Feedback & Reports

The barbel are still spawning (I observed this one evening on the camp site I was staying at) so I think they are two to three weeks behind due to the low Spring/early Summer temperatures.
This was my first time at this fishery and so spent some time walking all the banks. I say walking the banks but the upper section is more like deep jungle and impossible to fish from the bank for trees. Fished the upper section long trotting with bread flake for five nice chub.

5 Chub

Fished what I thought was Henry's pool.
Nice glide about 3 rod lenghts out, about 8 foot deep.
Had 4 chub on a specci waggler setup with sweetcorn and had 4 on pellets on a feeder or lead.

No Barbel, tried big/small baits and various lengths of hooklink.

Biggest chub which was caught on the float was 5lb 1oz.

Be careful of the track down to the Youth Hostel.

7 Chub

A tough days fishing, few accessible swims and relatively cold water temp for time of year of 12c. Anglers on the far bank wern't catching much either. only 2 medium sized barbel and 1 chub caught. Charging 3 anglers £60 for a length with 7 pegs is a bit steep, luckily no one had booked the 4th rod. More work needed on this one WUF.

WUF note - The booking of 2 rods on this beat achieves exclusivity and therefore we would only add 2 rods by telephone to the initial anglers booking and not 'overbook' them.

2 Barbel, 1 Chub

A long walk from the car park led to a very beautiful stretch of the Wye valley. I would recommend travelling light as it is a further walk to cover the whole stretch available. Access to the river is difficult because of steep sided banks and lots of willow growth - there are few swims accessible without alot of cutting back and use of a machete (which I did not do). I fished the Island swim which is fast and turbulent. This proved productive in the evening after 5pm( I fished another swim further up river but there were no bites). My intended fishing partner for the day was not able to come so I fished alone. Ledgered and hair rigged pellets delivered lots of aggreesive bites(after 5pm) from the barbel but the swim was sadly snaggy and I lost a few rigs and big fish who took me into the snags. Persistence gave me a lovely 5 pound ten ounce barbel which fought very hard using the strong current.
Another really lovely day out on the Wye in a beautiful part of the valley but underwater snags and a general lack of access to the water made it frustrating at times. I could have caught so many more - don't we all feel that sometimes!

1 Barbel

Plenty of water today and not too coloured at all, 1 Salmon spotted splashing about on "The Gabions " but only a brief tug on a black and yellow tube before losing interest. Upper 4 beats difficult to access, had to help a couple of other fishermen get back up onto the steep bank on one and very overgrown. Altogether a lovely stretch of river and only a handful of canoes early on, perhaps as it was a weekday. Would come again but needs a trim!

I'm new to paying to fish, I normally find free waters or buy a membership rather than pay for a day so I must admit I was hoping I caught something after paying! I have to say I was impressed. Terry was very friendly and easy going which is so important as I have met precious fishery owners who are very off-hand and make you feel they are doing you a favour, not so with Terry, a very nice gentleman, great advice, interested and couldn't have asked for more, thanks Terry. On to the fish. A slow start at 6am, a nice 4lb chub at 8am then a very quiet day no fish until 6.30pm when I reeled in five more chub all around the 4lb mark. So although frustrated during the day, patience paid off resulting in the best haul of chub I've ever had. No barbel but they are there. Only negative I can say is the herd of cows can be a pain. They surrounded me at one point, creating a cow wall and trapping me with the cows one side and wall the other. Hhad to wait until a gap appeared! All part of the fun tho! I'll certainly be back, thanks to Wye and Usk and Terry for a great day.

6 Chub

A couple of pretty average anglers we both failed to score. I had a pull two thirds of the way down the Stones and fished that hard but nothing else. A fish seen on the Gabions.
Pools 1 - 4 were lovely fly water, was hard. However, access was difficult but doable with the aid of gravity and the steep bank. Of course gravity did not offer assistance getting out of the water and it was quite a challenge.
Great water though and a very enjoyable day - if Robert Pashley had contented himself with 9,999 there may have been one for us.

A very strange day. Only the one bite despite searching much of the beat. Lots of fly life but no surface activity. Lovely stretch.

1 Chub

Somewhat diappointed that none of the banks had been cut and access to the swims was very difficult.

4 anglers fished mainly leger/feeder tactics, very hard going with the fish in one specific spot lower down the beat. River at normal summer level and rose a few inches whilst we fished.

13 Barbel, 4 Chub