Feedback & Reports

2 anglers sharing 1 rod (teaching a beginner) 9am to 2pm. River was at 1ft 3 on the Byton gauge, running quite coloured. 12 grayling (best a stunning fish over 2lb) and a couple of out of season brown trout. All were caught on nymphs fished deep. Superb beat with easy access & wading. Great day.

Caught half a dozen grayling up to 1.25 lbs all on dries-rose a few others and lost a couple. Was given sound river advice by the river owner. Rose a few others and lost a couple. A delightful day out.

Nine grayling caught, mostly over 12" and the largest 15" (approx 1 1/4lb). Fish were rising freely from 11-4, although there were very few flies hatching (needle flies, olives and small sedge). Caught on klinkhamers, Czech nymph, PTN and partridge & orange spiders. This beat seems to be mainly salmon pools but the glide I mainly fished contained a large amount of grayling. Beautiful, secluded location.

Nil caught.

Lovely day - some stretches of the beat looking very appealing for fly.

But the bank really could benefit from a little bit of management for creating access down to the river.
On the lower part of the beat the white pegs are very visible for the coarse fishermen. But above the Vanstone Pool it is very difficult to find access down to the river. This could easily be marked with a coloured plastic strip tied to a tree and a small path through the growth cleared.
Not knowing the correct access points down to the river, I got stuck in some very deep mud by the bank and only managed to free myself with great difficulty.

Thanks for all the work you are doing.

WUF Note: We will look into the access issues described above before the start of the 2011 salmon season.

Fishing was hard going, five dace and at the end of the day one decent chub of 4lbs. No barbel but this was prob due to river conditions.

12lb hen salmon taken on allys shrimp pattern, fresh fish safely returned

A lovely day weatherwise and with a few nice fish the disapointments of two previous wash-offs were forgotten. 5 good size grayling, with the largest a memorable fish nudging 2lb made for a fantastic day. The others were around the 8-10oz bracket. The fish were taken on a variety of GH nymphs. Also half a dozen very small fish, I guess weighing about an ounce were encouraging for the future. 1 single brown trout was also landed. If there's a more inviting place to fish on the Lugg, i've not yet found it. Lypole in the evening sun was stunning.

We arrived early and found a poacher on the beat. Not a good start. After walking the beat in the half light we decided on a start in the Vanstone pool and the tail but whilst tackling up the WUFs deputy director, Simon Evans, arrived with a companion to attempt to catch a salmon. They wanted the Vanstone pool so we headed off downstream but only fished half heartedly, just getting a feel for the beat, exploring the swims and likely spots for a bite. By eleven we had the beat to ourselves and, after a coffee, headed up to the Vanstone. In the daylight it looked hammered, not really what we are used to on WUF beats. Then the shooting started. Shot rained down on us as the guns blazed in the woods opposite and it wasn't long before a change of swim was in order! We couldn't settle and flitted around until mid afternoon. The shooting had stopped but a chainsaw now stepped in to protect us from peace and quiet. I was beginning to feel a bit shell shocked. Late afternoon and still fishless. The only noise now was a pair of Ravens wheeling overhead and at last we began to relax and settle into our fishing. Fishing hard until dark, my companion blanked and I managed six chub and two barbel, one of which was a very nice fish. Plain old meat doing the damage.

1 X chub2.5l bs. Very slow with virtually no bites - possibly due to drop in temperature. Locals weren't catching either. Beautiful section of river with some great looking swims. Will try again in better conditions.