Feedback & Reports

1 Large Roach along with the above.

6 Barbel, 4 Chub, 1 Other

This was my first visit to the venue and how lovely it is. The weather was very warm and humid with cloud and sunny intervals. I fished for a couple of hours and wished that I'd taken my waders due to the high banks and really heavy bank vegetation, plus the fact that Richard [Owner] has electric fencing on one side of the river bank above the weir. There were no fish to be seen and the deeper pools were cloudy but plenty of insect life and Damsels. I decided to fish on the bottom with a gold headed hare's ear nymph in the weir pool and took a 5 inch brown staying aware of the overhead power cables.
I had a break which turned into a long chat with the owner who mentioned that he'd noticed a decline in fish stocks but couldn't explain it and to be honest, I hadn't seen the amount of fish I would have expected.
I returned to the lower stretch and ended back at the weir again for another 2 small browns (about 3 inches)and then to my amazement I thought I saw an Otter pop out of the water! I scrambled for my mobile phone and behold managed to get 3 quick photo's of the animal in the weir just to make sure I wasn't going mad in my old age. At that point I decided to leave having had a great experience but I couldn't find the owner to explain why he was probably losing his fish! Perhaps someone in the WUF can pass on the info for me?
Tackle: Sage 7'10" WT3 rod, Rio WF3 Floating line, Furled leader, 1kg tippet.

3 Trout

Two salmon caught today on Rectory beat on the fly. First, late morning. Second, early afternoon. Both fish in the low teens and very fresh. Both carefully returned. My first salmon caught on the Wye! Fantastic day.

2 Salmon

Warm, sunny with slight breeze. Water very clear. Depth 0.535 at Ddol Farm gauge this morning. Wading pretty good as water so clear. No hatch to speak of but various flies around all day. Not as much surface activity as I expected. Used 10' 4wt all day. At times I wanted more weight; at other times I needed less!!
Met the friendly caravan site manager - lovely chap. He's a maggot drowner - please try and convert him. Parking and access is great. Lovely stretch of water but the lowest part of the beat was too "skinny" for me at this depth.
Mixture of fast runs and almost still water.
The deep bits are very deep! 5 WBT all on soft hackle dry to rising fish. Best was 11". All fish in good nick and safely returned.

5 Trout

Bob Rudd caught 15lb cock salmon today at Luggsmouth on Fc

1 Salmon

1 Trout

2 Trout

A little colour still in the water, and a cloudy humid day. A quiet afternoon, ringing the usual changes, and eventually getting one small trout on a weighted nymph. At about 7.30, well before dusk, I suddenly started to catch fish on a duo rig: the dry every time. And in several different access points. 30 mins later it all stopped. No discernable hatch, but I need glasses for everything these days.
As usual with the wild streams access now is problematic. The bank growth in the middle half mile requires that you to get in at the bottom and wade all the way up in chest waders. I walked round in my leaky thigh waders and enjoyed the countryside; putting a fly in the water is only part of the fun!

5 Trout

Fished 10.00 - 13.30hrs. A sultry, overcast and still morning with intermittent breaks of sunshine. The brook could have done with another couple of inches of water, but conditions were far from the hopeless end of the spectrum; just challenging.
The only signs of fly (a nondescript small olive, for the most part) and of surface feeding fish were in pools where plenty of light penetrated the canopy. I fished hard and moved on quickly in the more shaded sections, scaring several fish along the way. Three well conditioned 8" trout proved too greedy to resist a size 16 parachute greenwell.
This a charming beat, and I greatly enjoyed myself. There is a lot of water to cover and it appears to contain a good head of trout. However two single bank sections are clearly an issue for "the opposition", and this could lead to an occasional awkwardness. Once into the brook, access and wading is generally easy, but actually getting into the water through barbed wire at the lower end is a teaser. A properly signed public footpath (well away from the water's edge) provides an easy route back to the parked car from the top of the beat.

3 Trout

A good day on this well maintained fishery. A nice Barbel of 8lbs 8oz and 2 small ones around 2lbs each. Plenty of Chub feeding all day long'mostly around 3lbs each.
Lots of wildlife sightings including Kingfishers, Cuckoos, Buzzards and an Otter. Looking forward to returning in September.

3 Barbel, 13 Chub