Feedback & Reports

6 Trout

The weather forecast was sunny and hot. No problem, I’m far too cunning to let that stop me.; The Clettwr gorge will be lovely and shady and it’ll be nice and cool down there.
At this point in August the sun shines directly into The Clettwr gorge all afternoon and early evening. It reflects off the surface of the beautiful, clear stream and burns your retinas clean out. It’s too bright for the trout so they hide. But I did find the odd shaded pool, and I caught a few of the lovely fish that live there. I don’t keep records, but I think one of them may have been my best fish from this wonderful little river.

4 Trout

River was about 9 inches up when we arrived and dark brown. The colour was unnaturally dark for the water level. We had not seen this depth of colour even when the river had flooded the Holme Lacy meadows upstream.
The fish were incredibly shy biting and this was despite the beat being lightly fished over the last month. We switched baits regularly including meat cheese sweetcorn boilies and bread.
The beat is superbly maintained and had been recently strimmed. We fished most swims and the best fishing was in the middle section both under the willows and close in off the croys.

2 Barbel, 12 Chub, 1 Other

Four browns of c. 13, 9, 8 and 5", all on small mayfly patterns. Strange day of fishing as there were thousands of sedge, clouds of them swirling over many sections in the afternoon, yet the trout showed no interest in those whatsoever. I tried dry sedge patterns, nymphs and emergers under the surface too - not a bite on anything! The sedges didn't seem to be hatching though, I guess they were adults which returned from bankside vegetation where they had been sitting for much of the daytime. I waited until evening in the hope they would mate, hit the water to lay eggs and start a trout feeding frenzy, but aside from one or two females - which were not enough to really interest the trout - it didn't really happen. In fact they slowly melted away again so I would assume it didn't happen at night either, unless well into dark? Good to see though, shows the water quality must be pretty good? Instead, despite the mayfly species being outnumbered well over 100 to 1, it was the mayfly patterns that worked as a few of those were actually in the water and hatching... weird and confusing, but satisfying once I figured this out! Also some small fish taking something very small indeed - had a couple of bites on a size 22 Black and Badger but not sure that was close enough, too hard to hook as well on such a tiny fly!

Having fished here a good few times now it was also nice to bump into the farmer near one gate. It seems farmers often get a bad press in the media (and of course there are problems, especially with the big chicken farms around the Wye!), but there are great ones too who value wild areas and quietly do their bit, yet are too often forgotten about. So it was lovely to meet one of these who obviously cares about his local river as much as we anglers do, and moreover allows us to fish in this little bit of paradise. The Usk is a really beautiful river and this beat is a prime example for me - it's a privilege to fish it, so thanks again and I look forward to the next trip!

4 Trout

2 Trout

Fished for a few hours around mid-day, which in mid-August probably isn't the best time. Nice to see the river with a bit of water in it. Very little fly life a few midges and a couple of caddis, didn't see any rising fish. However I did pick up a few on the nymph. So a very pleasant few hours on this very nice beat.

3 Trout

The river had risen sharply overnight and was the colour of drinking chocolate, with a strong flow. Still managed 5 barbel with two around 9lb.

5 Barbel

6 Trout

8 Trout

A few hours late afternoon on the Honddu, quite a slow start, river was at a nice height but quite murky from recent rains and cows in the meadow section accessing the water. Had a couple on nymph, but very slow until I switched to a jig streamer, which landed me around a dozen fish. Nothing big today, a few 13 - 14 inch fish to the net but vast majority from 7 to 9 inches. Good fun nevertheless.

14 Trout