Feedback & Reports

Very many thanks for arranging my fishing at Upper Bigsweir. I throughly enjoyed my day. Water 46 degrees so just ok for barbel and I eventually caught one weighing just under 7lbs.

10 grayling, one at 12oz, the rest in the 1lb 4oz to 2lb range. Also a chub of about 4lb.

After another enjoyable visit to the Bateman Arms in Shobdon, we arrived at Lyepole about 9.30. The rain overnight had increased the speed of the river somewhat and made life very difficult for our inexperience. No bites but a glorious beat with pairs of dippers a and a mother otter and 2 cubs spotted on the island at the upstream limit. Will try again next autumn.

Managed a chub (4lb) on my first cast of the day, on luncheon meat, and then not another bite till late afternoon when a smaller chub was had. The track up to the upper part of the river is only accessable by 4x4. It's not a hard track. The access to the lower section is only a very short walk.

Inspired by O.B. from Gloucestershire's last visit to Cefnllysgwynne I decided to sneak in one last Grayling session (long trotting with the centre pin) before getting ready for the new trout season. Sadly I picked the wrong day weather-wise. It rained heavily all morning and then, once the rain stopped, the river rose by over a foot and turned chocolate brown. Needless to say, there was no sign of any grayling, and the only fish caught was a very unexpected (but nonetheless welcome) 1.75lb rainbow trout. I'm assuming this is an escapee from a hatchery rather than stocked (?). I wasn't sure of the etiquette on taking non-native fish, but it was in great shape so I treated it like an out-of-season brown trout, and returned it.
I love this beat so will be back again for the grayling in late Autumn, when I hope for a catch return like O.B's.

12 x grayling 12-18 inches, trotting with maggots. Irfon back in good condition. Most of them were a very nice size of around 15-16 inches.

Tough day, couldn't find any fish with the float rod but did have two chub on stewing steak and a couple of other bites while roving about. River was coloured and up a foot or two.

3 x grayling 14-18 inches, trotting maggot. Driving through heavy rain on the way up to Builth, it did strike me that I had been rather optimistic to book into Cefnllysgwynne with this much precipitation predicted. On arrival at 9 o'clock I found the Irfon already high, but still reasonably clear, so I made a start. After a bit, a very heavy trout took the bait close to the rod top and made a series of three jumps on its way downstream before opening the hook. That explained, to my mind, why there were no grayling on that spot. The river was now rising but after a while I began to get bites a long way downstream, and took a grayling of 14 inches, followed by two lovely fish at 17 inches and 18 inches, both of which took a long time to play up-current. However, by this time the river had risen drastically, coloured up and become full of debris. The fish switched off and it was all over by 11 o'clock.

Very dull and windy with persistent rain. Fished from 9am to 4pm had the one Grayling 15" safely returned at around 2pm on an olive czech nymph and that was it. Only fished the beat from the top weir down, too many snags and obstructions in the top half through the wood, may be fishable if some of the debris was removed. Also had the pleasure of two sets of canoesist pass through (one party several strong).

Lyepole has always been a favourite venue of mine for a good days winter fishing. However on this day it was not to be, I caught just three fish, two tiddlers and one good grayling of around 2lb. This fish had half of its tail bitten off and scars caused by a beak on its back. Hard to believe the fishing was this bad on a perfect river, with mild sunny conditions. It has been a poor winter for grayling fishing, roll on the trout season and some warm weather.