Feedback & Reports

This was not the first time I have fished this beat, but possibly the most frustrating in terms of actual fishing. I should say though that the reason I like these beats is not simply for the fishing. As a nature lover it really is great to feel like you have a mile of the Wye valley to yourself! And September is fantastic. Barely a canoe, and so much wildlife activity from swallows and house martins feeding off the surface, kingfishers fishing opposite me, Canada geese gathering the troops to fly north and so much more. But the fishing... The river was so full of weed which made things very difficult and was a test of patience, and skill. This was the second of two days fishing and I adjusted my techniques to the conditions and managed to bring in 5 nice size chub, all between 3-4 lbs. No barbel this time around though, whereas previous times have been very fruitful.
A word on the beat itself. Despite reading beforehand that more swims had been created, it was hard to see much evidence of this. Those 'swims' were quite treacherous and hardly accessible. I understand the WUF principles and support them, but when you have virtually only one safe spot to fish from in 1/2 mile stretch then something isn't quite right. And of course this means that the one good 'peg' at the bottom of the beat gets fished by everyone I would imagine. I tried to get to other swims but was aware of my safety and being alone it wasn't worth taking risks. I'd like to re-visit closer to winter for some chubbing and hopefully the weed will be long gone and the banks clearer of vegetation. It's a beautiful location, and I know there are good fish in there, but I agree with others that say more work needs to be done to make more swims safer and more accessible, there is a lot of money coming from us anglers after all.

5 Chub

River surprisingly low and cold overcast conditions made for hard fishing. The single barbel was about 5 to 6 lbs and in excellent condition caught on smallish hair rigged halibut pellet off the rocky shoal in the downstream section.
We chose Sugwas because of the ability to get a vehicle close to the bank section above the orchard. However it proved impossible to fish in this area with generally very steep high banks and the path through the top wooded section is impassible to traverse even without carrying fishing gear.

1 Barbel

A warm sunny morning and I was on this stream by 0930. A short, shallow beat which when waded, and even with care, it is unlikely that more than one pass could be made in a morning. A spooked fish early on told me there were some little blighters here, but with the air still cool under overhanging branches, there was no fly life, but I persevered with a dry fly rig, and on an exposed piece of water, half way up the beat and in sunshine, I spied a tiny rise at the head of a short pool. My pale watery emerger was too tempting for him, and this turned out to be my only fish, for time was tight, I was just stopping off for a short distraction between fishing the Taff at Abercanaid the previous afternoon evening with Daniel Popp, and was en route to the Wylye at in Wiltshire. Mountain stream to lowland stream to chalk stream...lucky me!
A difficult water, but fun, nevertheless!

1 Trout

nil catch

Cloudy but not cold,the water was low and clear. There was not an great deal of fly life but I did see a pale watery come off quite early on. Fishing was hard but very enjoyable, I had quite a few nibbles at my black ptn in the rougher water but I wasn't quick enough to take advantage of them.
All three fish were caught in slower moving water, two cast to rising fish (there weren't many of those) and one speculatively. All fish caught on the same dry fly - a parachute Tups Indispensable. They were all a good size , the best best about 13 inches, deep and broad> All were wild brown trout in great condition and all returned safely.
A thoroughly enjoyable day - the second day I have fished the Monnow at Skenfrith this season - its a great beat, thanks.

3 Trout

Fishing small dry flies. Few fish showing. All fish from Upper bridge pool. River low and running clear. The beat has been neglected since I last fished it. In particular the galvanised walkways are in a dangerous state... there are sections where the vegetation has grown through the mesh on elevated segments which obscure the margins and make falling off a real possibility.

3 Grayling

1 trout 3 lbs 2 American signal crayfish

1 Trout

Arrived at the beat around 5pm and began fishing. We started off on pellet and bomb and were bothered by small chub eventually managed the occasional small barbel.
The swim then went quiet so we rolled some meat. We managed a few good chub (4lb plus) doing this then got settled back in on the pellet and bomb.
We then seemed to attract a better stamp of barbel (for Wyebank which is know for its miniature barbel straight from the barbel factory) and caught steadily on large pellets.
Another good session without a groundbait feeder in sight!!!

15 Barbel, 4 Chub, 1 Other

Sunny evening on a quiet stretch of river. The wood at either end of the beat were very hard to get through/access. Some nice stretches below the upstream weir. No fish rising this evening - no luck on dry or nymph.

First time on this stream and a lovely afternoon's fishing. Half a dozen trout to 10". Very few rising and all fish came to a bead head PTN.

6 Trout