Feedback & Reports

Very little water. 4 trout between 8-10 inches - very hot, tough going. Still a joy to see the Kingfisher and Dippers.

4 Trout

Cold and windy day with showers on a low and clear Monnow. No signs of fish moving, and no success with nymphs in the pools or head of pool runs. Brief sunshine at 4.00pm saw a few flies emerge and a couple of splashy rises in one pool, but could not tempt them either. So, a blank but at least back on the river again!

No fish today, the fish don't seem to have woken from their winter slumber. There were a few olives coming off but not enough to wake the fish up.

A lovely way to end the season - sunshine, kingfishers, dippers and rising trout. Two perfect (10-12") fish on a Parachute Adams brought to hand, fighting fit and a pleasant surprise from the usual 6-8 inchers on this beat - one from the junction with the Olchon and one from the "wall" pool. Another big fish from the Escley junction pool shook itself loose. Thanks to all at WUF for another year's fishing.
A shaky video of my antics is here: https://youtu.be/cAMAl0YEudo

2 Trout

Only really fishable pool was at the junction with the Escley - water level so low and even here there was no flow. No surface activity and only a couple of very sluggish follows to a goldhead nymph. Looked a very different river to my visit in early June.
Still an enjoyable day with Kingfisher(s) and Dipper(s) put in several appearances.

First time on the Monnow beats, so I thought I'd do Lower in the morning and Upper in the afternoon. Really enjoyed this beat, but found the upper beat very frustrating. A few things were hatching but not enough to bring on a rise, although there were signs of fishy life in the river with the occasional half hearted rise. I managed three trout on this beat and one was a monster, a good 14 inches, the other two 10-12 inches. All took a small size 18 DHE.

3 Trout

Managed a quick session whilst out camping with the good lady at Tan house farm right next to the river. Hardly any flow in the pools but the fish are there, and quite a few too and some of good size. A very long fine leader and skulking around behind the undergrowth Vietnam style got some results. Nothing was hatching unsurprisingly but fish where topping here and there and a size 18 CDC F fly was the favoured fly. Biggest was a 12 incher. Lovely.
Incidentally the camp site here is great and highly recommended. Lovely people at the farm and good facilities with a loo and showers. The wife was happy.
Camping, river,trout, good pub & beer at the top of the field . What more does a man need!

3 Trout

Water low and very clear lots of fish fry. No fish rising as early afternoon had one trout on GB hares ear.

1 Trout

My friend and Barbel/coarse fisherman MW from London decided he would like to try wild stream trouting after hearing me go on about it. First time fly fishing for him! I said the river could be dour at this time of year, and indeed the recent rain had passed through leaving a low slow river still with slime etc. He got the hang of it quite quickly, but could only tempt 1 7" brownie on dry. Eventually I found an answer - a tiny tung head GRHE shuffled along the bottom of the deepest pools produced 2 more trout to 12" and 4 Grayling to 13". He went home happy and me relieved - he is talking of getting a small fly rod now....

3 Trout, 4 Grayling

Two trout taken but a number of others rose to spider type flies fished Tenkara style. I fished from about 7pm to 9:30pm when I left the river because of another 4 legged fisherman. I spent about 5 minutes watching an otter feeding just bellow the junction pool. Great to see a wild otter. It is my first.

2 Trout