Feedback & Reports

............, Lord Lieutenant of Powys and a lady-in-waiting to Princess Anne, and owner of Glanusk, personally directed me to the beat when she spotted me wandering aimlessly. Two fantastic pools feed by some fast water, fishing constantly rising. The bedrock ledges allow you to get quite far out into the pools. Wouldn?t want to wade those pools in coloured water !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Caught 3 in each pool on grannums, hand tied by Jean from Sweets of Usk. Stuart the ghillie stopped for chat as well, very nice man with some useful tips.

Switched to the fast water below the bridge after lunch caught one on a beaded hairs ear, the next three hours were spent untangling birdnests every 15 minutes. Didn?t get down the bottom beat.

Only downside was I had to build a ramp out of stones to get my car up on to the bridge over the brook on the way out. The drop from the end of the bridge ramp is about 10 inches, ok if you have big 4X4, not easy in and Audi A3.

Fantastic stretch of water, will return definitely.

Fished between 13:30 and 17:30 and took one 10" grayling with a (home tied!) pheasant-tail nymph right at the top of the beat. Water low but enough flow to keep algae at bay. Fairly constant trickle hatch of what looked like pale watery dun. Lots of unidentified black flies as well; would like advice as to what these are if possible! Some small trout were rising to these. Weather was beautiful and the setting absolutely sublime. One gripe; access to some of best looking pools and runs was impossible due to growth of vegetation on the bank; bushes and nettles etc. Fishing is therefore only possible by wading up the stream for long stretches and branches overhead make casting very hard indeed. If the beat is to be fished regularly, some of these need to be removed. A small complaint considering the great afternoon I had. This stream looks healthy with good insect fauna and birdlife (couple of dippers seen).

Only got on water at 11am due to work, just as grannom hatch finished. Only occasional fish moving with the air filled with egg laying adults. Worked hard for a pounder on the klinkhammer. At noon the start of the olives was indicated by a few small rises appearing along the far bank where main current swept along it. Thought at first they were dace as they were little splashes rather than dimples. Could not interest them and then realised leader was down to 11ft. Stretched it back up to 18ft and restarted. Over next 45mins picked off all 6 rising fish to an emerging olive pattern, all took with tiny apologetic rises before rod buckled over! Smallest was 1lb 4oz, rest were over 1lb 12oz with the best pulling the weighnet down well past 2lb. Kept one for supper and it must have 1,000+ grannom pupae in it's stomach. It was at the point of bursting!

I haven't fished the Wye before but understand the water was low for the time of year, I spent most of the day on the upper pools of the beat fishing the fly for salmon but there was no sign of any fish. There was however an incredible hatch of fly off the river and plenty of canoeist!

I thought the information sent through by the Wye & Usk foundation was very useful, informative and well put together and I would like to thank Seth Johnson-Marshall for his help and advice in booking the fishing - if you can just organise a fish for me next time I would be most grateful!

Just to say that I had a nice day on the river on Saturday 11 April. I caught 2 trout one a baby and one of about 12 inches. Big hatch of Grannom or some other popular Wye fly but I did not see many fish moving at all - caught both on nymphs. Red letter event, caught a fish on a fly that I tied myself - a world first. PTN if you must know, the other fell to a commercial hares ear.

Spent most of the day giving a novice friend the dubious benefit of my vast experience. Despite this he managed to catch two Penpont Porkers at around the 2LB mark. The first was caught at the bottom of the beat adjacent to the campsite, despite kids throwing stones in the water, the second caught at the end of the day in the fast water below the bridge. No surface activity.

In my experience at Penpont it?s a case of quality not quantity.

We arrived at 11am to a few rising fish and a lamb in need of some assistance. The lamb managed to get itself entangle under tree roots at the edge of the river. I untangled and set free the lamb proceeded to run around me thinking I was its mother... then ran off to find its real mother butting her for milk. My good deed for the day was rewarded with a trout that got away and 2 10inch greyling that were returned. All were caught, or nearly caught, on a dry march brown.

Great day, great beat and thanks again to WUF.

A rather cold start to the day with very little showing - only one small trout by lunchtime. The sun and the grannom appeared in the afternoon and, even with my limited skill, I was able to take a fish feeding on the surface - a real beauty of almost two pounds in lovely condition. Things quietened down as the day wore on, but persistence into the evening was rewarded by a trout of around 17 inches (going from how much room it took up in the net!). This fish was slim and in rather poor condition, so I hope someone is lucky enough to catch it again when it has had the chance to feed up a bit.

We stayed at a cottage called Hafod-y-blodau which is on the same estate as Cefnllysgwynne. It is a really delightful place to stay with spectacular views over the Irfon valley. If you're feeling fit you can even walk to the beat, but the climb back up might be a bit much after a day's fishing!

One Trout at 8ins and one Grayling at 12ins, both caught on a dry from same pool. Great day out, Thanks.

Kev targeted trout and caught 12 grayling and one trout and lost as many again on barbless hooks.

Optimistically, I took the big rod out and caught 4 trout and lost 3 others. Next week we'll try harder to get the intended species.

Grannom and olives abundant all day but few fish rising.