Feedback & Reports

Me and my dad fished stretch for first time. Went down to island, dad started about half way down beat. I had bites instantly and they kept coming all through the day. Ended up with 22 chub to 4.5lb and 22 barbel to 8lb. Dad only had 1 chub in first swim so he came down to island and had 15 more chub and couple of barbel. Usual method groundbait and pellet. Dad had most of his on same but did pick a few up on bread. Fantastic days fishing will definitely be back.

24 Barbel, 38 Chub

A lovely day's weather for fishing - overcast, muggy, hardly any wind - but very little fly apart from a few small olives and the odd sedge. Few rising fish. We fished Tenkara, conventional, single, duo, nymphs, bugs and emergers. Had about forty grayling between us, mainly of 9-12" and a couple of 13", and just one nice trout. The majority of fish were taken on emergers, although most were not rising, so fish were certainly in upwards - looking mode. The rain that was forecast arrived in earnest at about 5.45pm and, after about half an hour's soaking, what interest fish had shown before then, promptly ceased.
A hard, rewarding and enjoyable day on a beat we both love fishing. However,from the standpoint of access along the eastern bank, and indeed the safety of visiting anglers once wetter conditions prevail, the upper part of the beat needs some serious and urgent attention. There is a large tree down blocking footpath access (towards the tail of the Abernant Stream) soon after crossing the fence line. This now poses a major obstacle. Of more concern, upstream of this, the bank has become seriously eroded and access has become hazardous with little room now for safely making one's way up the beat. You either choose to risk going over the edge or you try to breach the tangle of briars that are in now your way and risk shredding your waders. A few hours with a chainsaw and strimmer and the blockage could be removed and a safer footpath created. With the safety of WUF's clients in mind, we recommend strongly that this is cleared urgently given the popularity of this beat as we get into autumn.

1 Trout

This is a lovely little river, unfortunately on the day I visited the river was low, slimy on the bottom and pools were a bluey grey colour. No signs of fly life or fish and no takes to my drys or gold head nymphs. As with all of the wild trout beats I have fished, access can be a problem, though there are some much worse than this one. Excessive use of barbed wire, and cattle gates across the river do not help, but a machete would be useful. I thought it was the trout that were wild, not the stream side vegetation! I'd like to give it a go in late May/June with a little more water in it, but it's a long way to come from Washington!

Finally a beautiful 12 inch wild brownie caught in fast water on a gold-head nymph. A great morning on the river.

1 Trout

River in good condition and fished well. All brown trout were fairly small but grayling were a good size - best around 2lb. Caught on nymphs and dry flies (goldhead PTN, GRHE and CDC olives). All fish returned in good condition.

10 Trout, 5 Grayling

We didn't start until well into the afternoon but soon found some grayling on deep nymphs. However there was soon an excellent rise and we caught lots of fish klink and dinking with the dry fly doing most of the catching. At times it was as many as six takes to get one hook up. Immensely enjoyable until the rain came at about 6pm and put the fish down and us off. Of course we both had excellent wading jackets - in the car. A great afternoon.

4 Trout, 20 Grayling

Great venue. Caught two large Chub in top stretch just after dawn on pellet. Moved to middle stretch midday and found some nice swims for generally smaller Chub (not included in figures due to volumes) but peppered with a couple of Roach and a nice Perch as swim built up. Larger Chub caught here on changing to meat but pellet produced only knocks. A lot of water to cover in a day and some great potential that we would like to exploit at a later date when we have more time. Salmon seen jumping in swims and suspected that one smashed through a meat bait. Thank you for keeping this river so healthy.

4 Chub, 1 Other

A good day had in beautiful surroundings.

5 fish taken on spinner. 3 early on and then slow going despite fish rising everywhere.

A quiet day - two rods fished from 2pm to 8pm but only one take (not brought to hand) and just three rises. Very little activity but a beautiful stretch of water