Feedback & Reports

My son, Alan, and I arrived at about 6am to find the river running quite high, and having never been there before we had difficulty in identifying fish holding areas. But thanks to Don Macer-Wright's arrival at about mid-morning and his valued guidance, we were able to see how and where to fish.
With many kayaks on the river we determined to return for an evening session.
Returning from Bristol at 6pm, we fished from 6.30 till 9.45pm. We chose to both fish at the lower end of the section, one rod each, using simple running legers and hair-rigged baits. With 16mm halbut pellets as bait, we caught Barbel from the very first cast.
In the three and a quarter hour session, Alan out-fished me with 5 Barbel ( best 7lb.4oz ) and 3 Chub to 4lb.1oz.
My catch was three Barbel of 7lb., 6lb.15oz., and 5lb.
Drove back to Alan's home in Bristol looking forward to the following day's evening session.

I really love this stretch of water and have fished it many times with lots of success. I have to say though that I was finally overcome by the state of the bank undergrowth to the extent that I only stayed for a couple of hours with a catch of just one brownie of about 11". Moving between my favourite stretches of water has become too much of a challenge. I will go back, but only when my options elsewhere are limited or in early season when the vegetation is not so dense. It would be great to see work done to improve access to this stretch of river so that it can be enjoyed to the full by all.

4 grayling from 1.25 to 2.5lb and 2 trout, 0.5 & 0.75lb.

Quite a slow day compared to previous experience on this stretch. 9 barbel, and 4 chub between us. A beautiful stretch but with relatively few places where you can access the river bank. The greasy banks meant that even some of those were unsafe to fish. I'm sure we will be back.

I checked the Upper Usk camera at 08:30 just before leaving and everything looked set for a reasonable days fishing. I got to the beat at 10:30 by which time the water resembled strawberry thickshake.

I flicked some nymph's for a couple of hours in the likely runs but with only 3-4" of visibility underwater it was always going to be tough.

No great surprise that the tally for the day was zero.

River rising after overnight rain, though it day stay reasonably clear. Fished for two and a half hours around midday. Resorted to a beadhead and spider combination and had a 8" fish on a waterhen bloa, together with a few other tugs. Excellent access/directions to this beat.

Aproximately 60 x trout between 3 rods on floating lines and a variety of traditional wet flies, ranging from small and dull like Grouse and Claret and Williams' Favourite, to brighter patterns like Silver Butcher and Black Pennell.

Frank Ward in his "Lakes of Wales" writes of Bugeilyn: ""The Shepherd's Pool" lies, dreary and remote, on a desolate tract of elevated moorland north of Plynlimmon, and 7 miles from Machynlleth. The mountain views on the ascent to this lake are very fine. It is boggy land around and the water is peaty, but holds many fine trout".

I have to state I never find it dreary at all; it's a wonderful place if the weather is kind, as on this day of intermittent cloud and sunshine with a soft, warm, breeze. The view south to Plynlimmom as the sun was setting was fabulous.

Ward again: "One of 4.75 pounds was taken here (by Mr Francis H Audrey) in in June, 1929, on a Wickam's Fancy fished dry with a 4X cast."

That's something to dream about. The best we managed was 13 inches.

Ward also mentions that the 80 acre Glaslyn which you pass on the way to Bugeilyn (not to be fished) is in fact fishless for some reason and all attempts to stock it in the past have failed. Bugeilyn just naturally contains lots of beautiful trout, without any human interference.

Incidentally, the Star Inn at the now almost deserted lead-mining village of Dylife nearby, apart from providing accomodation to benighted hill-walkers and anglers, does a very nice dinner. Try the roast duck with damson sauce.

River nice height sl.tint. Fished hard for 8hrs in lovely surroundings. Saw two kingfishers and a mink. Didn't see or touch a fish - packed up gear and was walking back to the car when a 10lb bar of silver leapt out of the water just where I had been casting. That's salmon fishing! Will be back. Thanks to WUF for a most enjoyable day. Service charming as ever.

Lovely day despite horrendous shower in the afternoon.6 x chub including my personal best at 6lb 1oz !! 3 x over 4lb. 4 barbel including 1 x 5lb 2 x 6lb 1 x 8lb 2oz.

Had a great day here, two of us fishing took a total of 9 Barbel to 8lbs and a decent chub from the top of the fishery. Fishing was very quiet during noon through to five pm. Really enjoyed the location with lots of wildlife to watch when the fishing was quiet. The A40 does drone a bit but after a while you just ignore it. All the fish fell to elipse pellet fished over a bed of groundbait. As usual the river is tough on tackle so be prepared to loose some. Will be going back once there is some water in the river again.