Feedback & Reports

Took advantage of a break in the rain to spend a couple of hours on the Dore.
Beat is badly in need of a trim. some of the pools/runs completely inaccessible.
Only fished upstream of the bridge, as last time I tried downstream there were too many impassable spots.
Managed three, all about 7-8inches, caught on a Para Adams.
Nice way to spend a couple of hours.
Lots of evidence of otter activity, prints and spraint. I stay up at Poston Mill, and over the last couple of weeks a family of four otters has been very active, even during the day with people around. Have seen the mother happily chewing away on a fish a couple of times.

3 Trout

What a disappointment.

Living locally to Hereford I have been lucky to fish a number of the wild streams. And whilst I always try to find the positive, this is without doubt the worst beat I have fished.

I caveat with saying I only fished from the bottom of the beat to halfway, but this is an awful stretch. For starters the entry point to the beat is not maintained and with high barbed wire fencing I was forced to find a small tributary and follow its course into the main stretch. I spent a good 45 minutes trying to access the beat.

The beat it self is high sided and fenced with no exit points until the halfway mark. The river has several large obstacles which can’t be climbed over as the river is too deep. Forcing you over barbed wire. The beat is simply not maintained and I must say one more than one occasion I feared for my safety.

Had this been my first experiences I would have not returned to the wild streams. I strongly advise giving this a miss. For those that have only experienced this beat I would encourage you to try some others as this is, I am pleased to say, not the norm.

1 Trout

Fished Chanstone Court for a couple of hrs each on the evenings of 16 and 17 May.

6 small BT, with one slightly better (about 8 or 9 inches). Mix of takes on the dry, a small klink, and nymphs. River was holding a suprising ammount of colour still, despite the dry week.

Fishing the Dore requires the skills of a stealth of Ninja, flexibility of a Gymnast and patience of a Monk. It's certainly one of the 'wilder' Wild Stream beats. Your waders will suffer, but the (small) fish shaped reward is all the more valuable having worked for it.

Early May seems to be the sweet spot, with abundant fly life and hungry fish but the line-snagging foliage only just getting going.

Prolific hatches of what I think were Large Dark Olives and Green Drake Mayflies. Perhaps Oliver Burch will offer an opinion in his monthly roundup?

6 Trout

Did not/could not fish, river the colour of strong milky tea and rising quickly.

the day started badly 3" tip of a 6ft rod broken off no idea how as i could not find it casting was a bit difficult but needs must , the river is a really nice depth but very clear , overhanging trees , bramble banks and the obligatory barbed wire are a fly fishers nightmare but i think on the right day this beat would be fantastic , but i never saw a fish or even had a tug , was using gold bead pheasant tails and grhe , but will be going back later in he year as it just looks to good not to have any fish there,

2 out of season trout and 1 minnow.

2 Trout, 1 Other

Back again, as it's handy when staying at Poston Mill. Fished the bottom half of the beat, for some reason I'd only ever fished up from the bridge. Tried nymphs in all the likely spots without success, eventually managed one nice trout of about 10 inches on a 16 klinkhammer. Did spook some smaller fish and saw an absolute clonker rise in a completely inaccessible spot.

Some very deep and interesting pools on this section, some of which would be dangerous to wade through with another 6-8 inches of water. Had to miss one promising section of about 50 yds, as I had to get out to get round an obstruction and couldn't get back in due to the high banks. My only exit from the river. Access to this section is very poor, once your in at the bottom it's difficult to negotiate the deeper pools, banks are generally quite high, and I didn't see any styles.
The whole of the Chanstone beat could do with a good clean up. Please.

1 Trout

Quick session on the Dore. Missed out the shallower sections and just put a nymph (18 ptn) through the deeper pools.
Managed 3 trout, largest 7". Lost a couple of others and had a few takes but didn't connect.
The large obstruction about 3/4 of the way up is getting worse.
Downstream of it someone has been trying to damn the stream, probably local kids, but they did come prepared.(see photos)
Beat is generally in need of a trim.
Lots of algae around, goes without saying that we need some water, so I don't know why I said that.
An enjoyable couple of hours on a lovely beat.

2 Trout

Just a couple of hours on the Dore.
Lot of fish rising but reluctant to take my offerings.
Managed 3 small trout from the deeper sections on a ptn.
Also had 6 small grayling, 3 inches. Good news for next year. A lot of fry present too.
Desperately in need of a trim in a few places, another tree down since last I was here, right in one of the prime pools.

3 Trout

Tried Chanstone Court for the first time. It was a sunny morning with a gusty westerly wind but plenty of tree cover to kill the breeze. This is a narrow beat with 95% tree canopy covering it, which makes for challenging casting, although roll casting will get you to some fishy looking pools. The bad news is that the water level is so low that some of the runs are barely above ankle height and water running through the deeper pools is not moving fast enough to carry a wet fly through at any pace. No fish seen rising and although I did see a couple of fish, they were holding in less accessible spots. I did rise a small fish to a parachute adams second cast which got my hopes up. However, sadly, that was the last interest I had. I think this beat this is probably not worth a return visit until the water levels are up a bit.