Feedback & Reports

1 x trout 13 inches, Tungsten Hare's Ear nymph. Not an easy afternoon of fishing, but a wonderful walk up a very beautiful valley. I didn't get anywhere near the top. A clear blue sky, strong but warm wind, rooks tumbling in the sky above their nests, blackthorn in blossom - sorry to wax lyrical, but I do like this time of year. After several hours, though, I had tumbled nymphs into various holes without any sign of life. Nothing rising. When the take finally came, I was caught by surprise and turned over one of the largest trout I have seen in a brook. It was only on for a couple of seconds, but I had a chance to see a giant spotted flank before it disappeared into murky depths again. Again, sorry to give you the "one that got away" story, but I was left slack-jawed standing on the pool tail for several minutes after this. There are some surprisingly big trout in the Escley. 5 minutes before I absolutely had to leave and walk down the valley (having promised to take my poor wife out for a drink) a much more modest fish consented to come to the net, so I don't have to record a blank.

1 Trout

A nice afternoon in the sun, but I blanked. River was nearly back down to normal levels after the recent floods and looked great (just in time for the closed season) but I didn't get more than a couple of knocks on the rod tip. Should have brought maggots and my silvers gear but was after Barbel. Will be back in June!

Fished 4pm - 6.30pm. Meant to fish the morning but work got in the way! Fished the lagoon, one bite no fish. Moved in front of ticket hut, very windy and cold. One bite, no fish. Saw nothing moving apart from a cormorant. Tried spinner and worm on bottom and on float. Moved to concrete by dam for dusk, at last a fish - perch. And 2 more of the same on worm on bottom.

3 Other

Arrived at 9am, cold and foggy start to the morning. The fog soon burnt off when the sun came out. Turned into a glorious spring day. Started fishing the float with maggots with no luck, where are all the dace, roach and small chub? There doesn't seem to be any small fish on this beat. After 2 hours time to move swims. Fished the maggot feeder and caught some big chub, a couple of brownies and found a stray barbel. Thank you WUF for the privilege of allowing me to fish a beautiful stretch of the Wye on my own on the last day of the season.

2 Trout, 1 Barbel, 5 Chub

Foggy start, the sun broke through nearer to lunchtime. Both anglers had a chub a barbel around lunchtime followed by another each nearer to 4pm. River flowing well but could hold lead ok.

4 Barbel, 2 Chub

Foggy, frosty start turned into a bright sunny day. Fishing was a little slow but we managed a few fish late afternoon into dusk. All fish came to feeder tactics with meat and boilie hook baits. Looking forward to our return in the summer to this great beat.

1 Barbel, 6 Chub, 1 Other

We settled on two pegs not far into the second field with the church behind us over our right shoulder. The river looked to be ideal but as per the previous couple of days, fish were hard to come by with one small chub around a 1lb on maggot coming early on and despite a variety of baits and methods tried no more fish were caught.

1 Chub

The barbel were hard to come by again today. We stuck it out in our chosen swims until mid-afternoon but without success. A move for each of us resulted in a barbel first cast, then no more bites. Another move for me and again a barbel first cast and a beauty at that, weighing 9lb 9oz from the Telegraph Pole swim. Once again, no further bites were to be had.
Although we would have liked a few more fish, we had a great time on the Wye as usual. With fantastic weather for the time of year and Goodrich castle as a backdrop, it was just a joy to be out on this picturesque beat.

3 Barbel, 3 Chub

Halibut pellet, hair rigged on a 2oz running ledger rig.

1 Chub

Arrived midday following an over night frost. Fished maggot feeder in first swim of first meadow without a bite for over 3 hours. Moved about 4pm, fed two pints of maggots via a bait dropper then success! 3 barbel to 7lbs plus 2 brownies.

2 Trout, 3 Barbel