Feedback & Reports

Extremely tough Going, river level too low and weather too hot. Fished the wood section dawn till dusk with a short break in the afternoon. Wood crib in the morning and about 3 pegs downstream of the rocks in the evening. One bite one fish 2nd to last cast 7lb barbel.

1 Barbel

An excellent afternoon/early evening's fishing on my favourite beat. River very slightly coloured and the Rhayader Gauge at 9'' , pretty much perfect.
The Sedge hatches were pretty much constant though the time I was there, and at times incredible. However, as is the case on this part of the river, very few fish interested with surface feeding, why I have no idea.
I fished New Zealand Style with an Elk Hair Brown or Yellow Sedge with a small gold head GRHE with a pink thorax (deadly for Grayling and the Trout love them too) fished about a foot and a half deep. This set up works well through the beat, with very little need to change depth, in fact I didn't all day!
Saw 2 trout feeding close to the near side of the channel and took one first cast, which came off close to the net, about a pound and a half. After this the fish kept coming, mainly 8-10 inch grayling but a few bigger ones, the best being a fish of 18 inches, beautiful dark coloured fish which didn't fight much until it saw me and the awaiting net, after which it decided to try and get to Builth Wells!
Moved upstream targeting pocket water and the many features such as single rocks which offer a perfect hiding place, taking grayling and the odd trout.
Then got to a spot, which I feel is one of the best on the whole Wye (I'm not giving that one away!), where I have caught many sizable trout up to 3.5 lb. On this occasion, the resident was a trout of 2lb, actually I little disappointed as I had hoped for much bigger.
All in all, a great days sport, probably more fish than I normally take here, but no real specimens, which was a surprise considering the amount of fish caught. Only 3 fish took the dry, one trout and two grayling.

5 Trout, 25 Grayling

Another nice day. No salmon seen or caught.

This was a bit of a grueller to say the least! The river was very low and clear with blazing sunshine. Also a family swimming in the river and a group messing about in a dinghy didn't help. Actually I was pretty pleased to eke out 3 barbel and 3 chub by moving swims and changing methods. Caught a barbel 1st cast, then didn't get any more until 7pm, after which most of the fish were caught.

3 Barbel, 3 Chub, 1 Other

Overlooked by Goodrich Castle this is a very picturesque venue in the Wye valley. Conditions for us were very bright and hot, 27 degrees.
We walked the stretch to begin with and spotted some barbel in a shallow run so fished for them on pellets, 10mm, with just a few freebies catapulted over. Two barbel and a chub in the first hour, around midday and then a quieter spell possibly due to boat traffic through the swim. Baited up a deeper run above the croy with hemp and pellets and fished that for an hour in the early evening but that didn't produce anything. Returned to the shallow water and had four more barbel in the last hour, best one being seven pounds.
Met the farmer who is a very nice chap, he was cutting the grass along the access track which is fine to drive down in summer conditions, just one badly rutted area which could be tricky if it was very wet. Kingfishers active all day and a few buzzards around too.

6 Barbel, 1 Chub

A bit disappointed to find a tractor/trailer and mini digger in the river from the opposite bank extracting shingle but they left shortly after arrival. Took a couple of hours before the first bite but we managed 2 barbel each which we were well pleased with given the weather.

4 Barbel

Used spinner and caught nothing.

Having risen by a few inches last week, the river had dropped right back and was running crystal clear. Bright sun and a temperature of 27 degrees made roving a non-starter so spent a great day admiring the scenery.

3 Barbel, 9 Chub

The river was extremely low and clear with very little flow. We fished beat 5 with both ledger and float tactics with meat or pellet as hook bait. Only two of the four anglers caught chub of 4+ lbs each on the bomb. These were caught early in the day with evening fishing drawing a blank. What must be said is that the Bailiff (Terry Ward) could not be faulted in any way and definitely gets a 10 out of 10. We will return!

4 Chub

After having a good chat with the gentleman from the previous day and having seen some large chub taking bread off the surface and several barbel flashing, I arrived with great anticipation but I had to work really hard from dawn until dusk for 9 chub on day 1 and 3 chub on day 2, mostly caught trotting sweet corn or pellet through the fast water.
There was no sign of the surface feeding chub or the barbel even though I tried various methods from the available swims as I had the beat to myself. Luncheon meat only produced eels.
Blisteringly hot sunshine and clear sky probably didn't help, compared to the previous day when it was overcast with some light rain.
Still can't think of a better river to be on even when the fishing is tough, just looking forward to my next trip.

WUF note - Please adhere to the Rules and Regulations provided. Anglers are not permitted to visit the beat the day before fishing to recce swims or approach other anglers for information. WUF fishing beats are booked on an exclusivity basis. Please only attend the beat on the day which you are booked to fish.

12 Chub, 4 Other