Feedback & Reports

First time on this stretch. Booked as part of anniversary weekend for me and my wife Becci hoping she could finally catch her first barbel. Track down the field was a bit ropey in my estate car and better suited a 4x4 but we managed - a bit of wheel spin on the way back up so I'd think twice before heading down there in a non-4x4 in wet weather but I'm sure the farmer would let you park at the top and walk down if you asked nicely.
Read a few reports about lack of swims - I can assure people that there are plenty of swims, at least in the relatively low flow conditions we had. Some towards the upper end are a little bit difficult but there is more accessible water than a couple of anglers could fish in one session without question. If you want perfectly manicured swims I suggest you stick to commercial fisheries. Absolutely nothing wrong with this beat.
Now the fishing - first fish out was an 8lb 3oz barbel to my wife. Hearing her nervous giggling as the reel screamed was an absolute delight. After that it all went very quiet apart from the odd salmon jumping and a few pike hitting fish at the surface so we moved downstream a bit - wish we'd done that earlier! 5 mins after moving my wife had her 2nd barbel and shortly after that I had one at 7lb 1oz. We finished with 4 barbel each, lost a couple, had a 4lb chub and then a few dace and a wee troot on trotted maggots - if you could be tempted away from the barbel (all caught on pellet) you could have great fun trotting on this stretch. If we'd moved earlier / had longer before dark we would have certainly added another couple of barbel to our tally. Also watched a kingfisher feeding throughout the day. One of my best fishing days ever and over the moon that my wife managed to catch her first barbel and that it was such a good size fish. Barbel ranged from 4lb up to 8lb 3oz. Great day, thanks to beat owner and WUF.

1 Trout, 8 Barbel, 1 Chub, 6 Other

Most of the stretch is shallow and full of streamer weed, unsuitable for lure fishing for pike at this time of the year.

Enjoyed the day, started fishing around 11am. Weather was overcast. Never caught a thing, but about 3.30 in the afternoon rod wrenched round, and I was into a large barbel. Unfortunately for me the hook pulled. Bait was Halibut pellet 14mm.

3 Grayling

I would like to thank Shaun and pals for their French leader coaching, really helpful. Fishing was a little slow, in spite of what looked like perfect conditions, but I did manage 5 grayling biggest 2lb, all on tungsten bead heads.

5 Grayling

An enjoyable day with 4 barbel caught. No wind, cloudy all day so ideal conditions but the river was very low and needed some more water in it. Fair bit of weed coming down the river.

4 Barbel

Fishing hard. River was low and clear, needs a good rise.

7 Trout, 14 Grayling

I took a good friend along with me this time, and I stupidly told him there were plenty of fish in this river (there are).
The weather was 12-15 degrees, overcast and no wind.
The river however looked lower than it did in May and very clear. We managed a couple of grayling, one taken on the fly fly, and a couple of oos brownies.
Saw quite a few fish rising but could only get the one to come to the fly. Nice day out though, in very mild conditions.

2 Trout, 2 Grayling

19 Barbel and 4 Chub on pellets. Fish came steadily throughout the day.

19 Barbel, 4 Chub

Not much happening at Abernant today only a few rises in the time I was there and very little activity nymphing. All trout and grayling took weighted nymphs fished duo. Grayling to 14 inches and trout to 13 inches. there was no hatch at all and very limited fly on the water. The flow was not my cup of tea today and levels need to rise to get it moving. A lovely beat none the less and will give it another go with another 6 inches on the gauge

6 Trout, 9 Grayling