Feedback & Reports

Fished from mid afternoon until early evening. Moved lots of fish but only caught one.

1 Trout

4 trout on spinner.

4 Trout

All caught on the nymph - gammarus and caddis pupa - using a French leader.

8 Trout

All in all a good day's fishing. Conditions were a bit challenging with fairly constant rain/drizzle and the temperature not getting much above 12 degrees. There were a trickle of olives and other flies hatching through the day but nothing significant. That said, from 1-3pm the trout were rising enthusiastically to those that were there. Caught 6 trout to 1.5 lb, equally split between the middle section around the Salmon pool and above Penpont bridge. Really plump fresh spring trout. Great sport. One caught on a goldhead PTN at lunchtime, the rest on a small Adams through the afternoon. The rain finally drove me off the river at 6pm. A wonderful day and a lovely beat.

6 Trout

Two wild brown trout caught on gold headed nymphs to 2lbs. Lots of fish rising mid afternoon - did not go for our dry flies.

2 Trout

Water seemed just right - up a bit from the week before. Weather cool with showers. We each caught a nice trout 1¼lb and 1½lb around midday. Then things slowed down until a rise about 2pm enabled us to get two more a bit under 1lb on a dry fly. Two more tiddlers later in the afternoon.

6 Trout

Day 2 of 4 day trip and back to a favourite beat. Nice sized WBT came up to my dry but a very quiet day on the river. Nothing rising. Too cold. I got to the Bridge Pub at the top but only by marching for the last hour. I walked past some great looking pools so next time I will start half way up. Glorious pint of Butty Bach in the pub!

7 Trout

Escley in fine shape, fining down from recent rain and plenty of water. Slow start in chilly conditions but had a great 3 hours between 12 and 3. 12 x wbt, 4 around the 12" - 14" mark, the others 6"-8". All taken on BWO and Adams patterns. Steady hatch of olives and the odd grannom. The two things that always strike me about this beat: the sheer quantity along with the high average size of fish. They also seem chubbier and fleshier than their muscled Usk cousins. Also, at this time of year the canopy is reasonably forgiving.
It is a long trek, realistically 7-8 hours' fishing. We always fish the lower and mid as follows: Fisher 1 gets in at start of lower, fisher 2 drives up to end of lower / beginning of mid, when fisher 1 gets to top of lower drives to top of mid and gets two pints of Butty Bach in at the Bridge Inn to welcome fisher 2 who will arrive shattered and traumatised having walked at least the last mile of the beat!!
If you're up for the physical challenge this beat rewards in spades.

12 Trout

Good flow, sparse hatch of LDO. 20+ between 4"-8"

20 Trout

Windy and cold.

9 Trout