Feedback & Reports

3 small trout, small hatch of mid Olives but nothing to get the fish on the fin. Wind changed direction to a westerly but still cold with no warmth in the air. Any day on the river is a good day.

3 Trout

The lower part of the beat is not really fishable from the river, only from the bank. Fished from the middle of the first field up river and there are some nice runs all the way up to the bridge( beat boundary). We only landed one brown which was returned safely.

1 Trout

Fished 1230-1700, limited rise of Dark Olives but fish not responding to (my!) flies, missed two takes on a Mayfly and a White Wulf on the lower beat, middle beats seemed fairly lifeless.

Very windy virtually impossible to present a fly on the few fish that were feeding,couple of takes on a g.r.h.e.

My first time on this pleasant beat. Arrived at 11.30am to find a mixed hatch of (late) March Browns and LDOs in progress with trout rising. As this was on the lower pools, I found it difficult to cover the rises and was unable to take advantage of the hatch which didn't last long. Didn't see much of a hatch for rest of day but persisted with dry and suspended nymph only catching one small trout. At 4pm switched to fishing a pair of nymphs and caught 5 good trout by 5.30pm all on GRHE nymph, the best a beauty of 2lb 8oz which gave away its position when it made a huge slashing rise to a stranded LDO.

6 Trout

Lovely beat a bit cold. Took 2 off the top with olive klinkhamer late morning. This was half way along the beat
fishing from the bank into a deep pool during hatch of olives. Difficult to cast to the right position from the bank. Persistance paid off. 2 taken with GRHE nymph bottom of beat near parking area later in the day. All small .
Nice days fishing.

4 Trout

Arrived about 11:30 to find a strong hatch of large up wings (probably a mixture of LDO and March Brown). Large numbers of fish rising. This ended an hour later. Having tried many patterns found the best to be deer hair emerger and cdc emerger. Day was one of missed opportunities. Had many takes, over 10 fish hooked but all came off before I could net them. Despite a nil return it was a great days fishing.

Warm but very windy making casting quiet difficult at times. No fish in the morning but a small hatch of LDO around 1pm brought some fish to the surface one lucky cast produced an immaculate trout of around 2 pounds. A small hatch of march browns around 3ish helped me net a fish larger than the first, I would believe it to be in the region of 3 pounds. The river was clear but still a little cold. Great beat I will be back, well done the Wye & Usk.

2 Trout

Our trip to the Ashford House stretch on the Usk last Thursday (April 18th) was a mixed bag. A strong cold wind with rain and hail showers did not prevent some brief hatches of olives in the middle of the day but we were unable to translate that into fish in the net. Nevertheless, when the sun came out it was a joy to be on the river bank shaking off the winter cobwebs and observing nature 'getting going' for 2013 (lots of lambs, two kingfishers). We saw a few trout rising, particularly at the top end near the bridge where access is difficult and disturbed two goosanders there (does this need to be reported elsewhere?). We both hope to return to the river when Spring has got into its stride. Thanks to the WUF for allowing us access to such a beautiful part of the world.

4 x trout 15-16 inches, dry fly and spiders. Somehow the morning didn't look promising. A downstream gale blowing and a lot of coloured water still coming down made me wonder if I had been over optimistic booking on so soon after a freshet. Ashford House is a new beat for me, so everything to learn, and now it was hard to see the bottom to get into it. A few Large Dark Olives through the morning, but nothing rising to them.
All was put right just after lunch, when the sun came out and, for about an hour at the top of beat, a fairly intense March Brown hatch took place. The Usk used to be famous for this fly, now it's a rare treat and spectacular indeed. Some really super fish were rising for a time in fast, shallow water on a pool tail, and of course there were the ones which came off, one way or another. These including one of those dreaded "open hook" incidents caused by a trout which powered off in the current (Partridge company, is there no chance you can go back to making and tempering hooks by hand like you used to?). Flies which worked were Dai Lewis' dry March Brown, Woodcock and Hare's Lug, Dark Moorgame.
This beat has an excellent reputation and I'm certain it will turn out to be one of the significant Usk beats in the WUF portfolio. One of a number of advantages is that you leave your car securely parked in the owner's drive - not to be sneezed at. Thanks to D C for his advice on the pools.

4 Trout