Feedback & Reports

One brow trout caught on N Country spider pattern. Water slightly coloured after the recent rain but river level acceptable for wading. Some rain during the day but did not spoil my time there. No luck with the Salmon.

The fishery was easy to find and access from the car park was good. However, despite the fishery being over a mile long there were only a handful of swims with adequate access to the water to be able to fish. Some of the first swims had very high banks and it was not possible, even with a long, fully extended landing net handle, to reach the water to be able to safely land a fish. This could have been a consequence of rain in the week raising the water level to cover areas people could normally step down onto to fish. Nevertheless the three of us found swims to fish and had good sport, for the most part anyway! I caught 2 barbel of 4lb 13oz and 5lb 15oz on fishmeal boilies fished in conjunction with a groundbait feeder filled with halibut pellets. My father, MB, caught 5 chub to over 3lb, an eel of around a pound and two barbel, one around 6lb and the other 6lb 4oz. All his fish came to feeder fished halibut pellets. The third member of our group, fishing from the 2nd swim of the fishery (MB fished the 3rd swim and I fished about 300m downstream of that) sadly blanked, despite using similar tactics. All in all a good day was enjoyed by all of us, even MC who blanked! But it is worth noting that the 2nd field (I didn't walk any further than the 2nd field) is lined by a fence and only allows access to the river to make one fishable swim. Given this field is probably one third of the length of the fishery we were a little disappointed as this, coupled with the high banks and over grown banks of the first area, meant there was a vast expanse of fishy looking water we couldn't access. I am 30 but my fishing partners for the day are both over 60. I was able to explore the overgrown, slippery and steep areas (to some extent) but sadly they weren't so their fishing was very limited. Personally I love river fishing as it's natural and I don't like fishing commercial pools with man made swims right on top of one another. So I don't raise the point about a lack of access for any other reason than to inform people, especially those of an older generation that our experience told us that although there is over one mile of bank available in this fishery, the vast majority of it is completely unfishable. However, it's still the Wye, it's still a beautiful wild river and there are some stunning fish to be caught!!

Water very coloured from storm evening before, fishing hard going, few strikes but none landed.

Bright day, sunny with showers and occasional down pour. 4 fish hooked/landed, x2 grayling 8", x1 5" WBT and x1 14" WBT. x1 Grayling hooked but not landed estimated 15" from Lower Weir pool. WBT taken on Grey Klinkhammer with white post, grayling on black nymph with green flash.

Nil return river still too high.

High and very colored water. I wasn't sure if I'd be lucky that day but perseverance paid as I had 2 lovely trout of 12" each on beaded Pheasant nymphs.

This was our first visit to Chainbridge. We arrived after a night long fall of rain to find the river rising and coloured. Barry, the owner of the beat, was river side casting a spinner as we arrived. He offered to show us the beat and that was very helpful. We could see it had the potential to be an excellent water and the catch returns filled us with hope. Alas the water continued to colour up, a flotilla of jetsam arrived early afternoon and we threw in the towel around 3pm. I had a couple of sizeable trout below the bridge which was too overgrown to fish with a fly. It was an enjoyable day but, with the absence of any showing fish, fell short of sublime!

Love this beat, fast water, glides, pools, and good stamp of trouties. Managed several fish, 3 of which were pushing twelve inches and fought very well. Nothing rising so decided to fish the fast water and heads of pools with beadhead and payed off very well. About 2pm one pool was boiling with fish hitting emergers, switched and bingo bongo few to dry.

River very high on arrival and very coloured. Spent the morning walking the beat and praying for some clear water later in the day. The colour was all from the Wye, the Elan was running clear. Soon after lunch (pie and chips at New Inn Newbridge, v. good - better than the building would lead expectations) the river was down about 5-6" and clearer. The trout were in full swing but did not touch or move a salmon. By 4 it was colouring and rising again. Shame as the runs and pools were just coming in to their own.
A lovely piece of fly water - 13' rod more than enough in post places in fact even too big on some bits - wading not too bad. Very many thanks to Dai in the booking office for all help.

Fishing from 6.30am until 11 am, one swim produced 5 fish. 3 x chub and 2 x barbel. A further 2 fish were hooked but lost on snags.
A very enjoyable first trip to the Wye under the Passport system and will definatley be booking again. Stayed local at Pilgrim house, although breakfast is too late and last servings of dinner is tight for twilight fishing.