Feedback & Reports

We knew it was going to be a hot one so only set off at 8am. On arrival at 12pm we tried to ring the farmer for a lift but he was working in the field so we walked, it's not as bad as everyone makes out, the father in law forgot his glasses and had to go back to car 15mins each way max. walked the whole stretch baiting up with hemp before starting at top end on gravel bank. D, fishing the Wye for the 1st time and 1st go at river fishing, hooked a nice barbel of about 8lb around 2.30pm, then I got 2 barbel, 6lb and 7lb at 3ish. D caught a nice chub around 3lb then it went went a bit quiet so we moved to bottom end of the beat. 30 mins in each swim we had pre baited and D got another 3lb chub at about 6.30pm. I fished the middle deeper sections till about 8.30pm resulting in 2 barbel, 3 chub and 1 small dace (not hooked but got small crab pellet stuck in mouth). D and D headed back to gravel beach and soon had results. D had 2 nice barbel both around 8lb, whilst D got 2 more chub. We fished till dark but bats kept catching the line. The place was giving us all plenty of bites. We all lost barbel, one straightening the hook. The gravel beach was the only place with any real flow and it is very snaggy buts it's where the fish were. The baits we used were paprika luncheon meat, sausage and hemp soft pellets and spicy sausage hard pellets. This is a great stretch, hard fishing but its meant to be. Great views and some well mannered canoeists. Father in law (60+) is now hooked on river fishing and said the walk is ok even with tackle, it's just people have become lazy with fishing in muddy puddles. The wild, wonderfull river Wye. Thanks WUF, keep the walk, there are plenty of other beats with little walking. Back in September!

7 Barbel, 7 Chub, 1 Other

Great day had by me and my mate. 10 barbel between us although 9 were to him. Please be careful returning these fish as they are struggling at the moment with the low oxygen levels. I had to spend 20mins with one up to my waist in the water to make sure she was okay. Great stretch of river but be prepared to fight your way to swims.

4 Trout, 6 Grayling

Hot, low water, one chub to each rod on meat.

2 Chub

Fished the Marl bed section down to the point - with nothing coming out until the evening on the lower section. Hard work in hot, low river conditions but beautiful surroundings and a really special stretch of water. Shame to see the abstraction pumps on 24/7!

3 Barbel, 2 Chub

All small trout caught mainly on goldhead PTN and returned safely. Prolific hatch and a number of fish rising in the evening.

7 Trout

Poor evening. The main problem is access to the river because of the bank side vegetation. This makes getting into the river and more importantly getting out of the river very tricky. Perhaps some access points could be made next winter?

Quite a difficult day, but we were rewarded for our patience later in the day. Started well with a barbel & chub first cast in both of our swims. Second fish followed shortly afterwards and then both our swims went quiet. Followed the same pattern throughout the day and only seemed to be able to induce bites when we changed baits - even from large to small pellets. Started to catch more consistently in the early evening. Barbel from 4lb to 9.5lb and chub up to 4.5lb. Not a touch on meat, with all fish caught on pellets either glued to the hair or bait banded. Pellets from 8ml to 15ml and a combination of micro-pellets or groundbait in the feeders. 1.5lb test curve Shimano Beastmaster rod, with 12lb mainline, 18lb braid hooklink and a size 10 hook. The river was VERY low (the lowest I have ever seen here) but there was a reasonable flow even above the pylon pool. Canoeists were fine but the peace and quiet was disturbed by the 6 who turned up with their tents on the adjacent HDAA stretch and started fishing in the mouth of the Lugg. Although they were no real problem they were more interested in the swimming, beer and barbeque and I would suggest keeping an eye on where they are fishing. This is probably for me the most pretty beat on the Wye & Usk and I will definitely be back soon.

15 Barbel, 10 Chub

Weather very hot and river very low. Not a bite all day but had 3 Chub and 1 Barbel late evening by the bridge.

1 Barbel, 3 Chub

Arrived at around 7am and fished the wooded section. Caught a chub and a barbel (5 lb ish) by 9:30am and then it went dead. Brother in law caught a chub mid afternoon and the father in law was a victim of eels.
It was a bit too hot to fish and to be honest the canoes are getting worse. Whilst I understand the business reasoning around making hay when the sun shines the owners of the canoe rental firms should have concerns for other river users. I lost tackle due to people going straight through the lines, endless noise and general messing around. Don't get me wrong I'm not a kill joy but when someone wants to get in the river to swim downstream in a swim we you are fishing it's not really on.
Really need to get this under control, it's a shame because it's a great place to fish, I just don't need the hastle when I take the day off to fish, to put up with this.

1 Barbel, 2 Chub, 1 Other