Feedback & Reports

I wanted to introduce my friend Adam to barbel fishing. What better river than the Wye to do this? I have fished Courtfield a number of times so knowing this stretch well decided to take him there. We weren't disappointed as this stretch once again proved how good it is. We fished the same swim in the woods as I wanted to be close at hand. Adam fished downstream of me as this is usually the best area when two people fish close together. He ended the day with 11 barbel to 8 lbs 4 ozs and one chub about 4 lbs. I spent most of the day catching chub to 4 lbs 12 ozs and had to wait until late afternoon for my first barbel but then things went very well for me, landing a total of eight barbel. The best two were 9 lbs 12 ozs and 10 lbs 6 ozs, my biggest Wye barbel. The day was overcast so we had action sporadically throughout the day but as usual the evening proved to be the best time. The biggest fish coming at last knockings. The canoes came through in numbers but all were courteous and we had no problems.

19 Barbel, 9 Chub

A bright sunny day. River was very low and clear, lost several fish in the pool above the old railway bridge. Chub was caught at the top of the beat and the barbel which was about 8lb came from further down in the deeper water. Saw lots of salmon leaping and there were more swans on the river than canoes. There was some sort of caravan and camping rally taking place in the fourth field down, they were all very friendly but it seamed like quite a few of them had been fishing the beat for the last week there were also people swimming with large inflated inner tubes at one point the other bank was busy with anglers and cars driving up and down the bank so not quite the peaceful days fishing I was expecting however it was great to be out on the Wye again will try to find somewhere a bit quieter next time.

1 Barbel, 1 Chub

My first Wye salmon. 12lbs slightly coloured cock fish caught on fly, cascade from Cafn. River 10" clear.

1 Salmon

Introduced an angler to the Wye for the first time. Conditions were spot on he caught from the start.
We finished with 3 Barbel to 6lb 2oz and 20 Chub from 3lb to 4lb 2oz. All caught on feeder with pellet or meat. A large number of good barbel hooked but lost - can not work out why but that's fishing.

3 Barbel, 20 Chub

Having never fishing here before I was on a steep learning curve from the off...
I headed initially to the upper section of the fishery expecting to make it to the bait pool.
Sadly I found out that this was not accessible... So having seen the drink far swims I made attempts to reach the island.... Note... The silt bank is VERY deep! Thankfully the willow tree rescued me from a sorry and muddy escape! Phew!
I took to driving round to the lower parking and set about fishing the deeper section just up from the fast water. It looked promising with fish moving everywhere. But after 2 hrs and many methods nothing had taken up my offering.
I took a jaunt down as far as I could go along the fast water where I found a slack eddy after a fallen willow. Scattered some hemp and say back to rig up a Trefor west style loaded hook with rough meat to bump along the crease...... Success! 2nd cast in and a pristine 5lb chub stole away!.... Great news... I didn't blank!!! But it would seem that the commotion scattered any hope of finding another fish, so I moved back up to the cow field.
I lighteded up on the tackle and cut down bait size and continued to try on the middle sections. Only 1 baby barbel fell for this and after that nothing. That's not to say the fish weren't somewhere, the 2nd rod on this stretch had better results.
It was and mixed up day with disappointments, fear, anticipation and successes. The river was very low and this cut down on opportunity but all in all and enjoyable day.

1 Barbel, 1 Chub

Perfect Trout conditions, good hatch of Olives and a few Spinners, thoroughly enjoyed my experience. Four fish caught none of any appreciable size, the largest being approx 30cm.

4 Trout

Arrived early and was fishing for first light. Fished the fast water by the cattle drink and caught two Barbel within the first hour but then bites dried up. By mid morning I decided to move down stream to the deeper water but just before I made the move I had an Eel of about 3 pound. The deeper water was far more productive with another 6 Barbel and 7 Chub caught. This is a great beat with plenty of swims to go at but as the other rod on the day has stated the wood on the upper section is inaccessible and a little bit of work clearing some swims would make this one of the best WUF beats. Many thanks to the WUF and the owners of the Sugwas beat for another great days fishing.

8 Barbel, 7 Chub, 1 Other

Fished pm in woods and had one each. Then in the evening at top of meadow, 2 each. One at a PB busting 11lbs. Weekday canoes are different again to those at weekends, or rather the people in them are. A family in 2 canoes stopped to watch us land a barbel, and gave us a round of applause when we got it in the net - so we can all enjoy the river!

6 Barbel, 1 Chub, 1 Other

Nice beat, lower half best for trout. Low water meant very hard not to spook fish, which are very tricky to catch!

3 Trout

Went over the hill and tried the two wood swims very difficult fishing here with the bank access ok if you are prepared to stand up all day, which we were not so moved swims the fish were not playing ball as no barbel caught which is what we came for but caught 9 chub of which one was 5 lbs I am sure the wind had a effect on the fishing plus the river needed some more rain/ water as not much flow.

9 Chub