Feedback & Reports

Not so much a slow start today as a nil start. River now quite low and clear couple with a cold NW wind. By lunchtime after trying several spots I had caught 1 chub. Don came down at 5pm and advised me to move again. Even then initially I had no success but as the sun set I ended the day with 4 barbel caught in half an hour. No big ones - but 3 were 7lbs. Without Don's advice I wouldn't have caught any!

No salmon caught, 1 seen in Rectory pool.

Only 2 rods fished in the end. Beautiful stretch with the 9 or so cut out swims all accessible in the conditions. Unfortunately very slow until late afternoon when we managed to catch 4 Barbel to just under 8lbs. Parking in field only accessible to 4 wheel drive due to deep ruts at entrance but not too far to walk to the river. Thanks to WUF again for the opportunity to fish this lovely river.

Weather and conditions: cool (10 to 15 degrees C), blustery, rain shows (some quite heavy), bright spells. Intermittent and rather nasty downstream wind most of the day. River a good height with very slight colour. Nothing hatching and no rises seen until 6pm. Eleven trout, mostly 10 to 12 inches, plus several trout parr. Four grayling, best c. ¾ lb. Fifteen fish in total. Most taken on deep nymph (gold-head GRHE) and caddis (two fly cast), a few on Adams (14) in quiet water. Conditions not great but still a very enjoyable days fishing. It all looked very dour but the fish were there. Failed to find any of those big grayling pods that are often on this beat. Several salmon seen moving through the rocky area (the spouts) at the lower end of the beat. One of my favourite places to fish. Stayed at Gromain Cottage (many thanks to Ally and Dave who always make us welcome) and had a great feed and a nice pint at the Wheelright’s Arms.

River seemingly back to difficult conditions today with 5 barbel and 5 chub being caught. Fish came from various parts of the fishery. One chub, caught in the Woods, was a PB for its captor at 5lb3oz.
Overall, the stretch was beautiful and provided some good (and some challenging) fishing over 4 days. Don was really helpful and definitely put us on to some spots that we might not of fished otherwise. Food at the Royal Spring Inn (just up the road opposite the fishery) is highly recommended for a spot of lunch. However, the biggest thing to note if you are visiting, is to take lots & lots of terminal tackle if you are fishing anywhere other than Legge Meadow. Some areas seemed to claim your end tackle every cast!

Arrived to fish Pontithel at approx. 3pm having travelled up from Hampshire. The river was in perfect condition, but apart from seeing an otter cross the river about ten yards in front of me, we saw nothing. How ever, it is a stretch of water that the less able could manage to fish. We fished most of the stretch until 6pm or so, but nothing caught.

A rather dull and showery morning. Nothing rising. Text book nymphing weather (I guess, I've never actually read a text book). I stuck on an Adams and caught 9 or 10 trout.

A warm bright day. The river was quite clear. I started at the top of the beat in the deeper water and had a chub of 1 1/2lbs quite quickly, then nothing so early afternoon I moved right to the lower end of the beat where the shallow fast water deepens and there had another chub of 2lbs and my first ever barbel at 5lbs. All were taken on boilies. Lovely beat and shall return.

This was our first visit to this venue and we opted to park up and fish the top field below Vanstone Pool where there is plenty of depth and a discernable crease. We both fished pellet feeders and finished the day with four barbel each to 9lbs 7oz.
A very enjoyable day on a very pleasant and interesting beat. We will be back.

3 chubb to 3lbs 9oz, 1 perch 1lbs 8oz and several dace.