Feedback & Reports

Not one of my best days. River very low and conditions bright sun all day. Managed to winkle out 3 trout from under trees tight up against the bank. Not much rising all day suprisingly. One about a pound and two about 4oz.
Must remember not to pick half term week again. Kids at the bottom of the stretch and playing in the river in a pool half way up the stretch.

The weather forecast, warm sunny intervals after the rain and cool, promised a much better day than my last Gromain session, last June. I was into fish from the off, eager, nymphing fish, taking my weighted flies on the drop. There were a few flies coming off, and I anticipated a decent crack at rising fish with dries later. However, hatching flies and rises were few throughout the day. The fish taken on dries were pulled up with klinks. It was still a good day, with my count being 25 up to 12 oz, including 4 grayling. A brownie of about 1½ lb was off after the third leap, and I pricked and turned a couple of beauties in the streamy water. All were released, some, sooner than planned! My friend had nearly as many as I, including a few grayling, a dace, and accidentally, a couple of shad which avoided landing.
Despite the lack of a sustained hatch and rise, it was a lovely day. If only there was a hatch forecast...

Little fly life, a few rises and only one trout (8") caught, not a great day.

Half a dozen small fish on a mixture of nymphs and klinkhammers. Late in the afternoon a fish of well over 2 lbs from the Salmon Pool on a size 14 olive klinkhammer.

I had a great afternoons sport and caught sixteen Brown Trout to 9" and one Grayling all on an Iron Blue.

First time I've fished this beat, but yet another classic Wye valley fishery. River very low, but with a tinge of colour from recent rain. Had to share beat unexpectedly with 3 anglers from Winchester, but all managed very amicably. Concentrated on Lady Alexanders Catch pool and managed to extract 8 trout and 7 grayling, spread throughout the length; none of any particular size, bar one grayling of around the pound mark. GRHE & Copper John most successful flies, with only one trout being taken on a dry fly. Will be back in autumn for the grayling!

River was low and a little coloured from the rain on Saturday. Lovely beat but you need to be a confident wader on this beat. Netted 3 WBT, 2 around 14" the other 6". Missed loads of takes and nibbles. Fished goldhead PTN #18 downstream through the gutters and pools. One fish taken on an olive klinkhammer #20. Good hatches of mayfly throught the day. Lots of midges too.

7 x Brown Trout up 2lbs (grey wulff, light cahill)
1 x out of season Grayling 2lbs (PTN)

A slow start at first but picked up significantly in the late afternoon, early evening. A healthy hatch of Mayfly from 5pm onwards with rising fish until dusk. Top part of the beat fished particularly well, not so good further downstream.

Returned to this stretch as there was so much of it I didn’t try on previous visit. Fished a caddis nymph at close range and managed three small trout and an 11 inch grayling within the first 45 minutes. Unfortunately, despite this promising start, I had to pack up and leave due to a family crisis. Must remember not to carry a mobile phone when fishing!

This is a spectacular Usk tributary. I fished it from 9-12 on sunday morning, a hot sunny day. my little 5 foot 2 weight Glass rod was perfect for this little stream flowing through woods.

Initially I targeted likely spots with imitations of the insects I saw the day before on the Usk (caddis, yellow mays etc) and got a few fish. By 10am a number of fish in each pool were rising to Large Dark olives. I switched over to an appropriate imitation and fished it through the rest of the beat with great results. Biggest fish must have gone 16-17 inches and fought like a bonefish on the 2wt.

The water was pretty low making the pocket water pretty unproductive... focus on the pools.

You'll find some info on this session and the one 2 days prior on the Usk here: http://fliesandstuff.blogspot.com/2010/06/great-fishing-on-usk.html