Feedback & Reports

Arrived about 11am and spent a fruitless hour fishing spiders in the fast water. Switching to dries (size 16 hare's ear emergers), I then caught grayling steadily from the glides below and above Lady Alexander's Catch until a stiffening downstream breeze stopped the fun at about 5pm. Caught 17, all returned, mostly 8-10" but 5 were over 12" and the best 16"; many more missed. Nice, straightforward fishing and worth the drive after weeks spent scratching around shrunken Cotswold streams.

17 Grayling

We found the best area was the fast water below the suspension bridge, which produced all but one chub, the river was clear and quiet low, the best method was 8mm halibut pellets for hookbait, with a mixture of 6 & 8 mm pellets in pva bags on a short hook link. All in all a excellent day.

16 Barbel, 12 Chub

1 Barbel, 1 Chub

All on dry fly. Lake in superb condition, fish all superb condition between 4 and 10 inches

10 Trout

Not much surface activity, caught on upstream nymph and downstream wet fly. GRHE nymph, snipe and purple, black and peacock spider all took fish. 1 trout, 5 grayling.

1 Trout, 5 Grayling

Only ended up fishing for about four hours. A nice spot but little sign of any fish.

Small fish could be risen in the riffles but the better fish in the glides were very spooky. It was satisfying to eventually figure out how to pick them up.

3 Trout

A few fish risen by my friend who was late arriving. Tricky conditions but a beautiful place to fish.

Tough day,river low and clear. 3 chub on feeder plus 2 barbel lost in weed.
Lots of salmon jumping.

3 Chub

Excellent sport throughout the day.

The weather was cool and misty in the morning, definitely more autumnal than late summer. The sun came out later, triggering sporadic hatches of pale wateries, small sedges, medium olives, and what looked like out of season yellow mays. Grayling and trout were rising freely throughout the day in the glides and in the creases on the edge of riffles. I fished dries above Cillau falls, catching on klinkhamers and small (#16 and 18) palmered grayling 'tags' (double badger, red tag etc.). In the late afternoon I fished a team of spiders (partridge and orange and yellow dotterel) down and across through the fast run below the falls and had great fun picking up smaller fish. I tried Czech nymphs in some of the deeper pools, connecting with a couple of reasonable grayling although they bumped off the barbless hooks as I had too much line out and was over-reaching (still haven't got to grips with this technique). Most of the grayling caught were in the 8-10" category although I also had four around 11-12". All of the trout were wild; the two largest were around 11" and the rest were parr.

The access was excellent, with safe off-road parking and no distance to the river (on the right bank, at least). The wading was moderate; the gravel sections were easy enough but some care is needed on the larger cobbles and particularly around the large boulders, where the current has scoured out deceptively deep pots. I avoided wading on the bedrock as my boot felt and studs are worn. I also avoided the planks as they were too high at this water level (0.7m on the EA's Erwood gauge), and it looked like a good way to end up with an early bath.

A very picturesque beat, with plenty of wildlife although I didn't see any otters or salmon. Thanks to the WUF booking office team for suggesting this beat - good advice and a good fit for the type of fishing I was after. Now, which beats have the specimen grayling?

10 Trout, 16 Grayling