Feedback & Reports

A number of fish showing in most pools. Once again great info from Mick put me in the right places. Moved a couple of fish on fly but no takes. Bit too much water and colour. Enjoyed the day on a great beat.

Barbel to 8lb, chub to 4lb

2 Barbel, 5 Chub

15lb cock from Lady's Pool, on a cascade at 11.30am. Lost another an hour later. River still in very good nick.

1 Salmon

Quite surprised to see favourable reviews of this beat as I found it hard going. A very low tree canopy on the lower half of the beat; I was using a 6'6" rod and anything longer would have been tricky. It's not so much that the wading is difficult - the riverbed is reasonable going underfoot. The problem is all the obstacles in the water, so I found myself getting out and walking the banks at several points, simply unable to make my way upstream by wading.
In fact I gave up before I reached the un-coppiced stretch of the beat. Having vaulted over a barbed wire fence, I found the river blocked opposite Maesporth Farm by two gate-type flood barriers that were impassable. I couldn't face the tricky wade back downstream and a further vaulting of the fence but I managed to climb the vertical 5-foot bank and walk to the road just outside Maesporth and then back down the lane to my car.
I spent over three hours on the beat (not including the walk back) and fished for about half an hour. I rose a fish early on to a Para Adams but saw nothing after that. I know this is wild stream fishing and I don't expect mown banksides but sometimes the WUF beats are more suitable for those seeking to re-enact their favourite jungle war films or training for infantry selection!

Lovely looking beat the walk was a struggle for my dad but I am used to it so wasn't a problem. I had 1 barbel at 6lb and 10 chub including a new PB of 7lb which was an absolute monster. My dad had 4 chub and 3 barbel (2x8lb and a PB of 10lb 8oz).
Now for the negatives.
Although it says 1 mile of fishing you can only fish the marked pegs in the maize field opposite The Weir NT. I walked the whole beat finding the bank completely overgrown and inaccessible in all the other fields which was a shame as there were some lovely bits of water. The canoeists were an absolute nightmare the worst i have ever experienced and had no consideration for us anglers, most of whom were highly intoxicated through alcohol and had no watercraft, very embarrassing to watch. Lastly the marked pegs were incredibly snaggy between us we lost 14 lots of complete end tackle plus a further 5 hook links. There is a lot of other anglers line in the water so care needs to be taken in swim selection.
As good as it eventually turned out I won't be coming back to this beat, harsh but very fair I think.

4 Barbel, 14 Chub

Great to be back at Chainbridge and with some very decent water conditions! We caught one each on tube flies 7lb and 11lbs in the morning so we enjoyed a celebratory beer in Usk at lunchtime and had a trip to Sweets tackle shop - wonderful!
Thoroughly enjoyed a relaxed afternoon/evening session even exploring some of the deep spinning water at bottom of the beat where two residents showed out of reach below the wires! Then fished it all again and second run through the rock pool resulted in a 10lb hen on an Usk grub I'd just bought - (thank you Jean!) Interestingly, all three salmon caught were coloured and we felt a little surprised we saw nothing showing/running through during the day with such perfect running water and big spring tides? Many thanks to the beat owner and WUF for arranging a wonderful days fishing. Excellent!

3 Salmon, 1 Trout

1'6" with a 2-3" rise late in the afternoon (dam release?). 6lb and 9lb from Orchard Pool. Quite coloured. Sink tip and #10 Ghillie.

2 Salmon

Just a couple of barbel each, but we all had a great day - pellet worked for us, looking forward to another go...

9 Barbel

Fourth visit in a row and another blank on spinner and worm. Conditions perfect. I don't think I'll be back.

Caught the two trout on worm, conditions had been calm.

2 Trout