Feedback & Reports

A lovely day for fly fishing; warm but not too bright. Saw 4 trout all day and caught one. No salmon. Two problems: after the tarmac finishes at the first car park, it was not traversable in my car, which grounded several times in the first 100m. Secondly, about 12 canoeists appeared. I mentioned their season was over and their leader assured me I was wrong. I'm sure I am not.
WUF Note: Canoeists are not permitted on the upper Usk (except Brecon prom) between 3rd March and 17th October unless water heights are over the red line at the Brecon gauge (full details here). If you come across any paddlers during this time please inform them of the arrangements and make a note of where they are from (if they are in an organised group) and report it to WUF.

1 Trout

Lovely, diverse section of water. There was a decent hatch of olives around lunch time but this failed to bring any fish to the surface. I had two trout of around 12 inches and lost a third fishing small, bead head nymphs in the deep riffles.

2 Trout

Just 2 wild browns today, 1 at 9" the other a nice fish of around 14". Quite a strong cross wind which made casting difficult and meant a lot of time was spent untangling from trees. Nothing seems to be happening on the surface yet and both fish fell to a gold head fished quite deep under a klinkhammer.

2 Trout

Took my son to this beat and he rewarded me with a beautiful brown trout 20" in length 3.5lb plus. Taken on dry brown wedge pattern. Fish returned safely. River conditions excellent. A great day.

1 Trout

1lb trout on a tan klinkhammer, only fish I saw rise all day. 2lb trout on PTN. Both fish returned safely.

2 Trout

No salmon, one seen but we think it was a kelt. Two trout largest around 1.5 lb both returned. Lovely day.

2 Trout

Hooked and lost 2 fish on spinners.

A dawn strike was rewarded with a lovely 12lb. hen on single hook hardware. First light, first cast, first of the year. Fished through the middle of the beat with the fly rod as well. Enough water in the river at the moment to carry a line nicely through. No other touches or sightings, called it a day at lunch time. Thank you.

1 Salmon

Peering over the brush on the walk down to the start of this beat, can only whet your appetite for the hours ahead. A succession of runs, pool's and glides that would have you reaching for every pattern and rig you could muster, I was not expecting a water like this for some reason.
But, alas you can't have everything. A quite cold drizzly day turned to a down pour with thunder and lightening by 2.45pm, a dampner to say the least. No hatch (really?) no rising trout. Fished with nymphs only to connect with two o/s Grayling at 10/12 ins, quite impressive I thought for a water this size? Both returned with TLC. I'm thinking this beat would be great in the summer but I would imagine the foliage may make things a tad more difficult than this time of year but as I said, you can't have everything.

2 Grayling

River quiet - nothing moving. Thanks to Terry for his help.
Stayed overnight at the Red Lion at Bredwardine - very comfortable and good value.