Feedback & Reports

Sunshine and storm on the upper Wye! A blustering wind, patches of sun between cumulous clouds, and a short, sharp, 5 minute shower coming regularly every half hour all through the day. More sustained and heavy rain set in before dusk. Almost no rises all day. Just one good grayling came up for a yellow may imitation at the beginning to get me encouraged (a oncer, let's say a twicer because he went for the artificial also), but then came off at the net. That was the only grayling I saw in the session. Otherwise, lots of mostly small trout and parr were in evidence, prepared to tweak away at spiders in the runs, but they wanted the flies either worked downstream and across or weighted down with a nymph on the point position. Not a very interesting way of fishing, but that was all the action I could get. (DC of W Herefordshire would be amused to know that I took no less than 3 rods down to the river, each made up for a different method, from dry fly to heavy bugs...but the grayling showed their contempt for all the money spent at Sportfish by staying well away). 13 x trout 6-12 inches.

Incidentally, referring to DC's report from Cefn Rhosan Fawr a few days ago about goosanders, the word in the pub at Sennybridge (for what it is worth) is that locals have been seeing very large numbers of these birds, particularly during recent winters. The theory is that these predators have pretty good hunting on the upper Usk and its tributaries in the upland area above Brecon, because so many of the pools have rocky bottoms without tree root cover for the fish to escape into.

Superb stretch of river, fished for 5hrs trotting sweetcorn over a large bed of hemp and caught 12 barbel to 8lb and 11 chub to 4lb along with a lone dace and lost many others.

Nil return. No offers. Just one fish seen on a very wet and windy day. Water level appeared lower than usual as the banks were smothered with rotting, slimy algae.

The river was very coloured and we found the fishing hard, 2 barbel only at last light.

What a stunning river! Very similar to the Clettwr (but a bigger version). And to top it off, it was running with just enough water to offer an excellent day's fishing (having taken a look at the Arrow on the way, which was very low). 15 brown trout, all released. Roughly half fell to the nymph (GRHE) and the other half to black and olive Klinkhammers. The best was a fish of 12".

Fished The Duke's Water in the morning. Water low, bright and sunny. I saw several fish and some notable large brown trout. Caught neither.

Moved down to The Hut beat and found the key to the hut for the first time (No ghillie on my Sundays!) Watched the raft race for a couple of hours. Very entertaining, one raft even had a barbecue on board and offer me a burger as it drifted past! I declined what would have been the only catch of the day!

I let the river rest for a good while and in the vain hope that the cavalcade may have enervated some dormant fish, plugged away for another three hours but to no avail.

Lovely day out.

What a stunning river! Very similar to the Clettwr (but a bigger version). And to top it off, it was running with just enough water to offer an excellent day's fishing (having taken a look at the Arrow on the way, which was very low). 15 brown trout, all released. Roughly half fell to the nymph (GRHE) and the other half to black and olive Klinkhammers. The best was a fish of 12".

Fancied fishing the big rod and hoped that the promised rain might liven things up in the evening. Thus enjoyed a couple of hours flailing away before switching to trout & Grayling. About 4 trout and 6 grayling including the smallest Grayling I have ever seen - about 3 inches!
Very little rain actually fell later on but a really enjoyable day where every rock could be seen and its position noted for the future.

5 WBT to 12 inches but had to work hard for these finnicky fish. The action came from the long flats, after fruitless searches of the riffles with nymphs. Stealth manouvres, long leaders, small flies and delicate casting were the order of the day. Took fish on #20 Griffiths gnat and #20 parachute (Pale Watery imitation). Missed a lot of rises too - in some cases I think the fish shied away at the last minute, in other cases it was my timing that was called into question! Heavy rain in the evening sent me home earlier than I'd hoped.

This was my first visit to this beat and I will definitely be back. Wonderfully picturesque and peaceful.

Nil catch but did straighten a hook on a very powerful fish. Plenty of tentative bites but couldn't hit them. I suspect that the barbel in this beat are bit cannier than elsewhere on the Wye.

The most interesting aspect of this session was the number of salmon showing. There were fish of all sizes crashing out all over the place. Most were well coloured but I did see one fresh looking fish. I have never seen so much salmon activity in one day before on the Wye.

Conditions permitting my next visit will be for salmon.