Feedback & Reports

6 chub up to 4lb on cheese paste. Fished lots of swims and had bites in all of them.

Arrived early to sleety rain and very cold temp. The water was clear, but running high and fast which made wading in some of our favourite runs impossible. PJ managed 3 good Grayling to approx 2lb and a couple of other tiddlers. As for me, "my first blank"! PJ caught his fish not more than a rods length out on heavy tungsten headed bugs.

River still up and flowing hard and still cold. The river now had snow water which did not help to catch fish and we didn't.

No fish to be had again today after a hard frost and the river still up and flowing hard. It is hard to find places to fish when the river is like this. The only obvious swims did not produce.

When we came down on Thursday evening and drove through snow storms it did not look too promising and so it proved. We had 4 days with no fish except 1 dace. The river was high and with the cold frost, snow and ice conditions were not for fishing. The only fishable swims did not produce, trying all baits and rigs and for the want of trying not a bite was had. This is as they say fishing for you but, it was hard work for no return. Now I'm back at work I know where I would rather be, even without catching fish the Wye is a superb river set in wonderful countryside and I will be back soon for its next challenge. Thanks to the W&UF for getting the land owners to open up these waters and the great work that you do. Hope every one has a happy Christmas and fantastic new year.

11 chub on pellets meat and cheese paste. Bites stopped for 3hrs at lunch after.

High level of water, almost impossible to fish, but I have tried it...no touch, no fish.

7 Grayling upto 1lb 9oz, most over the pound mark. 2 small Brown Trout, 1 Salmon Parr of 6''.

All fish taken in 2 hours before the river got coloured up, on bronze maggots on the bend by the church. Most swims were flowing too fast to present a float very well.

Arrived to find river really tanking through and high. Could not hold bottom even with 6oz leads! Decided to fish margins but despite using all methods-including deadbait for pike we could not tempt anything. River was probably not really fishable, but having come, we gave it a go.
Thanks Wye & Usk for a brilliant autumn's fishing, will be back next June!!

Blank. A bad miscalculation this trip, as the Arrow rose and coloured during a wet night and now a gale was blowing. The forecast hadn't been so daunting, mentioning only "showers" and "strong winds." It was not unfishable and I struggled on with it till lunch-time, meeting a mink at the top end. Having touched nothing at all, I gave it up until the level drops a bit.

I then went home to repair a set of waders in the garage. The latest advice is that once you have breached the airtight seal on your tube of aquasure or other glue and used it once, keep the tube in the refrigerator to slow down the inevitable chemical reaction between glue and air. Heat the tube up before using it again in a pan of hot, not boiling, water. The wader discussion never quite seems to end. My pal RE of Swansea, who has been doing some research, suggested "Why don't you tell them about Diver Dave?" So I will.

Briefly, Diver Dave is a retired professional diver living in Scotland. His claim to fame is that he owns a 20 year neoprene dry suit, from which, after lots of hard wear and some judicious repairs, he could still emerge like James Bond wearing a dinner suit, possibly a bit rumpled, but definitely dry. Diving suits are made to a very high standard, but Dave decided anglers are very badly served by the wader manufacturers and opened his own repair centre - see www.wader-repair.co.uk. There is lots of information on the site, but Dave himself gave some more on the phone:

Bad design is a much bigger problem than punctures. He claimed to see a fundamental flaw in the construction of most waders - thick material combined with light stitching and light taping is a recipe for trouble.

He loves Simms G3 and G4, because he gets so much work to do on them. Same for Hardy EWS. Didn't have much good to say about Platinum and Scierra either.

He did have some cautious praise for some Vision and Snowbee models as standard.

Diver Dave tests for leaks with carefully calibrated air pressure, which does away with all that business of spraying on alcohol and looking for black spots. He replaces tapes with his own version and uses his own glue. Maximum cost for a full rework is 45 pounds, after which he guarantees the product leak-free for 12 months.

RE has sent off a set of Vision Flywaters and Hardy EWS to Aberdeen for Dave to give them the treatment. As he puts it: "45 pounds for a guaranteed dry wading year has to be a good deal."

We will see how it works out. It would be interesting to hear from anybody who has used Diver Dave's service.