Feedback & Reports

On the fly, caught nothing, water seemed low.

5 barbel caught, all on 14mm halibut pellet over 'time bomb' feeder. All over 7lb 8oz with best at 9lb 10oz. Lost another two, line cut on rock and hook pull. River low with little colour, bright early but overcast later, caught throughout day.

5 Barbel

Cold downstream wind following chilly night (car sensor indicated 4degC on way up). Caught two modest grayling in 4 hours on heavy nymphs on French leader. A little more water and colour would have been ideal, but still a great beat. I have fished it 4 times this season - so far - always worth the journey.

Fished this beat for the first time. River was a lot slower and deeper than the previous beat, the weather was overcast and a light shower. I was not sure what to expect and I can now see why you can only fish with one rod. Again, large open feeder with a long leader, no.10 barbless hook. My choice of bait was ground bait with pellet casters, spicy hemp and crushed boilies in the feeder and small boilie on the hair. Then the heart-stopping experience started with 3 big barbel well into double figures and I was absolutely shattered. These fish fight like steam trains when hooked. This has been one of my greatest fishing experience days, many thanks to the owners and WUF for this great fishery.

5 Barbel, 2 Chub

Reasonable day on the reservoir me and my dad both with 6 fish permits. I had 3 and he had 4 averging about 2lbs. Nice fish. 3 taken on worm and 4 taken on spinner. Water was alive with fish throughout the day. Tried fly but they weren't having any of it. Should of persevered with changing flies but gave up. Reservoir was getting stocked about 12:30pm but we were on the far back. We caught 1 after the stocking but lost count on how many bites and takes we had and lost, great day.

7 Trout

Another disappointing day on this beat. River looked great and we had high expectations. 1 Barbel was the only result, though 3 other fish were lost. Activity very localised with one swim producing the little action there was. Fishing here does seem to have tailed off noticeably since season start.
New swims being cut on opposite side of river, hope this does not lead to confrontation as the better water at the lower end of beat is on near side.

1 Barbel

Sunny day - river clear and slow running. Fished first to last light, mainly pellet though did also try sweetcorn, meat etc.
One barbel, 8lbs and one chub 4lbs - fish were having a quiet day, didn't really mind as weather was great. The two I did catch were both handsome fish and there was plenty of wildlife going on to keep me occupied.
Will definitely return.

1 Barbel, 1 Chub

River was a nice height, slight colour. Absolutely no rising fish. This beat has always produced fish for me. Perhaps the cormorant and mergansers I saw there last year had done their work. Managed one grayling about 1lb and another smaller fish, all on small red sedge floater. A hatch of needle flies. Even the angler trotting on the opposite bank could only catch small fish. A pity the water in the first field is impossible to access because of bush growth and a barbed wire fence. Still, a very peaceful spot with easy parking. Tight lines to all.

2 Grayling

Fished from 8-11am.
Last day of fishing as part of a two week break. The advice from the Foundation and the waters they have secured were exactly what I had hoped for. Thank you.
Even though the numbers to net or hand were lower than I would have expected this was a very enjoyable few hours fly fishing. Covering most of the beats faster water with double nymph, size 12 and 14 barbless. PTN on point, PTN spider on dropper. All returned.
For the first hour I bumped or lost 8 fish and only managed one to hand. A change of fly solved the problem and from here hook ups were more positive. The average size of trout was better than my last visit here but nothing over 10 inches. Fish of the day was a 14 inch grayling which put up a fantastic fight, taken from a boulder strewn glide in the middle of the beat. I rarely take a photo, this was only the second photo in two weeks, but this lady was very deserving.
I did notice that on this day each of the grayling had lice attached. No more than a couple per fish. I have read about it but it's the first time I have seen it myself.

6 Trout, 6 Grayling

Water low at the moment and difficult to catch. It was very windy. However 2 fish caught. One around 1lb. The second was fantastic, 4lb 6oz in weight with a beautiful blue tinge on back. Just touching 19 inches nose to tail. Great fight.

2 Trout