Feedback & Reports

Fantastic day out, plenty riverfly life mostly upwings, Was a bit on the cold side but managed four brownies all of a decent size, but all evaded the net...one was a real stonker smashed the leader and torpedoed off downstream. Varied flies used, but imitative patterns seemed best. Already trying to find an excuse to return!!

One of those 'four seasons in a day' days - there was even a roll of thunder in the afternoon (only the one, mind). The wind was much lighter than had been forecast which made it possible to fish most of the beat comfortably. In between the showers, there were some good hatches, mainly of olives. Fish not showing in great numbers, but enough to give away where to try. They seemed in particularly picky and fickle mood and I lost count of how many were hooked, or part-hooked, and lost. Still, six lovely fish caught. The best was only a tad under two pounds: a real Usk beauty.
By the evening, the rain had set in with a bit more purpose, so I left a little earlier than planned. The only real disappointment was that the Gliffaes Hotel could not fit us in for dinner on the way home. I should have booked when I booked the fishing.
The drive home was through torrential rain and thoroughly unpleasant. I guess it kept up for much of the night because the gauge showed the river much higher. I'm very glad I didn't book for Sunday instead: high water and high winds are not a good mix!
Sincere thanks to Seth for some really helpful advice earlier in the week. It is always worth taking the time to get in touch.

Beautiful beat rained all day 1 hooked trout.

Much less in the way of insects hatching but still a few fish rising in some areas. GB - 2, VC - 1. The fish were a good size 2lb +. Picnickers on the bank, stick throwing dog walkers and another angler fishing the right bank did not help the cause.

Very low water (around 0.6 on the Brecon guage). Plenty of fish seen nymphing in bottom of deep pools. Managed one beauty of around 2.5lb (safely returned). Pricked/lost three or four other good fish all on a size 18 wieghed tungsten nymph. Very limited LDO hatch which I think was due to the very low water as I have seen excellent LDO hatches on this beat at this time of year.

Anyway a fantastic day from the point of view of wildlife and river beauty!

Despite the sunshine, the water was quite cold and there was only a very short rise about 3 pm for less than half an hour. 0 fish were caught. A beautiful beat but wading would be extremely challenging in high or coloured water

Caught 3 x WBT, 10", 12" and 14". All caught on the dry - steady hatch from 12 noon til around 2.30pm, then occasional flurry of grannom til packed up at 5pm.

Lots of fish rising - first time this season. Excellent beat and good fishing.

Just the one fish between us today. Could only squeeze in a couple of hours before the drive back home. It was one of the few fish seen all weekend rising and a quick change to a klinkhammer saw another good fish of 17inches come to the net. This is a fantastic beat that keeps producing quality fish visit after visit.

Another fantastic day on the Usk. A heron, dippers, blackbirds, toads, the sound of the river and some LDOs - what more could you want. Clear skies and bright sun conspired to raise the temperature to around 17 degrees. A relatively limited LDO hatch took place from 11.30-15.00 with very few fish responding to the trickle of flies (i.e. rising). However, a few good fish (c.2lb) were pursuaded to take my flies (CDC Olive and weighted PTN (s.16) around 13.00-14.00. Outside the LDO hatch I fished with a Klink trailing a small (s.16-18) heavily weighted nymph which did bring some success. IMHO the key to the Usk, more so than many other rivers, is to make sure you stay well out of trout sight and wade very softly. All in all a great day on a great river - I will be back!

Tight lines all and enjoy the Spring,

Robert

Had a lovely day on Saturday. Fishing wasn't easy, but the quality of the fish was superb. Managed 4 fish, 3 on nymph one on a dry. Best fish about a pound and a half others around the pound mark.

Steady trickle of Large dark olives started about 11:30 peaked around 12:30 and had basically finished by 2pm
I didn't see any granom hatching but late on in the afternoon there were a few fluttering about especially if you disturbed the vegetation in the margins, should be excellent by the end of the week. Met up with Robert a few times during the day and although we didn't fish together exchanged a few flies and chatted about tactics and stuff.

Thanks for organising the day, I still haven't fished about a third of the beat! Will be back for more.