Feedback & Reports

Weather cloudy and windy, put my brolly up as a shield from the chilly wind. Caught lots of chub some were good fish 4/5lb, but no barbel. I caught them on sweetcorn and pellets. Saw a Pike take a baby Moorhen with Mother making mournful cries, but this is nature. If it is not possible to cross the field in your vehicle it is quite a treck with your gear. It is a lovely stretch of river and should fish well with a good flow of water.

Arrived around 10am to find all the lower sections heavily populated with anglers on the opposite bank which left me with few options but to head upstream - a lot of new pegs have been strimmed and marked since I was last there, which made things a bit easier. I fished 3 swims just over an hour each for 5 Chub in the 2 to 4 lb bracket. Sadly I had to leave after 4 hours and never made it back in the evening. The river was very low and clear at the bottom and bright sunlight made this usually productive stretch tough going.

2 trout best 9", 4 grayling best 10 inches. I saw a flock of goosanders approx 40 in number, fishing in one pool. Can anything be done about these predators?

Wyebank, Bottom Section 06.00 to 09.30, 6 Barbel to 8lbs and 9 Chub between 2 and 4.5lbs. Rolling touch ledger in main flow on large halibut pellet and later on curried luncheon meat, 18inch bottom length to size 8 hook on 10lb line, 10ft barbel rod and fixed spool.

Courtfield Middle, tail of island 16.00 to 18.00hrs.
18ft trotting rod and centerpin with 4lb line, over-shotted chubber float set at 2ft to size 14/12 hook with single/double sweetcorn over sweetcorn loose feed. 1 GRAYLING about 10in long, 3 chub largest 3.5lbs, 3 barbel to 6lbs and numerous dace of around 8 to 12oz.

Wyebank Bottom Section 18.00hrs to 22.15hrs. Same trotting set up as above, another GRAYLING! 8in long, 4 Chub largest 5lb plus a bit, 7 barbel 5 to 9lbs and numerous dace and chublets.

On light gear in the fast shallow water over 30yds this was trotting at its best and I consistantly caught more quality fish per hour than are caught in the usual meadow section.
For these sections easy wading to mid stream is required when water is low, felt soled thigh waders would just do in low water. The 18ft trotting rod only has a 0.75lb test curve and was hardly able to control the barbel in the current, a more powerful rod would be advised. Use a centrepin if you have one to present the bait correctly.

The 2 grayling came as a suprise as they are seldom caught in this Wye section but most anglers fix ledger with large baits or perhaps its the constant high levels last year flushed them downstream. Their return would add another species possible on fly in this section.

Another angler fished ledgered pellet with swimfeeder just below the island and throughout the day caught good chub and barbel even as the canoes came directly through his swim.

Wyebank, Bottom Section 06.00 to 09.30, 6 Barbel to 8lbs and 9 Chub between 2 and 4.5lbs. Rolling touch ledger in main flow on large halibut pellet and later on curried luncheon meat, 18inch bottom length to size 8 hook on 10lb line, 10ft barbel rod and fixed spool.

Courtfield Middle, tail of island 16.00 to 18.00hrs.
18ft trotting rod and centerpin with 4lb line, over-shotted chubber float set at 2ft to size 14/12 hook with single/double sweetcorn over sweetcorn loose feed. 1 GRAYLING about 10in long, 3 chub largest 3.5lbs, 3 barbel to 6lbs and numerous dace of around 8 to 12oz.

Wyebank Bottom Section 18.00hrs to 22.15hrs. Same trotting set up as above, another GRAYLING! 8in long, 4 Chub largest 5lb plus a bit, 7 barbel 5 to 9lbs and numerous dace and chublets.

On light gear in the fast shallow water over 30yds this was trotting at its best and I consistantly caught more quality fish per hour than are caught in the usual meadow section.
For these sections easy wading to mid stream is required when water is low, felt soled thigh waders would just do in low water. The 18ft trotting rod only has a 0.75lb test curve and was hardly able to control the barbel in the current, a more powerful rod would be advised. Use a centrepin if you have one to present the bait correctly.

The 2 grayling came as a suprise as they are seldom caught in this Wye section but most anglers fix ledger with large baits or perhaps its the constant high levels last year flushed them downstream. Their return would add another species possible on fly in this section.

Another angler fished ledgered pellet with swimfeeder just below the island and throughout the day caught good chub and barbel even as the canoes came directly through his swim.

Very hot and sunny day fished about 4 hours in the morning for one chub and one barbel fishing both at the top and bottom of the beat, very tough going.

Returned at 5 pm and had seven more barbel to 10.3 lb and a few chub. Strangely as the sun went down I couldn't buy a bite - looks like the popular swims have been getting hammered and didn't produce on this day.

Wyebank, Bottom Section 06.00 to 09.30, 6 Barbel to 8lbs and 9 Chub between 2 and 4.5lbs. Rolling touch ledger in main flow on large halibut pellet and later on curried luncheon meat, 18inch bottom length to size 8 hook on 10lb line, 10ft barbel rod and fixed spool.

Courtfield Middle, tail of island 16.00 to 18.00hrs.
18ft trotting rod and centerpin with 4lb line, over-shotted chubber float set at 2ft to size 14/12 hook with single/double sweetcorn over sweetcorn loose feed. 1 GRAYLING about 10in long, 3 chub largest 3.5lbs, 3 barbel to 6lbs and numerous dace of around 8 to 12oz.

Wyebank Bottom Section 18.00hrs to 22.15hrs. Same trotting set up as above, another GRAYLING! 8in long, 4 Chub largest 5lb plus a bit, 7 barbel 5 to 9lbs and numerous dace and chublets.

On light gear in the fast shallow water over 30yds this was trotting at its best and I consistantly caught more quality fish per hour than are caught in the usual meadow section.
For these sections easy wading to mid stream is required when water is low, felt soled thigh waders would just do in low water. The 18ft trotting rod only has a 0.75lb test curve and was hardly able to control the barbel in the current, a more powerful rod would be advised. Use a centrepin if you have one to present the bait correctly.

The 2 grayling came as a suprise as they are seldom caught in this Wye section but most anglers fix ledger with large baits or perhaps its the constant high levels last year flushed them downstream. Their return would add another species possible on fly in this section.

Another angler fished ledgered pellet with swimfeeder just below the island and throughout the day caught good chub and barbel even as the canoes came directly through his swim.

An oddly difficult day. Barbel reluctant to play in any of the usual swims. Caught a couple of 2lb class chub and lost both of the two barbel tempted.

Sunday Chubby Sunday.
Arrived late @ 4 pm, very windy, first cast a 4.12 chub which set the tone for the next 5 1/2 hours - some kind of feeding frenzy irrespective of bait, hook size, hair length etc. I stopped counting after a dozen, mostly around 3-4 lb with a few chublets thrown in, some bites within a second of pellet landing in the water. A welcome break at 9pm when a solitary 8lb barbel joined the party then after that more chub.

Downstream wind + hungry otter + low river conditions made this session challenging to say the least. But 5 WBT to the net, 4 around 8inches plus one around 12 inches and fighting fit. All safely returned. Action during morning and evening only. Middle of the day was hard going. All fish to #20 Klink, but missed takes on #16 para-adams and #18 tungsten PTN. Abundant midge and sedge hatches with a lot of small upwings in the mix too