Feedback & Reports

A lovely, warm and mainly cloudy day with little wind, and the LS guage at 12". Came expecting to fish nymphs until / if fish started to rise, but found PWs coming off at arrival and fish rising, presumably to emergent nymphs but also taking drifting duns. So I put on a small, pale HE Duck's Dun which has served me well over the last eight weeks and fished it most of the day. I tried variously-dressed tungsten beads in between times but there really wasn't much need as fish were rising somewhere, or at least looking up, until about 3.30 p.m. With such an early hatch, the more typical hatch from midday onwards into mid-afternoon really didn't appear - perhaps not too surprising. Most grayling were 10-12" with just three of 13-14" , but all most welcome. What a delight to be fishing an emerger for most of the day when we are almost into November. Fish also still feeding in the margins in quite shallow water. May the warm settled weather continue please! Finally A HUGE THANK YOU to the riparian owner for arranging for the bank-side clearance to be done in the upper half of the beat. I felt so much safer than two months ago making my way up the margins there and back! And the path now even goes as far as the Edw. Well done!

2 Trout, 21 Grayling

Good weather conditions today no rain although the river needs it, looks the same level as back in July.
Caught 2 Barbel and lost another 2 to snags all on pellet feeder.

2 Barbel

Firstly I would like to say what a fantastic experience. The booking system is excellent and it is extremely helpful to read all of the catch reports. Our first visit to the Wye and unfortunately we couldn't book the section we wanted as it was booked but were more than happy with this stretch of the river. I spoke to Terry the bailiff the day before and he was extremely helpful and had some great advice on every beat of the section. Access was easy through the gate and we drove down and parked outside the old Courthouse next to beat 4. Myself, my wife and my 2 sons (14 and 17) walked down to beat 5 to a gravel bar that runs across the river. Felix (14) trotted maggots along the far bank and Louis (17) did the same but a little upstream. Second trot down and Felix hooked a nice barbel which gave him a great fight before the hook link gave way and the fish was lost. He soon hooked another and the same thing happened so had to step up to 6lb line. He managed a couple of nice out of season trout after that, the biggest being 2 and a half pounds. Louis managed a nice trout and a stunning grayling of over a pound but unfortunately the chub and barbel eluded us. I had no luck on the feeder but had one small trout trotting maggots. The weather and surroundings were truly breathtaking and there were numerous salmon on the stretch making their presence known. It was a shame that we only had a day to explore the river but we all caught and my wife caught the sun so we all went home happy soon to return!

4 Trout, 1 Grayling

5 x grayling 11-14 inches, 9 x out of season trout 6-13 inches. All on dry Grayling Steel Blue with a couple on French leader nymphs at the end. Made a late start, expecting any hatch to be after lunch, but on arrival found pale wateries already on the move. Also willow fly and a few dark olives as the day went on. But, a majority of the rises turned out to be from mostly small trout - grayling somewhat reluctant to come up. Pretty quiet by 4 o'clock. 1 foot showing on the gauge, still with that peat stain in the water. Still warm - summer goes on.

5 Grayling

Day started badly when I discovered I had lost a leg off my chair. Did not improve when, after a fruitless search for leg, overcast conditions turned to long sunny periods. Water very low and clear. Fished fast water opposite island with pellet, meat and maggots with feeder. No bites so moved upstream to deeper water. Still very quiet until I had a couple of chub 2 - 3lb on meat as darkness fell. Saved me from a complete blank, but not a sniff of a barbel. Disappointing.

2 Chub

Lovely Autumn day, river still low and a bit of streamer weed drifting through which means regular re-casting to remove that. Kingfisher made frequent passes as did canoes which were mostly organised groups who behaved impeccably. Excitement as one group of three small children rolled into the river and parents struggled to retrieve and dry them off.
Fish very obliging, taking pellets below a feeder at extended intervals through the day. All the chub were over 4lbs with the largest a new pb for me at 6-02 (thought at first it was a carp with such strong bronze colouring) and in perfect condition. 8lb Barbel was a stunner and capped off a very enjoyable day.
Looking forward to next trip. Thanks WUF.

1 Barbel, 4 Chub

BBeautiful day, gin clear water. Lot of BT and grayling sipping and splashing. Had 8 takes to small k klinkhammers but failed to connect securely to any of them.

Fishing on worms and spinning, no catch on the day.

A foggy start gave way to a lovely mild autumn day and it was really good to be out fishing. With a little more water in the river it was surprising that the fish were reluctant to feed and we both had to work hard and move around for bites. Late in the day a little flurry gave us three barbel and two chub to add to two barbel caught before lunch.

5 Barbel, 2 Chub

6 barbel biggest 10.8lb, remainder 5-7.5lb. All fish in morning and evening on pellet feeder fished mid-river at a swim at the top end. Had to contend with 50+ Canadian Geese in swim but persevered! Accompanied by Kingfishers, Wrens, Herons, Pheasants and the occasional Cormorant (unfortunately). Nice low level flypast by a couple of RAF Tornados too! Than you WUF.

6 Barbel