Feedback & Reports

This is a very long beat and took us over 7 hours to complete. The fishing was tough and nowhere near as productive as on previous visits. The water level was very low. We caught one very good trout on a small nymph, but could not work out any pattern from the 7 fish we landed. Never the less, we will still fish this beat again in the future. There are good fish in it. It is a long walk back down the road to the Crown Inn and the Butty Bach was just what we needed when we eventually arrived back.

7 Trout

I caught 9 brown trout using a dry fly & dropper method and all the fish were taken on the nymphs. The nymphs were a mix of bead head pheasant tail #16, Hare's Ear bead head jig #16 and a Glister nymph #18 (New Zealand pattern).
I do want to take exception to the beat description in the passport pamphlet as being 'reasonably open and easy to fish' as it was anything but - more like fishing in the Amazon jungle. The foliage coverage was so extensive I actually made only 1 normal fly cast in the 5+ hours of fishing. Otherwise it was all roll casts, short flicks, bow & arrow casts or lots of downstream drifts as I could not cast from the pool's tail. The flood gate implementations made for some fun climbing and manoeuvring too. And the one pool that I caught my best fish on (a 12" brown) was more like the town tip - the pool had in no particular order a Wellington boot, a couple of tyres, a few scattered hub caps & a whole menagerie of other detritus. I guess the farmer who resides just above this pool sees it as an easy dumping ground. And in the earlier sections of the river the banks are extremely hard climb out from (steep, covered in metre high nettles & briars & barbed fencing) which is necessitated due to some very deep pools that are not wadeable. And in the upper sections I had flocks of sheep continually entering the pools as I worked my way up -- causing obvious disturbance & discolouring of the water.
WUF Note: Thank you for the feedback. We will amend the beat details and pass on the information to the Wild Stream volunteers.

9 Trout

Lovely warm late spring day. Water quite low and clear. Lots of mayfly. Only a few rising trout and none of them consistently rising. Caught and returned 2x 6 in wbt. But what a dappled green and luminous place!

2 Trout

26 to hand today all released safely. Spent 5 hours on beat covering rises from the larger fish today. All fish fell for cdc loopwing emerger (mayfly). Several shook hook also. Largest three were all roughly 14 inches, ten or so 12 inches the rest around the ten inch mark. Water levels dropping and with the glaring sun made for a stealthy approach. Lovely day on the Escley.

26 Trout

26 to hand all released safely which were tempted by cdc mayfly emerger and a couple to spent mayfly. A few at 14 inches, most around 10-12 inch mark. Stealth required to get into position today as water levels dropping after recent rain. Lovely half day on a lovely beat.

26 Trout

Excellent fly life. Handful of trout caught on dries. Lovely stretch of water.

5 Trout

Escley in fine shape, fining down from recent rain and plenty of water. Slow start in chilly conditions but had a great 3 hours between 12 and 3. 12 x wbt, 4 around the 12" - 14" mark, the others 6"-8". All taken on BWO and Adams patterns. Steady hatch of olives and the odd grannom. The two things that always strike me about this beat: the sheer quantity along with the high average size of fish. They also seem chubbier and fleshier than their muscled Usk cousins. Also, at this time of year the canopy is reasonably forgiving.
It is a long trek, realistically 7-8 hours' fishing. We always fish the lower and mid as follows: Fisher 1 gets in at start of lower, fisher 2 drives up to end of lower / beginning of mid, when fisher 1 gets to top of lower drives to top of mid and gets two pints of Butty Bach in at the Bridge Inn to welcome fisher 2 who will arrive shattered and traumatised having walked at least the last mile of the beat!!
If you're up for the physical challenge this beat rewards in spades.

12 Trout

The river was very low and clear. Few fish rising, I rose only one, about 4oz, on a para Adams. Weather was chilly, partly sunny, with one or two rain squalls - very little rain. I found it a little difficult to know how to get round the "no fishing" bit in the middle of the beat, eventually emerged through a derelict barn into a scrapyard where a very helpful person showed me how to get round on the East bank. The footbridge about 1 1/2 miles up the beat appears to have been washed away.
I found the booking system very effective, and your staff very helpful. Thank you for an enjoyable 2 days on Abbey Dore and here.

Very tricky today! Water levels desperately low in the Escley with bright sunshine made for a challenge. All but three fish took midge patterns, the other 3 took size 20 beadhead at the heads of the deepest pools. Only saw a dozen or so rising fish in the few hours I was there, snapping at midges. Limited olives on the water and what were there the trout totally ignored. Rain needed to freshen the stream and get the trout feeding....

10 Trout

Lovely Spring day in a beautiful location. Arrived at 12 to bright sun and 16c. A few Olives hatched during the afternoon but no fish rising.
Fished a size 16 PTN into the runs at the head of the deepest pools resulting in 6 trout to 12 inches. Missed about the same and lost a few feisty little ones.
There is a lot of water on this beat and I only covered about half of it in 4 hours and I thought I wasn't hanging around!

Note to WUF some of the signage for the non fishing areas may be missing.

6 Trout