Feedback & Reports

The river had dropped back from flood levels but the banks were still very wet and mucky. A mild, enjoyable morning saw 5 barbel to 8lb banked along with the usual chub to start the new year well. Unfortunately, fishing stopped after lunch when my companion speared his finger with a quickstop (it goes in the pellet, not your digit K)and he needed to get to A&E for a protracted spell of surgery to remove the offending item. Ouch! Happy New Year to all at WUF.

River fining down and looked good for piking. Walked the whole length of the South bank, trying all the pikey looking slacks, some of which I have caught from before, but it was dead and I didn't get a single run all day.

Although river looked in good nick and despite trying a plethora of baits only action came in last hour whilst using small feeder down the edge with sweetcorn on the hook. Several missed bites but ended with one barbel.

11 x grayling 8-17 inches, 7 x out of season trout 8-15 inches, long trotting.
A very warm, rather dark, cloudy day. The upper Wye was running clear but still quite high. I'm not really sure how high, because when the Llanstephan gauge emerged from the flood waters after all these weeks, it turned out to be gone, just the iron mounting pole left. Can we have it back WUF, because we are a bit lost without that when planning our fishing? My guess was that the level was around 2 feet, OK for fishing at Abernant. The EA gauge for Erwood showed 1.32 metres.
In fact the fishing was quite difficult. Searching during the morning only produced two small grayling and a number of unwanted trout, one of them cormorant-injured, all occupying prime spots where grayling should be expected. Another rod out fly fishing helped me search the river (thank you C) but it was only late afternoon near the bottom of the beat that we located some feeding grayling. The swim was developed a bit by dark and a few good ones showed up, including a very nice fish just under 18 inches. Nevertheless, grayling were "picky" and wanted the bait literally dragging the bottom, single maggot on a small hook.
For all that, it was good to be out on the river again after all these inactive weeks.

Very good section. Owner is a top chap and he gave us some good information. I blanked roving with different baits. S N stuck it out in 4th swim down & was rewarded with 2 barbel the best of 10lb 14oz. His first double ever, fell to pellet.

I wasn't expecting a gimme in high water conditions but I was still surprised to account a total blank for today. Good to see Mr B. in flesh and catching. I don't what worked for him, could be his gentleman appearance as well as his tactics.
A few post-spawned Salmon on the bank below the Edw - just thought you want to know. I will be back in the proper fly season. Thank you.

Weather and river conditions perfect. Fishing terrible. Fished several swims and tried every bait in the bag for 1 Chub. Several times whilst fishing I was sharing the river with a Cormorant. This also happened the last time I fished this beat. Has any body else noticed an increase in their numbers this winter? A few weeks ago at How Capel Court I counted 13 in the morning.

Lovely venue. Between the two of us we caught 4 grayling to about a pound and a half and 6 brown trout incidentally while trotting maggot on 2lb line, size 16 barbless hooks. All fish returned safely to the water. Beautiful varied beat. The owner provided a more detailed map which was a great help.

Hoped water levels were at a fishable level. sadly they were not. Having never fished this beat before it was impossible to see where fish would hold. Water was running too hard for wading and bank fishing was a waste of time. Nil return but nice looking beat.

Water was still fairly high but dropping so good conditions. Had a good day, 4 Barbel up to 8lb 7oz on feeder and pellet tactics, plus a chub and a pike. Always a lovely place to fish!