Feedback & Reports

First time at Pontithel. Easy to locate and access. Arrived early pm on a cloudy, showery day. Water up in the catchment but the beat perfectly fishable.

Not much rising so had to tempt the fish up using a variety of dries - iron blue, f-fly, olive emerger. Nice varied beat with some deep pools, long glides and some riffley water too. On the whole easy to wade even with the canopy in all its September glory.

Managed 5 wbt and 2 grayling, all between 7" and 12" and all returned safely.

5 Trout, 2 Grayling

No rising fish but plenty of fly life, so straight on with a nymph, fished upstream from the bridge and had a few fingerlings. Fished with a 7 " 4# and it was a good choice. This stretch would be good for a tenkara session. Started bucketing down and the river turned a very dark colour. Still a good beat for wild fish.

3 Grayling

No rising fish,but plenty of surface fly life,so started with a dry fly without any success. Went for a nymph and had a busy afternoon. Conditions were perfect, slight wind giving a ripple on the water and no rain.
Had four trout netted,biggest one about 8 inch, lost about another five. This beat will not be for everyone but if you like small rivers this is a great find . Fished it with a 6 foot 3 weight rod.

4 Trout

A bright day following rain the day before, not that the water levels had risen at all. First time on this beat and the first thing I saw was a Kingfisher scooting off up river. I fished duo style with 8' #4 rod, occasionally trying the dry fly on its own but without success. Only saw a couple of rises all day. There were really very few fish in the river and as I progressed upstream the reason became apparent. On the way up I had a glimpse of a large Mink. On the way back I had a better view of a pair of very large Mink - otter sized, obviously well fed on the fish from the stream. They are living in the base of the willow tree in the stream in the middle field. On the plus side there were plenty of fry and fingerlings in the water and varied fly activity above the water. I am sure the fishing would improve again quickly if the Mink were removed from the equation. I would also mention that there is a stand of Japanese Knotweed flowering happily half way up the beat on the west bank. An enjoyable day out in the fresh air. In the circumstances I feel lucky to have managed 3 fish when up against such opposition. The Grayling all took the nymph, a beaded GRHE with orange tag. I had one or two rises to the dry fly but no takes.

3 Grayling

First time out for a month the recent rain hasn't affected the Lynfi much.
Fished Duo with a Tenkara rod as the wind was strong and gusty making line control very difficult. 4 Trout around 8 inches with 3 to the dry fly. Changed to a small dry at the top of the beat as there were a few Grayling rising,hooked and lost 2.

4 Trout

It's a year since the wipeout pollution incident and, thankfully, the river is now teeming with small fish (trout, grayling and minnow caught). 50% taken on a small nymph and 50% on a size 18 klink.
Unfortunately the access to this beat is overgrown and probably inaccessible to the less able bodied.

12 Trout, 1 Grayling

3 small grayling to dry fly,

3 Grayling

River on its bones now. Not much hatching. Landed 5 grayling 4" to 12", on a small beaded GRHE from deep pools and on small grey duster para. Saw no trout except one that took the para and then came off quickly. More encouraging, there were small fish in nearly every run, splashing around - managed to catch a couple at 4", both grayling so the assumption is that there are a lot of grayling parr in the river. So much so that they were usually first to splash at the para everywhere. Stayed till 7.00pm but no evening rise at that point.

5 Grayling

After a tricky morning on Escley 3, I drove over the top (see piccy) for stunning views of the Herefordshire countryside. I was looking for a wild stream with water/flow and Pontithel did not disappoint. All fish were caught to various dry but a small yellow May was most productive. All WBT were of a decent size and the Grayling put up a good scrap. Nice beat.

5 Trout, 1 Grayling

Low flows, small fish showing