Feedback & Reports

River very low and clear, bright sunshine. Two decent fish on dries, nothing on the nymph despite some very fishy looking water. Trickle of flies hatching, perhaps half a dozen rises all day.

2 Trout

Nothing caught, all very quiet. Water cold, trout were down. No rises all day.

5 fish in the first 1 1/2hrs ranging from 12" to 14"all on heavy nymphs in the deeper pools. A few LDOs started to come off about 11ish, so changed to duo and managed one more fish at 10" from junction pool. Continual trickle hatch of LDOs for most of the day with a few March browns and Grannom, but fish showing no interest. This has been the case in my last three outings on the Usk. Suppose the northerly breeze didn't help the cause.

6 Trout

Only able to fish for a couple of hours in the morning. Fished the lower stretch with nymphs but no fish caught.

2 Trout

Warm, sunny. The water clear. No fly life and saw just one rising fish all day. An early start or later finish may have improved matters.

1 small trout on a ptn. Though there was a very modest hatch the trout weren't really rising.

1 Trout

Nice day ... no fish seen or caught ... fished nymphs on French and under an indicator

Nice day but no fish caught ... no risers all day

Our second visit to this part of the Usk - this time the river was very different; we had good water levels which really opens up the whole of the beat and there are hundreds of pockets of water that will hold fish.

The day started well when I had a small brownie come up and smash my dry fly but didn't connect with it. My fishing buddy was in the pool below me so i went and saw how he was getting on. Just as I arrived he struck into a lovely fish on a nymph that was around the pound mark, we had a couple of snaps then he was slipped back to grow on. The next cast J had another fish that was 3/4 of a pound. I then had a couple of casts and had a fish of a pound and a quarter.

A little breather after that to soak up the sun and pleasure of catching such beautifully conditioned fish. A wonder further up river produced another aggressive take on my dry fly but I saw it rocket up from the bottom of the river and struck too early!

A quiet couple of hours followed with a very small brownie that found an emerging olive pattern irresistible. Just as the light was beginning to fade I was trying likely spots that hadn't yielded anything during the day. But 10 minutes into casting I saw a flash, a crater appeared in the river and I was met with very solid resistance and big head shakes. The fish then jumped and I realised how big and special this fish was. I shouted down stream for some help, panicked. J ran up river, I told him it was a monster, then the fish jumped again to show us how big he was. What ensued was an epic struggle, running 100 yards down river, tripping over rocks and hoping the fish didn't come off.

After a nerve racking tussle J gently tailed the fish, we looked at each other in amazement and he passed my trophy to me. 3.5 lbs or more, 23 inches of perfection in trout form and my new PB! A couple of quick photos in the fading light before I slipped the fish back, which shot off like a rocket. Amazing feeling that I still can't get over it!

5 Trout