Feedback & Reports

With the river rising all day the fishing was unsurprisingly difficult. Some bites on meat late on almost certainly a chub, but really hard work in pouring rain. A rather large salmon showed itself spectacularly in the afternoon. A wonderful beat to which I shall return.

Saw a couple of grilse, but nothing more. River turned muddy at lunchtime with the heavy rain. There's always next year !

Very wet and windy afternoon. River levels rising and colouring throughout. 4 barbel to 4lb. Lovely stretch fished for first time.

4 Barbel

3 Barbel

A very windy and rainy day. The river was still relatively clear but obviously had a fair bit of extra water but still low for the time of year. In addition the new water had definitely chilled the overall temperature. Arriving just as it got light I fished in the wood, I decided that I would stay put in one location pretty much all day, mainly under the brolly! Simple feeder method with pellets and homemade boilies for bait. Had a nice barbel 9ib 6oz at about 1 o'clock and further two about 5 o'clock and half six. Fished until dark and lost another just before packing up which would have finished the day really well, in the end a good day. Had a nice chat with Rudi and he offered plenty of useful advice, he told me a would have a hard day but I've definetely had far worse! Many thanks. Hopefully be back again soon.

3 Barbel

2 chub between 4 and 5lb on halibut pellet lost 1 barbel on first peg in meadow!

2 Chub

Nil return. Water was slightly coloured but fishable with a bright fly. Very heavy rain from mid morning.
Biggest disappointment was not knowing enough about the parts of the beat that were possible to fish at this time. We had tried calling the fishery manager several times and established when we booked into the Royal Lodge hotel that he was tied up assisting some filming with Dean Macey. On the day we spent nearly 2 hours looking up and down the beat to determine where we could fish and more appropriately where we could get into the water. On the left bank many of the pool areas had very steep banks and were bordering on dangerous to try and get down to the water. We did manage to speak to the fishery manager about lunch time and were advised to fish the pools we had settled on but from the right bank. We found these and had a few hours of enjoyable fishing. However during that time each of us slipped over multiple times getting down to the river. Some strategically placed ropes to assist would have helped greatly. We were told that we could wade out to the island at martins pool but as the water was somewhat cloudy and we had no idea on depth again ropes would have given us both the appropriate location to wade and an aide to avoid any accidents.

Went to the upper stretch first but found very few swims and decided to fish the lower. Ended up with 3 Barbel, 1 Chub and a Gudgeon.

3 Barbel, 1 Chub, 1 Other

Caught 11 barbel to 7lbs 2oz and 4 chub on Thursday. Great days fishing. After the rain on Thursday, the river was just right first thing Friday and a 7lbs 14oz barbel and a few chub were caught. Then the river rose very fast and we had to pack up at 4.30pm as the foot path became flooded. Much debris coming down and difficult to hold in the slack in the bottom swim on Wyebanks.

12 Barbel, 7 Chub

2 Barbel, 3 Chub