Feedback & Reports

The Irfon is the place to go when the rest of the system is in flood. (It would be great to have a web-cam on it, though, to stop us phoning the unfortunate hotelier every hour or so to go down to the bridge and look at the river!) A lot of cold water was coming down on what really felt more like an autumn day, so I fished accordingly with spiders in the morning and a dry Grayling Steel Blue size 16 when a few began to rise after lunch. 9 x trout 8 - 12 inches, 7 x grayling. All the grayling were nice ones, the smallest being 14 inches and the best pair at 18 inches each. Great fun as usual in a most beautiful location and even the sun appeared by about 5 o'clock.

13 brown trout on a dry fly/bugs.

Unfortunately no fish caught despite the river looking very good with extra water and very coloured. Having fished here before we tried all the usual swims but the constant rubbish coming down the river at all levels made fishing very difficult even with heavy leads. We finished up fishing tight in to near bank until dusk with no success. All the usual baits were tried,just one of those days really.The previous day by all accounts the river fished brilliantly. Typical!

One barbel about 8lb and 2 Chub between two of us.

Brief contact with one trout on a Klinkhammer, others rising short to that or a black knat. Nothing brought to the net but a lovely day with the water in excellent condition and Pale Watery Olives, Large Darks and Knats about even though rising fish were scarce. Thanks to the WUF for sorting me out on this beat after being washed off the Wye.

We had originally booked to fish the Lugg at Lyepole, but turned up there to find the river very coloured and in poor condition. A call to the Foundation office not only gave us a wash-off for that beat, but very good advice on where else we might try. Still waters looked the best option until Seth suggested Penpont - it turned out to be very good advice indeed. Having driven across via the office so we could collect directions and beat maps, we arrived at about 12.00. Immediately we could see fish rising from the bridge and decided to have an hour before lunch. Following Seth's suggestion to try fishing down and across yielded three nice fish in the first half hour, the best around a pound. This tactic continued to work for most of the afternoon and we had another half dozen fish between us. By early evening the river had dropped and cleared a little and it seemed like time to try upstream nymphing. This produced plenty of tugs and swirls, but no more fish. It seems the very best advice in the world cannot compensate for lack of skill on the part of the anglers!
A big thank you to Seth and all the Foundation staff for their help in turning such a disappointing start into a terrific day's fishing in a fabulous location.

First trip to the Wye for 40 years. No barbel or Indian Balsam in those days. Memories of trying to hold bottom with a spilt cane rod and arlesey bomb in a chocolate coloured torrent were still vivid. I arrived to find the river chocolate colour but not too much of a torrent! Found a swim - didn't fancy going into the water as couldn't see the bottom and on own - a bit rudimentary but looks good. Tried various baits and had a barbel earlier on a boilie 6lb 1oz my first barbel ever believe it or not. Hooked 2 without detecting bites - loose weed on the line was a real nuisance all day. The first was a good fish from the slackwater on the far bank, on sweetcorn, ripped off downstream and snagged me in a tree before the hook pulled, Second on pellet, hook pulled again.
Shocking weather all day, got a soaking and good coating of mud but very happy. Great river, great fishing and will be back hoping for more barbel and a few chub and less Indian Balsam.

Following the previous days heavy rain we fished whitehouse for the first time. It was unseasonably cold (13c), drizzly with low cloud and the river was carrying a little extra water but not coloured. The fishing was tough, I managed a barbel and 2 chub and my friend a barbel, but best was only 3 1/2lb. Next day we fished Backney, the rain had finally stopped and it was warmer. Overnight the river had risen a couple of feet, was highly coloured and pushing through like an express train. We struggled to find many fishable spots but eventually settled in acouple of swims near the bottom of the length. My friend had 2 barbel around 6lb, I had a barbel of 7lb14oz, a 3lb chub and to my surprise a 13lb 9oz common carp. All fish were caught on 8 or 10mm hallibut pellets, meat and boilies were also tried without success. I would like to try both fisheries again under more normal summer conditions and Backney in particular was a lovely tranquil spot. Many thanks to all at WUF, the maps and directions were excellent. You are providing a great service and we'll be back next year.

River level looking good at last, but rained all day. Seems like the barbel have moved from their low water tightly shoaled areas, as the usual spot only gave 2 small ones for me. Wobbly legged dad managed a load of chub and as we were packing up I looked upriver to see him, rod hooped over, trying to pull a barbel from the far bank snags while sat in a pile of mud. I did laugh.

He took a tumble trying to save his rod which was rapidly disappearing into the river and without his crutches couldn't do much but sit there in the mud and try to haul it out. To his credit, he didn't lose it and finally got his first barbel this year at about 6lb. :) Happy, soggy days.


p.s. Should be noted that the field and track to the river was still very solid on leaving, but the small area between the inner gates was getting slippy and if the rain continues, the safest way to get in/out will be to open the two inner gates at the same time, and drive straight through without stopping. Stopping between gates is going to create a mudbath and make future visits a bit more difficult.

River at about 10", first time on beat. Lovely fly water, but bucketed down all afternoon. Eventually gave in at 5.30 dripping wet! No salmon contacted or seen, but had a few suicidal trout. Fancy it fishes better on higher flows.