Feedback & Reports

A magical days fishing on a beautiful secluded beat. Lovely autumn day, sunny with occasional heavy showers in the afternoon. Fish started rising around mid day. A lot of fly life and a naturalist paradise. Kingfisher, yellow and grey wagtails, dipper, little owl, tawny owl and many more, nuthatch etc. Water gin clear and a lot of fish in this beat. Lovely varied water with swift flowing runs and long glides excellent for dry fly. Caught two trout one 10 inches the other about 2 pounds. Both fish beautifully marked in perfect conditions. Excellent day out, and the fishing was good too! Cannot wait to fish this next spring!

2 Trout

Dry fly. Water was low but great for wading conditions. All fish returned. All fish small 5-6 inches.

2 Trout, 3 Grayling

Red letter day in late Summer at Whitney, 17 chub 3-4 pound and 2 6 pound Barbel all caught on waggler in fast water. The most scenic and impressive farmland in the passport, a great location.

2 Barbel, 17 Chub

First time on this beat and what a great section of river. Weather sunny with a couple of heavy showers. Fish came late in the day to feeder and pellet. Will definitely be back.

3 Barbel, 1 Chub

What a lovely little stretch of river. Easy parking very close to the nearest swims. Swims were good for access although might have to be taken during wet weather as they may get muddy / slippy. Only on 'decent' fish - a 4.5lb chub but one good barbel lost. 10 very small (<1lb) barbel caught though and they were great to see - a good sign of active recruitment. Spent a good deal of time trotting small baits and caught a constant steam of smaller chub, dace and bleak and a single gudgeon. Lots of kingfisher sightings and a Daubentons bat appeared at about 5:30 pm which was very unusually early, nice to watch it hunting though. I think a lot pf people stick it out on the Wye with big baits for big chub and barbel but they are missing a treat with the quality of the trotting sport for smaller chub and dace - it was litterally a bit a chuck! Will be back one day soon.

10 Barbel, 60 Chub, 50 Other

Again the river is low and clear as it was the previous day. The barbel were on the feed straight away, 3 barbel in the first 3 casts and all over 8lbs was a fantastic start. Sport then slowed down.
A change of swims provided 3 more with the largest going 9lbs 12oz. Throughout the two days Colin's pb started at 7lbs 4oz then 7lbs 10oz followed by 8lbs 5oz. So the 9lbs 12oz fish was the icing on the cake for him. Both anglers will be back next year for sure.

6 Barbel

CP and BS from London fished the beat, 11.30am-4.00pm. Water very clear and river level good; not affected by recent rains. Scattered clouds and occasional rain. Fish seen and rising throughout the day, fished a combination of small dry flies upstream and nymphs down and across; 2 brown trout caught and released.

2 Trout

Blanked in the morning & made up for it with a good 'fry-up' on the tailgate of the truck at lunchtime with some piping hot tea from the Kelly's kettle; A small shower of rain after 2pm seems to chivvy the fish up a bit & MB from Hampshire caught his first Wye salmon in the Armies run on a cascade pattern with a bit of sparkle in the tail. Coloured, cock fish of about 8 1/2 lbs.
Terrier had a wonderful day as the hazel bushes were full of squirrels & she also likes to be 'in charge' when a fish is being unhooked & released. JC from Hampshire had a good trout on a dry fly towards the end of the day.
Will post some go-pro footage of 'Mikes first Wye salmon' on the tube under that heading later on. Thanks WUF for another great day of pleasure on the upper Wye.

1 Salmon, 1 Trout, 4 Grayling, 1 Other

Pretty much my last fish of what has been quite a skinny season. Aberedw is like my death row last request beat! Partly because this is where I learnt to small stream dry fly fish and partly because it offers pool after pool of interesting and exciting angling with a chance on every cast.
Was rewarded with 11 wbt all to dries - anything sedgy worked. Some fin perfect 9"-12" specimens along with the feisty 6 inchers. Made my way up to the additional 700 or so yards this beat offers but was welcomed by an almighty downpour. The gorge at the bottom of the beat turned purple and reminiscent of Middle Earth. A few casts were rewarded with an angry 9" trout but rain stopped play.
Great day, every angler needs a death row beat!

11 Trout

Glorious weather more akin to summer than September and such scenic surroundings. The river was tinged with a bit of colour after recent rain and the Barbel came in early afternoon. Surprisingly the overcast evening brought only Chub. Best Barbel was 7lb 9ozs and was caught down the inside in the streamer weed. Pellet on a link ledger was the successful tactic. Don't be put off by the weed or the steep banks. It's like much of the Wye, if a little more overgrown due being off the beaten track. Only one canoe seen all day.

2 Barbel, 7 Chub