Feedback & Reports

River in lovely form - slightly higher than normal summer levels and with a greenish tinge. All fish came to pellet and meat on groundbait feeder dropped in the margins of the faster water at the pool at the bottom of this beat. Difficult to hold bottom - giant feeders needed. Plenty of snags to worry about. Lost more fish than we landed. Other swims looked tempting but we were lazy after the previous days exertions. Great to see Don again. Many thanks WUF and owners for looking after this wonderful river.

7 Barbel, 1 Chub

This was my first visit to this stretch and to say that I have had better days is an understatement. Arriving at the fishery at first light just after 4am, I found that the parking area on the grass verge, as described in the guide, is now cordoned off with bollards. There is now only room for one car each side of the gate.
The weather has been fairly hot and dry recently so I had decided to leave waterproofs and boots at home. Unfortunately, there was a very heavy dew that night and with the grass in the Legg meadow at waste height. My trousers and socks were soaked by the time I got to the water.
I proceeded to find the swim half way along the field as recommended in the guide and was pleased to see that it was available. I fished with pellet feeder and supplemented feed with hempseed and cereal groundbait. By about 8am I had caught 5 chub between 1 and 3lb but no barbel. My lack of sleep was taking it's toll and thought it best to hold onto the rod as I was nodding off. It is then that I contacted with what I suspect was a sizable barbel as my reel drag had been set too high and the 10lb hook length parted on the fishes first run.
I was becoming frustrated with the swim, which seems to be a tackle graveyard and with bites drying up and the start of canoe traffic I left the fishery with the intention of returning later in the afternoon to try another spot up near the pumping station.
At 5pm I returned to bait up the swim ready for the evening. It was very hot and bright now but it was not long before I began getting quite a few bites and felt quite encouraged. The trouble I found was however, in connecting with the fish. It was a strange phenomina of having a solid take but only to find the mystery fish was immediately snagged. When I did managed to land one it turned out to be an eel of about 1 1/2 lb. I wonder if all the other bites were from the same species? At 6pm the canoes had gone and peace returned to the water again. Even the annoying repetitve pounding noise of the water pump had stopped.
Suddenly, I heard female voices from the other side of willow tree in the next swim. Imagine my surpriSe upon hearing a loud splash, which made me think one of them had fallen in. It turned out however, that this young lady had intentionally jumped in as she was to be immediatelly followed by 3 or four of her half naked friends. It was when they were in the river that they first noticed me but were not phased by my presence and proceeded to swim across to the fallen tree on the other side and then back again and generally have a rowdy time. I was thinking this was quite a dangerous pursuit, considering the strength of the current and the numerous snags present.
With any fish now two miles downstream and not knowing what to say to these naked young ladies I finally had had enough of fishing and with their male companions arriving I packed up and left.
Driving home I reflected upon my experience of having spent £20 on bait and losing 5 swim feeders plus numerous hooks and braided leaders etc, not to mention the cost of the day ticket, fuel and bridge toll. No doubt I will be back though because I know there are some big wild fish here.

5 Chub, 1 Other

Arrived to find the banks pristine - i.e. as nature intended so sweated away and fought my way to my favourite swim once I had located the post which marks it in the undergrowth. If nettle stings were money then I would be a billionaire! River was quite coloured and seemingly weed free compared to other occasions when I have visited. Excellent fishing though the heat and humidity were merciless so I reluctantly called it a day at 6pm and could have had plenty more fish if I had stuck it out. Ended up with 8 Barbel to 8lb and 2 Chub all caught on pellet. Excellent day all round but hard work.

8 Barbel, 2 Chub

Superb conditions, very low canoe traffic and the beat to ourselves but the barbel were hard to find. On our second visit we caught 2 barbel one of which was full of spawn. Back again in a couple of weeks.

2 Barbel, 4 Chub

Nil return on Both fly and lures. Tried all beats of Goodrich Court with very experienced Ghillie. Only 1 small Salmon showing for the 2 days, from 9 am until 6.30 pm, conditions good. 2 rods on the 17th, 3 rods on 18th. Best regards.

Cloudy in the morning giving way to sunshine around lunch time. A few olives coming off throughout the day and even a few late mayfly but I only saw 2 fish rising. The river was running with a hint of colour. I caught on a size 16 black parachute dry fly by fishing likely looking spots. I hooked and lost 1 fish on a gold head hares ear. A lovely beat and an extremely enjoyable day. A word of warning. After entering the field a walk of around 400 yards will bring you to a clump of trees. One of the trees has a 3-4 inch diameter hole in it. This is a bee's nest so take care.

3 Trout

Challenging day this time but managed 1 barbel just over 8 pounds and three chub. Lovely stretch as always.

Two small brown trout using GRHE returned to river.
Fished upper end of beat 2-6pm. Lovely river - kingfishers, dippers and signs of otters.

2 Trout

Safe swims on this beat were in short supply and we had a job to find fishing spots. A long and hot walk to the top, where there is a big concrete croy, was reasonably productive and we were happy with a bag of 4 good barbel and 5 chub to kick the season off. Two large eels also took a fancy to our pellets but we wouldn't mind not catching those! We spent a very quiet evening at the start of the beat where we had very little action.

4 Barbel, 5 Chub, 2 Other

Fished for couple of hours around midday and caught inspite of anglers on the opposite bank, as soon as the cloud cover went the fish switched off and it started to feel very warm, packed up to cool down and returned to do a couple of hours around dusk but only a chub and a lost fish to report. Lovely to sit there with nobody about in the fading light.

1 Barbel, 3 Chub