Feedback & Reports

Fished from midday through afternoon. Trout rising to mayfly. All caught on small (12/14) Grey Wulff, with 3 fish each over 1lb.

6 Trout

A very odd day. I fished the beat twice from top to bottom between 11 and 6.30pm and the only rise I saw all day was a 2" fish ineptly missing a Mayfly in the shallows of the junction pool. The chaffinches nesting next to the "wall pool" were filling up nicely on the Mays taken from the surface even if the trout weren't. Also plenty of Yellow Mays and Medium Olives about. I fish this beat fairly often and usually a few will rise to a speculatively cast dry in the usual places but there was nothing at all today. Two nice 8" fish to hand and a third much bigger fish lost, embarrassingly, due to a poor knot - all on a goldhead PTN from deep fast water at the heads of pools.

2 Trout

Very disappointing; despite the cold wind there was quite a lot of fly life: two types of Mayfly, the standard pale-bodied one and a darker version with long tails, lots of small flies and a few sedges. However, I only saw five fish rise in over five hours from 3.30 until after 8.30. I had one follow a ptn, one pluck at a grhe and one attempt o a spider which I missed completely. A blank sadly! I did see a hare, dippers a kingfisher and a Chaffinch took a Mayfly in mid-air in front of me. So not too bad an afternoon and evening.

The easterly wind made life difficult today being both cold and blustery. We started on klink and dink accounting for a small wbt and an out of season grayling. There was very little fly life hatching and consequently few fish topping. Around 3 pm there was a brief hatch and we took wbt and grayling up to 1lb.
Overall a satisfying day as every fish caught was hard earned. The wildlife was incredible today with bunting and Wagtail's performing acrobatics, catching the flies hatching off the river. Thank you Wendy for your help in booking this beat.

5 Trout, 3 Grayling

Fished after work 6.30 - 9.30pm up to the footbridge.
This is a beautiful small river with a very high density of trout. Not much rising but a few mayfly seen and also smaller upwing spinners. Fished a big klink with a copper john size 16 NZ style. About a 50/50 split between the two flies. 14 landed 5 - 12 inches, plenty in the 9-11 inch range. Average fish size increased noticeably as it got dark. Numerous fish were lost, missed and pricked- could have been easily 30+ fish to hand... Great evenings sport!

14 Trout

Spent the afternoon and early evening working my way up from Hergest Bridge to Mallhollam Bridge. The river was clear and on the low side. Bright sunshine and a gentle, generally upstream breeze. My first two fish came to a weighted PTN including one 12” beauty. After a couple of hours, fish began feeding from the surface competing with the birds for the occasional Mayfly. Switching to an Adams I had fun fishing the slower pools. Five further fish (all 7”-8”) to hand with many more missed or lost. Great sport.

7 Trout

Very windy day, wind coming straight over dam wall, nowhere to hide. 4 trout on pop up worm, also 3 perch 6-8 inches, which were returned safely.

4 Trout, 3 Other

I defy any angler not to come away from this beat without a silly grin on their face. A truly unique experience. You'll lose track of time, have no idea of the weather up top and start expecting to see monkeys swinging by, it can be a hard climb but what a change to put your hand out for balance only for it to land on a cushion of lichen/moss so thick it could make carpet come back into fashion! Six wbt to hand and I only got just past the bridge. I always book this beat if I'm on the Wye system, love it, still got a silly grin now!

6 Trout

Late report of two fish from Redbrook on Wednesday 12 lbs and 9 lbs spinning.

2 Salmon

I had intended to fish Lyepole on the Lugg but left it too late to book and this was the only beat in the area available, so gave it a go - and very glad I am too. This is a really lovely beat, running through fields and lush woods. Although the main road is not far from the bottom end of the beat, it manages to feel secluded.
A bright, warm day. The water was low, around 25cm at the crossing point marked on the map near the car park. All the rocks I turned over had a reasonable clutch of invertebrates clinging to them and I saw a few healthy looking shoals of fry in the margins, but there was nothing in the main, shallow runs where the sun was pretty unforgiving. There are plenty of deep pools dotted along the length where I expect fish would hold, but I didn't spend much time on them as I'd seen a couple of rises along the edges of the long, sweeping bends. The outside edge of the bends was a little deeper, perhaps 3ft, and the overhanging bank created a band of shadow, perhaps a foot wide. It was in this band that all the fish seemed to be holding, very gently sipping the pale yellow and brown mayflies that were trickling off throughout the morning. Dropping a pale yellow cdc emerger right on their noses pretty much guaranteed a rise and then an explosive run. I was very surprised by the size of the fish, particularly considering the depth of the water. Nothing under 12" and one went like a rocket straight round a tree stump, promptly breaking me off (3.5lb tippet). I managed three fit, healthy looking specimens and lost three more before it got too hot around 1pm and I had to head home.
Great day, many thanks WUF.

3 Trout