Feedback & Reports

Fishing two days Friday and a few hours Saturday. On Friday 26 barbel to 5lbs 16 chub. For numbers this was the best day of a fabulous week with a great bag of barbel again from the super productive bottom pool and lots of chub. On Saturday we had 11 barbel 3 chub during a short session with heavy canoe traffic so only fished a short while late morning. Very clear and in the shallower water the barbel are being spooked by swans and cormorants flying over. Nonetheless a good end to our best weeks fishing on the Wye ever. Thanks Don and WUF.

37 Barbel, 19 Chub

Little surface activity although some olives were about. Two small trout (both around 5" to 6" and safely returned)caught on size 16 GRH nymph below fast moving riffle near the top of the beat.

2 Trout

Came to Wales to avoid the referendum. River very low so didn't bother to fish and enjoyed a bank walk. Saw a bloated heron.
N.B N.B one patch of Himalayan Balsam and .... Japanese knotweed on second field down!!!!!!
Great little spot.

An very interesting day, albeit not as productive as expected for this time of year. Lovely weather - a light breeze at times, mainly overcast and warm at 18-19 degrees but the water very low at 0.28m on the Ddol Farm gauge. There wasn't too much fly life, just a few small olives, and the odd stonefly and sedge, but enough fallen leaf on the river to get terrestrials onto the surface (lots of little spiders and greenfly on the trees) and fish looking up......or so I thought! However, there were very few rises all day and the grayling were unusually reluctant to rise to standard go-to surface and emerger patterns for this time of year. Nymphs either fished duo or tandem were unsuccessful and just one grayling took a red tag spider. Three trout of 10-14" were taken on a hare's ear emerger as were four grayling of 10-16", the latter a fish of just over 1.5lb. As usual at Doldowlod, the 8-10" year class grayling that seem to predominate further down the river didn't put in an appearance. What was odd was that the water was quite cold at 13 degrees, which surprised me, given day and night air temperatures of late so, somewhat perplexed, I rang Severn Trent this morning who confirmed that, given lack of rainfall and low water, about four times the usual amounts of compensation water are being discharged from the Elan Valley reservoirs. I suspect that this may have been the problem given that Doldowlod is so close to the Elan confluence. Friends who fish the Dee and Severn catchments are always telling me how their fishing is affected at times like this. Bring on the rain please!!

3 Trout, 5 Grayling

Saw 4 salmon moving, 2 at the top end, one in the middle of the beat and one in the Cadora pool.
No takes for me, but still enjoyed the day.

You needed to be down a bit in the morning and graying and trout were caught bugging in the faster runs. In the afternoon a few fish were showing and we caught on small nymphs and spider patterns.
The river is very low but the fishing was fun and it was a great day to be out. None of the fish caught were large but all gave a good account of themselves on light tackle. Lots of par around which were difficult to avoid.

6 Trout, 7 Grayling

3 rainbows,all approx 2 lbs. 1 on spinner, 2 on worm and bubble.

3 Trout

Have fished this stretch for many years and the banks are now getting overgrown in places but still plenty of swims. Water is slow and stale and fish are not feeding til early evening. Caught very large eel on pellet and returned it safely.

4 Barbel, 2 Chub, 1 Other

Tough conditions, low and clear but worked hard for our result. Fished many swims but most action was in the first and last hour. Great to be on the Wye again, many thanks WUF, a most enjoyable day.

6 Barbel, 4 Chub

Arrived ready to go at 6am river really low and clear and lots of weed coming down, expectations weren't to high but at least we knew the stretch. Tom went to pump house peg whilst David and Mark started in first peg of the same field and I fished the orchard peg. Tom had a chub first cast quickly followed by 2 more all around 3lb and also lost a bigger one in the roots of the tree. Mark and David had a few taps but weed was a problem. I had my first Wye perch 1/2lb followed by a barbel of 8lb and a couple of chub of about 2lb, then it went quiet. Tom and Mark went to bottom of the beat but it was so low and clear they struggled to get decent bites. At 2pm David waded out to the gravel bar and cast under far bank with great results 2 barbel 9-10lb and 2 chub all caught on elips pellet but broke his landing net so had to come and fish with me on first peg of pump house field. Tom came back to the orchard peg and had 3 barbel 6lb + 2 x 8lb. I had bites on meat and pellet resulting in a few barbel (biggest 8lb) and chub (biggest 4lb). Mark tried a few pegs but was getting frustrated at the lack of action but at 6:45pm he broke his duck with a 8lb barbel... never has a fish been so welcome. We fished til dark getting a few knocks but it was hard going. Spotted a mink first thing and I've never seen so many kingfishers on 1 beat before. Woodpeckers kept us company most of the day, a beautiful place. Found 2 half eaten salmon one of about 15lb on gravel bar, only downside was a couple of blokes fishing other bank they must have thrown 5kg of pellets and a bucket of groundbait in and only stayed 2 hours over 2 sessions (strange). Also found otter tracks on Middle Hill Court and 1 eaten chub. We can't wait to come back. David,(Father in Law) has fallen in love with the Wye fishing so we'll be back in October.
Stayed at Grafton Travelodge £29 a room. It was clean and is a great base for a lot of the beats. I wish the Wye was closer as it's a long 400 mile round trip, but worth it. Thanks WUF

12 Barbel, 10 Chub, 1 Other