Feedback & Reports

The Devon Duo reached the Wye on Friday & fished from 1p.m. to early evening. The colour of the water (& its weight) disconcerted us at first, but we fished the margins & caught about 30 grayling & 1 trout. With a downstream wind & N.Z. rig it was a bugger to cast.

River was still up 3-4 feet on this day so fishing the top peg (boys rock) wasn't possible sadly as the bank was submerged and dangerous. Roved the whole section fished 5 swims and only had one 8+ Barbel. Couldn't stay until dusk but would like to on another day. Travel light as there are fishable pegs all the way down the beat, but it is a long stretch.

Beautiful day. Soft westerly wind. Sunny in afternoon.
2x Brown Trout approx 3/4 and 1 lb. Caught and released both on a Bloody Butcher. Immaculate condition. Good markings with brown and red spots. Finished at 5pm (its my boys bath night!)

The river very high and going through like a train. Didn't have tackle heavy enough to hold bottom in recommended island swim (a 2 ounce feeder simply floating on the surface such was the pull). Tried the margins but just lost tackle in snags.

Nearly gave up, but found a quieter area at the top of beat 4 and caught 1 8 pound 10 ounce barbel and 2 chub. Very limited swim choice when river up. Must come with appropriate gear next time. Lesson learnt.

Here is my fishing feedback for last week. Thanks for all your help in finding good waters to fish. I had two lovely days fishing.
All the best,

R13 The Edw, Hergest
Rather warm, light cloud with sunny periods. Wind slight.
The Edw was high and slightly coloured but fish were rising, seemingly in response to quite a good hatch of olives. Nineteen browns to c. 11" mostly to upstream nymph (ptn, gold-head) but also the dry (Adams). A lovely beat with more space than I though I'd find on the Edw. I then had a short (c. 1 hr) session on the Edw at Aberdw (Beat R14). This also fished well with five browns (to 10") to the nymph.

Directions spot on weather fine but rain the previous days and worked its way down and the river was like chocolate. Doubt we could have fished at all the previous day. 3 Barbel to 7lb 9oz caught but hard going. All fish to pellet again.

Fished the river on 16th and 20th September for the first time. On the 16th the river was high. Had a short session of 3 and a half hours. Rewarded with three chub (best 4lb) and a barbel of 6lb 11oz. Fished for 5 hours on 20th (river down) and had 3 chub (best 3lbs). All of the fish were caught on luncheon meat. Very pleased and will book again

5lb grilse taken on Uskgrub fly on 14/9. 12lb fresh salmon on silver mepps on 15/0. Both fish returned.

With having caught a large number of barbel over the previous four days, but with only one over 8lb, i was looking forward to trying to tempt one of the larger barbel that inhabit this fishery. Two anglers arrived just before me, and with a very limited number of fishable swims in the current high water conditions i was concerned they would plump for the swim i was after. However, they chose to fish the main Vatone Pool, so i fished the run off below, which was my first choice in these conditions. Even here the pace was very fast and the only option was to fish close in where there was a steady pace and a good crease. However, as on Saturday, the river was rising fast after yesterdays rain, and i was not sure that the fish would feed. I needn't have worried as i had a barbel of 8lb 11oz first cast and continued to catch steadily until they switched off late afternoon, at which point the amount of suspended debris was again making the fishing almost impossible. However, by this time i was very happy with a catch of 13 barbel, including a cracking fish of exactly 10lb. This was a great finish to a fantastic few days fishing in mainly ideal conditions, and my thanks go to the Wye and Usk Foundation for offering such wonderful fisheries in stunning surroundings.

Between the two of us we landed 30+ Browns and 10+ grayling of between 9 and 13" safely returned. Water was clear and levels were good. Not much fly activity so most success on nymphs. An excellent day following a disappointing day on the Usk the day before.