Feedback & Reports

Arrived just before 8.00 to find the river low and clear. There was heavy cloud and it was very still with few signs of fish moving. The morning produced only 5 fish between us. The temperature seemed to drop around lunchtime and this livened things up in the afternoon, giving us a much better day than we feared. In total, we took 27 fish between us, mostly trout with about half a dozen grayling, the best of which was around 12oz. One more substantial trout of well over a pound was hooked and lost. The early evening rain which we thought might end fishing for the day just seemed to freshen things up even more. Most fish were taken on small, weighted nymphs.
This is a really good beat for two anglers and we have fished it a number of times before. There is plenty of room and plenty of variety.

Conditions: 16 degrees, overcast, showery and blustery. Time: from mid-morning to mid-afternoon. Virtually no fly life observed and consequently very little sign of rising fish. I managed one beautiful grayling of around 16 inches on a parachute emerger. In the end hard going, albeit on a very lovely stretch of water.

Rainbow Trout - 2 lb - Float
Rainbow Trout - 2 lb - Float
Rainbow Trout - 1 3/4 lb - Float
Rainbow Trout - 1 3/4 lb - Float
Perch - 1 3/4 lb - worm
Perch - 1 lb

Well here we are back for the third consecutive year and on one of our top three beats for two days. Water was lower than in previous years and with much streamer weed finding its way downstream, we knew it was going to be difficult. All four dropped into their preferred swims, 'Bailif Russ' settling into the rocky swim alongside the dead fallen tree in the bottom third of the beat, 'Two Ton Trev' made use of the ample space provided in a swim 200 yds above, 'Jilted John' found comfort on the concrete bank under the large tree slightly up stream and 'Ton Up Toni' dropped into his hot spot in the middle third. Everything went according to the scripts written before us, with very little action (with the exception of Toni of course!). Nil returns from three trier's prompted movement of swims but Toni was wedged hard and fast and catching! Final returns: A collective total of 18 barbel to 9lb 12oz and a handful of chub. I pains me to state that 15 of the barbel (including the lunker) fell to the ever artful Toni. All fell to pellet over pellet and groundbait feeder tactics. Scenery as always is spectacular as is the wildlife, to be blessed to see a pair of darting Kingfishers but a few inches above your rod tip is enough to bring you back again. Ever humbled by Caradoc's beauty, if you will have us WUF, we'll be back!

Enjoyed a better day today, and the beat has so much to offer that we were spoilt for choice. Spotted dozens of Barbel in a shallow part but they all spooked when some pellets were fed via a catapult, so moved and caught 18 from another swim further up the beat, the other lads with me managed to catch 10 between them as the afternoon wore on. Lots of little Barbel jumping on the lower part of the beat, thinking they were Salmon it seemed?????

Just a note to say that I caught 3 brown trout (each around 1lb).
Challenging but enjoyable fishing in low flow conditions. Also saw 3 mink!

Fished 3rd and 4th September two rods, first day caught 8 Chub to 4lb 13oz most 2-3lb, 1 small Barbel approx 1lb 8oz, 2 Gudgeon.
2nd day 7 Chub 2-3lb.
Fished bread and luncheon meat over hemp and crumb, water was clear and low which allowed access to bottom of bank in a few swims, waders would be needed to fish all swims and if water is higher.
Nice stretch of river very enjoyable.

Blank. However, you should blame the angler for this, not the venue. There are some trout in the restored river Lwyd, and in fact I rose three at the bottom end and managed to become disconnected from each and every one of them - fish of 8-10 inches, I would guess. There does seem to be a reasonable amount of fly life, a few needle flies and pale wateries on the day, and plenty of caddis and shrimp among the stones - although not quite as many as in the Taf at Merthyr Tydfil, which has a remarkable abundance. It's post-industrial urban fishing, I suppose, and the bed of the stream is full of curiosities such as bits of furnace clinker and old tram-line rails, but for most of the beat the banks are part of a very pleasant and green rural park or playing fields. A nice experience, all in all.

7 x grayling 13-14 inches, 2 x trout 10 inches and 16 inches. I had promised myself a nice early autumn dry fly day on the beautiful Irfon...just like the one I had this time last year. And the conditions look good: warm and cloudy, a bit of a breeze, and I didn't think the low water would be a problem here. However, it's always a mistake to let God know your plans, isn't it? In fact nothing was hatching and nothing was rising. I managed to persuade one grayling up to an Orange Otter, a fly which has a reputation for persuading almost anything up to the surface. After which a number of fish flashed underneath this and one or two other patterns, but always came short. Having messed about like this for a couple of hours, I finally saw sense and changed the dry fly rig for a double nymph set-up, and the rest of the fish came from fishing along the bottom of gravel runs and deep dubs.

Caught 3 chub, one of which pushing 6lbs caught on pellets in conjunction with pellet/grounbait feeder. Lots of weed coming down the river making fishing difficult and disappointed the barbel did not make an appearance anywhere on the stretch. Great service from Wye & Usk Foundation though. Will plan to return to the wye next year in early season and after more research.