Feedback & Reports

A long cold day in freezing drizzle without a fish touched nor seen.

A cool blustery one when I tackled up this morning at the bridge over the Hindwell Brook , running clear and at a really nice height , looked promising , but doesn't every river on the first few days of the season !!!!!

Tackled up my trustee six foot two weight , and a couple of gold head nymphs to work in the clear water , the pools looked fabulous and ahhhhhhhhhhh so nice to be back !

Was five degrees and still a persistent breeze after storm Freya , dam nuisance these regular storms . . . . . Aaarrrggghhhh!!!! Was a while before I had any interest , and I'm not really surprised , water was very very cold , and still a bit early to catch brownies on these Radnorshire streams . Was still great to start the season of though . . .A feisty take and a scrappy little brownie on the end , spot on !!!! . Eight inches and looking great , wished him well and slipped him back int the icey cold water , needs another month before the fish start showing in numbers .

Initially headed for the Pinsley this morning , but with the amount of barbed wire about , and the fact that clearing is getting done , I sacked it as a bad idea , work in progress , maybe it'll look clearer in a couple of months , shall leave this one and head further down and onto two very local brooks when I don't fancy a half hour drive !!

A fun few hours , glad I headed over to the Hindwell , good move , running at a nice height spot on and a brownie as well well that's the season kicked off , now let's see some more pleasant weather like last week . . . . Pleeeeeeeeeease !!!!

1 Trout

The lowest and clearest I've ever seen the Hindwell. The first time I have fished this beat and very impressed with the work that has been done to improve the brook. With the brook so low and clear and a nagging downstream breeze it proved very challenging getting within casting range of these spooky trout. With no insect life to speak of I stuck to fishing a tungsten pheasant tail. 7 trout in total ranging between 3-8 inches with a monster 16 inch fish which gave me the run around on a 3lb tippet! Very enjoyable day and was pleasantly surprised at the numbers of juvenile trout on this beat. Also appears to be a lot of signal crayfish here keeping the otters fat and fine!

7 Trout

Well bowled up at ten at the lovely Hindwell Brook , after stocking up on some munchies from Morrisons just outside Leominster , was a dank dull rainy day , and was forecast heavier throughout the day too !!!!!

Tackled up with my usual small streams outfit , two small gold head nymphs , GRHE, and a Black Magic nymph , and set too prospecting the deep little pools on the Hindwell . . . . First little customer , fighting fit , about nine inches , put up a good scrap , and quickly released . . .

There is a few fresh trees down , thanks to Storm Ali , along the lower half of the beat , although thankfully have all fallen in a field direction so no real issues with blocking the stream there . . . . . . .

Second fish ditto in size , lovely colours and again quickly back in the water . By eleven there was a slight tinge to the river , and I guessed perhaps I would only have about an hours good sport before it coloured up .

I had one more before I decided to call things a day , river was starting to rise , and visibility greatly impaired , so worked my way to where the fencing is both sides of the banks , did manage one more fish , perhaps eight inches , Great little scrap , and slipped back in , shame the weather was so lousy , would have been nice to prospect more of this cracking beat , still such is life !!!!!!!

Kingfishers were busy up and down the little stream and seemed over the moon that there larder was getting a bit bigger . . . . . A fun , if not soggy two and a half hours , three little Hindwell crackers caught and released , shall be back April next year to this miniature haven . . . Spot on !!!!!!

3 Trout

Last stint of a few days exploring the Lugg - thought I'd come back to the one beat I'd tried before, but sadly the fish were nowhere near as interested as last time! I managed to spot a few, but mostly as they shot off into cover. Fished 8.00-11.00am and would probably have stopped earlier had I not been saved from a blank by a lovely fish (12" or so) which grabbed a heavy nymph in fast water, under a tree stump. For which I was very grateful!

1 Trout

Despite the lack of rain the river was in good shape, with some excellent fish taken from the deep pools. Nothing rising until the late evening though. Upsteam from the ford in Knill a short bit of the river has been made wider and deeper since I visited last year, which makes for an interesting (if very challenging!) distraction from the usual small stream tactics needed on the rest of the river.

15 Trout

Fished for 2 hours late evening, met another chap at the lower car park setting up, who was happy for me to park at the middle and fish up - which I duly did. One nice fish brought to hand with another lost moments before due to the line breaking! Must have been a monster fish - the only possible explanation. A few others seen rising but otherwise not much action.

1 Trout

Second early morning this week and a reasonably successful couple of hours. As per the beat description, the water flow seemed very healthy, which is rather at odds with most rivers at the moment! Nice fish of a reasonable average size for a small stream; all taken on a nymph under a dry but I missed more than I caught, a couple failing to stick to the dry in the duo system and a couple not quite hooked. I didn't cover a great deal of the beat which looks long, but very enjoyable, would love to return but it is a reasonable distance for me. That said, hoping to be in furthest west Wales next weekend!

3 Trout

Wow !!!!! Another's scorcher when I turned up at ten , would have been nice to have fished earlier , but had some garden chores to get done before the bright ball in the sky started beating down . . .

Water was running at a reasonable height considering , and very very clear , The Hindwell has some very deep pools , eroded in to the fine gravel so it's nice to be able to still work them , that said a bit of water wouldn't go amiss !!!!!!

Initially rigged up my six foot , two weight with two tiny beaded nymphs , PTN and GRHE variant , and in the first likely pool had a lovely fish on , very spirited two on the lightweight rod , perhaps twelve inches maybe , great start . . . . . .

I did see a rise in a nice semi open pool , big tree down in the middle , and rise was naturally the other side of where I was . . . Always are aren't they !!!!! Anyway quickly tied on a parachute Adams , and he take it with a satisfying splashy take , clever fish on . . . . . He only went straight under the submerged tree and bye bye , off he went . . . Cest la vie !!!!!!

I did keep the Adams on and prospect casting to likely areas , also given with viewing pools ahead and chilling for a while , see if the was an surface activity . Very else was showing , so back on with the nymphs , and had another feisty Hindwell resident on , perhaps eight or nine inches , lovely colours , although slightly different spots from the Arrow fish , but still beautiful brownies !!!!!

Was a fun few hours , I did wade quite a way up , was nice being in the cool water , and of course a refreshing face wash every now and again , sorted . I called it a day at two , was nice to give this little Brook a bash again , two pristine, feisty brownies caught and released , it was time to head back to the Ponderosa and crack open a cider , enjoy the fizzy CO2 , while it lasts !!!!!!! What could be better , a few hours on the water followed by a few cool amber nectars !!!!!! Happy days . . . . . . . . .

2 Trout

Only fished for 2 hours in the evening, a good few fish rising, just my poor casting that only hooked the one fish. A good size for the Hindwell, around 16 inches.

1 Trout