Feedback & Reports

Great evening session on the BWO spinners last night at Merthyr Vale. Fish really switched on about 9.00pm going into the dark. 10 nice fish came to hand, most between 12 and 15 inches, with 2 real slabs lost - one at the net, the other in a snag. Will be back for them!

10 Trout

Water .75 and some silt preventing clarity in more than 3ft so decided to spin. No activity till 5pm then fished over a fresh 6lb fish which moved upstream of me at a rate of knots and out of our beat.
Saw and landed one of few feeding trout on dry white wulff at around same time. Fish of about 6oz returned.
Saw, hooked and landed a 4lb grilse at the rock at around 8pm on copper and black FC. Spinner came out in net so able to return fish without handling. Fish was not fresh run and had began to show some colour and was a cock fish.
Disappointingly no late rise of trout as temperature dropped sharply and wind picked up. Water still .72m at 10pm

1 Salmon, 1 Trout

Bright cloudy day with a stiff breeze. Fished through the morning very few rising fish, no takers.

The river was running high after rain the previous day and 3 anglers who had booked through the estate had struggled the day before. Quite a cool overcast day for July and very little fly life with barely any rising fish at all. I fished from 11am until 5pm without a touch and then found the right fly and some willing fish. Fly of the day was a hot spot pheasant tail nymph fished under an Elk Hair caddis. Fish all taken tight to the bank next to trees or along the edges of the fast water. Highlight of the day was a cracking fish of 17 inches, must have been 2 pounds or more. All fish returned. I will be back.

7 Trout

Fished a few hours early evening. River in perfect summer condition so caught consistently. Barbel to 8 1/4, Chub to about 4.
WUF - I don't know if the fly tipping in the car park is a one off or it is growing but it is a very large pile. In my experience the longer fly tipping is visible the bigger the tip gets. Perhaps Hereford or Monmouth councils could remove if prompted?

8 Barbel, 3 Chub

River up and coloured so restricted to close in work under trees. 6 chub to well over 5lb from middle and bottom of beat. High spot was observing an otter at close quarters at the bottom of the stretch.

6 Chub

4 Barbel, 6 Chub

A first time on this beat and a very nice beat it was. Well, once down the steep bank to the river it is a flat and comfortable walk along the bankside, a very peaceful area to spend a day. The fishing was slow and I could only catch 2 chub despite the river being in good condition for barbel. It was a good colour and was running off slowly.
This is a beat that deserves another trip or two when the river is lower and perhaps enabling me to pick a better swim. 3 were tried through the day and all given a reasonable time to produce but alas, just the 2 chub on feeder and pellet were the result.

2 Chub

Walked the length of the beat and was dismayed to see that the river was well up and roaring through covering the rocky outcrops. Selected a number of swims near the Hut and rotated through the day. Caught all the fish in the first and last 2 hours of the day. Speaking with another angler on the next beat and he thought that the dams in mid Wales may have been opened causing the river to be up and really fast. Used 6 and 7oz feeders to hold bottom whilst streamer weed, bushes and branches came down the river. Lost 2 barbel in the current.
Swans were a nuisance especially the tagged Swan 35C so please give it my regards... also had an issue with 2 canoeists who were going against the flow and who showed complete disregard for me (both got a talking to) and the other angler displaying a complete lack of watercraft, hopefully they don't come back!!!

3 Barbel, 4 Chub

Our first visit to this beat but likely not the last. Access is easy, we parked through the gate next to the tree line. We then walked the upper part of the beat, PH slected a swim with a lovely crease one or two to the left of the tree line whilst JC headed upstream close to the beat limit and selected a swim with deep water just a couple of rod lengths out. We never managed to explore further downstream, but it didn't seen as though there were as many swims in that direction (and the ones we did see just looked too tempting!!). River was high and coloured.
Starting around 8.30, early signs were good, PH netted a chub and then 2 barbel (one a lovely new PB at 8.14) from the crease, JC meanwhile had 3 barbel from the just beyond the rod top in the upper swim.
As so often happens, things slowed down in the middle of the day, with the exception of 3 meat-munching eels in JC's swim. Mid afternoon it switched back on, PH taking 2 more barbel. JC's swim seemed to be rather quiet, so a move to the swim nearest the tree line paid dividends as from around 4pm - 6pm, a quick succession of 4 barbel found the net. In the same period, PH was left to mull on what might have been as a succession of 3 consecutive lost fish (hookpull, nearbank snag and a sticky clutch) made good their escape during this feeding period.
Nearly all the fish bar the eels came to pellets beneath a groundbait feeders. Eels preferred meat.
Seen mention of the opposite bank being busy, we didn't see a soul apart from one gentleman spinning for salmon (who I believe may have been a bailiff anyway). Maybe a combination of it being Monday coupled with the high water conditions helped? Only saw a handful of canoes too, all polite and considerate.
In these high water conditions I think this beat fished well, all of the swims we tried produced fish and it did make me think that a roving approach may have scored better. We both lost fish and with the exception of that quiet bit in the middle, it always felt as if something was just about to happen.
Just a final word on our accommodation - we stayed at The Falcon House in How Caple, and were very impressed! Very attentive but easy-going owners, great communications before and during our stay, a most magnificent fry-up in the morning to see us on our way, and very close to several WUF beats. I would highly recommend this excellent establishment to any visiting anglers.
WUF Note: Please see [url=http://www.thefalconhouse.co.uk/]here[/url] for details of The Falcon House B&B.

11 Barbel, 2 Chub, 3 Other