Feedback & Reports

12 rods from the Cheltenham & Gloucester Branch of the Fly Dressers Guild fished the Wye and Usk Challenge on Saturday 6th June. Not an easy day to fish as the water temperature was higher than the air temperature and there were rain squalls on and off all day.

Despite this only 1 rod blanked - 42 trout in total plus several grayling and a 3lb chub. Best trout 20" from Ty Newydd, a couple of other 15" and 12" fish, the rest 10" or less.

And despite the weather a continual trickle of flies - olives, brook duns and yellow mays - culminating in a fantastic hatch of olives from 5pm onwards on Ty Newydd. It was impossible to select a rising fish to cast to - there were too many, although they were very selective. Also a huge lamprey redd on Ty Newydd - at the top of the bottom pool.

Unfortuately got rained off Sunday - it poured all Saturday night! And the winner of the Wye and Usk Challenge? Well James Bullock scored maximum points thanks to his 20" trout - but incurred 100% penalty due to his failure to attend the dinner at the Severn Arms on Saturday evening - some excuse about a party! So the honours this year went to our chairman David Wilson. Well done David...

The rivers we fished were beautiful and the hotel Severn Arms very friendly and accommodating - Good food, late bars,wide and changing selection of well kept cask beers and comfortable rooms (each with different furnishings - quite nostalgic) Very hot in the day but had a marvelous swim in the Wye. Only caught one half pound brown trout in the evening at Ty Newydd, but as relative beginner was good enough to round off the perfect holiday.
Nice to be able to meet you at your HQ

It only rained once unfortunately that was from ten o clock till three thirty. At times the rain was literally bouncing of the river it was so intense. Incredibly when the rain was at its heaviest the fish started to rise !!!!!!!!.

Caught five in quick succession, 4 Penpont piglets about 8 inches and a full on porker of about 14 inches. Couldn?t see my fly at all just lifted when a fish was rising in the general area.

Went home soaked to the skin , must get a waterproof wading jacket !

Everything about this beat is intimidating. From the name, it's access (recommend a 4x4 for the upper section) and the size and type of water. With a cool ESE wind and the imminent rain the hatch was relatively limited.
Really challenging with constant changes of tactics as the river morphs into a different beast every couple of hundred yards or so. Having said that it proved a worthwhile experience. Not so much for the amount of fish caught -
3 cracking grayling all around 15" and 2 small brownies (olives and klink and dink)- but for the steep learning curve on casting, fly selection and style of fishing. When the rain arrived in the afternoon the heads of these three intrepid rods from Surrey finally dropped and retreated to the warm and safe environment of a Brecon pub!

For the more adventurous native angler this beat is a must.

Having spent a day at Cefnllysgwynne I would return with more confidence and hopefully a little more success.

I had a lovely day fishing, cathing 5 brown trout, all returned with care.

5 Browns to 1lb (all returned)
7 Grayling to 1.5lb

Much to my relief, the rain the BBC promised was not to arrive until around 5:00 pm - by which time I was just about ready for home.

As Arthur Ransome would have it, a Day of Small Things with the landing net only required for one of the Browns and one of the Grayling. Not that the size of the fish matters - its that benign moment (Ransome again)when the line straightens or the rising fish engulfs the fly. Not much coming off during the morning but action enough on PTN/Mayfly nympth. Better rise pm - including plenty of Mayflys - which were mostly ignored. Some very warey fish when, in spite of my best efforts (ie staying out of the water and crawling along on hands and knees), time and time again, what appeared to be a confidently feeding fish would melt back into oblivion as soon as I tried to put a fly over it. Red Spinner and Olive Emerger eventually putting a few fish on the bank.

If there is a more picturesque and tranquil piece of water in the county, I am yet to find it .....

Conditions were low and clear. Not many bugs when I was there but started to rain when I left.( It needs it).

Caught 2 finglerings and 1 fish about 16". My personal best from this stretch of water. As usual all fish still swimming.

No fish caught but enjoyable 6 hours on a warm cloudy day, river conditions clear with many mayfly and emergiing dragon flies.

Total of 12 browns between us, 8" to 12", - GRHE or GH nymphs. Also 3 unintentional Shad off the boards below the bridge. All returned in good order.

9 trout, three best fish two of 14" and one of 13", on a Tan Klinkhammer. This was fun! A hot morning with a few mayflies and some of the smaller olives about on the water, but a generalist pattern seemed to work, as is so often the case. The first 14" fish was rising right in the camp-site, among the abandoned barbecue grids and tarzan swinging ropes (admittedly early in the morning). When I reached the top of the beat after a few smaller fish, the weather broke, light rain started and a more general rise began. I picked up the other 14" and 13" fish during the walk back, seeing trout rising now in water I had already covered. What a wonderful little stream! Pay some attention to the ranunculus bed half-way up.