Feedback & Reports

River in good condition. Good size barbel. Biggest 8lb 15oz. Two chub over 4lb. All fish on pellet or meat. Will be back.

4 Barbel, 4 Chub

Had the one barbel on corn. Slow day but another lovely evening. Should have had 4 or 5 barbel really but had a bit of a nightmare, lost 3 fish and snagged up a lot when the fish were feeding at dusk.

1 Barbel, 2 Chub

My first trip to the Wye, river was low and clear. Fishing for Trout and Grayling Czech nymph style with various barbless bugs and nymphs, missed a few takes lost half a dozen fish but that's fishing. The quality of the grayling was superb the smallest 10" the majority 12-14" the best one 17" each one a hard fighting fish, all were returned. Sadly the trout failed to make an appearance. Wading was not easy and difficult in parts, chest waders and studded boots, another must in my opinion a wading stick which is an equally important piece of kit often overlooked. A very enjoyable day.

12 Grayling

3 hours on the Pontithel-Llynfi 3 grayling and a 1lb wbt,size 16 ptn. Spotted some large grayling in the first pool. Onto the Dulas middle beat for 2 hours 3 wbt in the fast runs again on small ptn. No rises throughout day.

4 Trout, 3 Grayling

An excellent red letter day for both of us. 11 Barbel from 5 to 7lbs and 6 Chub up to 4lbs. Missed bites would probably double our total. A truly memorable day for us. The Long walk with all our tackle was worth every step. Halibut pellets and luncheon meat did the trick.

11 Barbel, 6 Chub

Conditions good but salmon not seen.

Ideal conditions, but fish cleverer than me. 1 x 12oz. trout on a GHHE nymph.

1 Trout

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