Feedback & Reports

River low and fairly clear. Access quite easy. I fished a dry Parachute Adams. 1 or 2 fish rising, and a few flies about - small upwing. Weather was mainly sunny with a chilly west wind. The fish were in the range 3 - 4 ounces, in good condition. Fishing accompanied by mock battle on the military ground nearby, didn't seem to faze the fish.

6 Trout

No fish this time but had one take. Some evidence of LDOs and sedges hatching.

Cracking weather and a lovely beat. Access good but some of the pools are REALLY deep for such a small stream.
4 out of season grayling and 1 trout. Strangely no hatch of any kind today.

1 Trout, 4 Grayling

First day out this season and first time on this beat.
Easy to find easy to park and beat boundaries clearly marked. When I arrived at around 11.15 it was only around 8c but by 12.00 the sun came out and the temperature responded nicely.
There were a few olives trickling off but no sign of fish rising when I got to the bottom of the beat so decided to fish the duo with a size 16 tungsten bead ptn.
I was soon into my first fish on the nymph only to find it was a Grayling. 5 more grayling followed including 1 lovely fish of around a pound and a half in breeding colours. Also caught 5 Trout 6 to 10 inches all on the nymph.
A lovely 3 hours and a good start to the season.

5 Trout, 6 Grayling

I enjoyed myself so much on this beat just before Christmas i couldn't resist returning for the opening day of the trout season.
I wasn't feeling too confident as i drove along the A465, admiring the snowy uplands and upon arriving it soon became apparent that there was a strong and bitterly cold north westerly wind blowing downstream. Within minutes of being out of the car the fingers were getting numb.
I was pleased to find the river looking good and started to work my way upstream with a team of beaded PTNs. I noticed there had been some pruning since my last trip which certainly made a few of the pools easier to fish.
Over four hours, I managed to locate my first trout of the season, a plump specimen at 8" and landed 5 grayling. Two were stunning males of about 12 and 14". Shame there weren't any more trout but it was still the perfect way to start the year.

1 Trout, 5 Grayling

2 x grayling 6 and 10 inches, 1 x out of season trout 10 inches, Pink Shrimp. Having pruned both Chanstone and Abbeydore last week, I was tempted to try them as they are open for grayling and the river looks really good. I didn't touch a thing on the lower part of Chanstone, so moved downstream. Towards the end of fishing Abbeydore, after lunch, I did suddenly get a few takes. Could it be this was because I had just swapped the Pink Shrimp with a Tungsten Hare's Ear, putting it on the point rather than in the middle dropper position, a cunning and subtle tackle modification? Or perhaps could it be that this was because the temperature had now risen from minus 4 to a sunny plus 6 degrees. There again, could it be because I had simply reached a better part of the stream? Only heaven knows, because I certainly don't.

2 Grayling

This was my third attempt at fishing this beat. The previous two were complete disasters; first visit was about the same time last year and the river was literally about to burst its banks, completely coloured and impossible to fish. The second attempt failed soon after leaving the house as the car started to play up.
A rare case of me being organised and having already bought all my Christmas presents meant that Christmas eve was free. The car was better and despite all the rain we've had in South Wales I noticed the weather had been much better just over the border, so I decided to have another go.
Fortunately it was a case of third time lucky. I arrived to find the weather pleasant and the river looking amazing. I made my way to the bottom of the beat and soon after was delighted to have the first grayling of the day. Two more 8" Grayling and an oos trout came from the same pool.
The rest of the fish came from various pools along the whole length of the beat. The biggest Grayling was ~12" but most fish were between 8 and 10 inches, hard fighting and in immaculate condition. Trout came from shallower glides whereas most of the Grayling came from the deeper pools. All fish went for a size 14 gold head nymph.
This is a stunning beat and certainly challenging. I'm sure I spent more time picking my nymphs out of overhanging branches than actually fishing! Saying that I couldn't have wished for a better way to enjoy my last session of 2014.
Thanks WUF and Merry Christmas!

5 Trout, 9 Grayling

7 fish from 6-12 inches, on tiny black and olive klinkhammers and a size 16 gold head hares ear.

7 Trout

Fished from 12pm - 3:45pm
As others have commented this beat is particularly overgrown but it is the slow-pools with tree cover only a few feet above the water that made it so challenging. Towards the top of the beat it opens out and fishing was easier. Some of the pools were deep enough to reach the top of my chest waders (6ft 1")
The Stream was very clear in contrast to the Wye tribs I have fished over the past couple of days.
This session was really of two halves:
From 12pm to 1:30pm I only saw 3 fish, two of which were no more than 4 inches, the third was skulking in the shadows and far from in feeding mode. My thoughts were that the only time I have seen this before was when someone has fished a stream through just before me!
At about 1:15pm I finally found a group of feeding fish half way up the beat. With good cover from foliage I could sight fish which was nice. The first fish came quickly to a GRHE, a nice grayling of about 11 inches.
As nothing else was doing I thought I'd stay and experiment. 6 flies and three more fish later I moved on. Two trout fell to induced takes and a nice grayling of exactly 12 inches, all to a size 12 barbless PTN.
Second half. Moving up the beat and sure enough I could see signs that someone had fished it through just before I got there, with fresh footprints in the margins and flattened nettles where they had entered the water.
However with time to settle down the river was alive again with fish visibly feeding all over the place.
Takes were now regular although the fish were still obviously a bit edgy and the rest of the session was a real pleasure.
All apart from the first grayling came to the PTN and all were returned. The largest trout was 9 inches. I'm sure there are larger fish there but they seem to take longer to recover after being disturbed.

11 Trout, 5 Grayling

4 of the trout were between 10 & 13 inches. 3 of the grayling were also between this size. I also hooked and lost quite a few more.
River low with slow flow and some almost stagnant pools. All fish came to weighted nymphs in the deep pools that did have good flow.
Very overgrown with fallen trees across river which made for slow and difficult progress upstream.
A healthy looking stream nonetheless with obviously a good head of fish - a very enjoyable afternoon.
Spotted a tawny owl and several kingfishers.

10 Trout, 6 Grayling