and have a picnic. They were jumping in the water and shouting and laughing with no thought for anyone but themselves. We decided to call it a day and retired to the pub.

10 Barbel, 15 Chub

What a difference a couple of weeks makes! Last time out it was jumper on all day and fish everywhere. This time I couldn`t wait to get the waders off and hardly a fish seen. 1 brownie only on a copper wire PTN. Oddly enough the only fish seen were, apart from not caught, huge. Way bigger than the norm for the river and in the long pool below the bridge. Good luck to the next angler!

1 Trout

Wow, what a stunning stretch of the Wye, easy access as a bonus too. Early start was in order as the forecast was 28 degrees by lunchtime, not ideal barbel fishing conditions. River was still carrying a good bit of colour and fast water under our feet meant only a short cast was needed.
Stuck with the legered pellet, seven very good barbel to ten pound with a couple of good chub thrown in for variety.
Only fished until noon so we were well delighted with our rewards for the early start. Will definitely be coming back here.

7 Barbel, 2 Chub

Tough day on the river - bright and sunny which put the fish off and attracted swimmers, picnics, news, dog walkers and rock throwers down to the river. A little frustrating that some good looking areas were basically no go areas. Be aware if you cherish peace and quiet!

1 Barbel, 6 Chub

2 Trout

Fished from 11:30 pm until 4:00. The conditions seemed OK but the river was perhaps a little low and there was no moon so it was very dark. We heard a few splashes in the dark but these sounded more like small brownies than big sea trout. There was another fisherman on the upper part of beat and we met two coming off the lower end as we arrived but I don't think they had any luck either.

This was my first visit to this beat. The parking was simple to the left of the farmyard, close to the entrance. The walk is a short 200 metres down through the farm and the fields beyond following the instructions given with the ticket.
I walked the full length of the beat straight off. The beat, set in lovely quiet and for the main, open pasture countryside is basically around 600m long, bookended with woodland and weirs at either end. Both weirs looked fabulous with nice runs and weirpools which seemed as though they would be productive. However, the lower weir is pretty much totally unfishable with no easy, safe access to the water due to high banks, bank growth and fencing on both sides. In fact I found the lower 80% of the beat either fenced off and where it was accessable, having a silted bottom and devoid of any sighted fish (but teeming with what I presume are thousands of Salmon or Trout fry).
The upper 20% does run over gravel beds with nice runs either fast and shallow or deep and slow. The former were ideal for czech nymphing, the latter for dry or deep indicator nymphing. The top weir pool sadly was occupied by some locals swimming so that final area was missed also. I left the beat with mixed feelings. Four trout with the larger two around 3/4lb caught on nymph. The wooded areas, as the W&U description says are indeed very difficult to access and fish so after further exploration I left these alone.

4 Trout