Feedback & Reports

Missed a lot on dry fly , one brown around 13 inches

1 Trout

Beautiful day withe river looking a picture and light upstream wind. Warmed up early and best hatches in the morning. 5 fish 10-11inches with one at 15. All on dry fly. Mostly in the riffles.

5 Trout

Water had very quickly recovered clarity and level after previous day's chocolate spate.Some trout activity but Salar not showing. Yellow Mays not yet evident. Perfect accommodation on the river bank at Hilary and Dennis Humphries' Yew Tree Cottage. Many thanks to Alison and Seth for valuable help and advice over rearrangements.

The river was running high and coloured but the fish were feeding hard on nymphs. All were caught on a long leader set up with a sz14 copper head black French nymph on the point taking the most fish. About the same number again as netted were hooked and lost due to the fish slashing at the nymphs in the murky water.The largest fish was over 18" making it a surprisingly good day in what at first seemed like poor conditions. Luckily I could remember where to wade from fishing this beat recently in very low water though extreme care was still needed.

15 Trout

All fish returned.

3 Trout

Bright sunny day. Wind was very variable in direction. Water level was 0.30m at Brecon. Condition was very good. I was on the water for a long time and did not see anything of a hatch. Tough day for fishing - although I expect the heron I saw had better luck than me. Managed a couple of WBT on a pale yellow may in the flats at about 10:00am. The one that got away was a beauty but you know that story......
After that everything stopped.
First time on this beat for me - not sure about beat limits as the map shows that the top end of the beat ends an open space at Afon Crawnon but there is a prominent "PRIVATE" sign before the Crawnon?? Please clarify for anglers wishing to fish the Crawnon Pool.

2 Trout

Arrived mid afternoon to the beat to find little sign of any fish rising. I decided to fish the lower part just above the bridge and managed to get a substantial trout to take an Olive Emerger. This fish fought very hard and managed to detach itself from the fly within a few feet of my net. I then repeated this a further twice in the space of half an hour so all-in-all a bit frustrating but still very enjoyable fishing for a couple of hours on this lovely beat.

Lovely spring day on the Usk, fish rising between 11 and 12 but then a cold wind kept the hatch and the fish down. 2 wbt taken on dries. 1 sizeable fish also lost.

2 Trout

What a stunning beat, first time here and enjoyed it immensely. Having spent all my time Salmon fishing, it's a day like this which remind me why I love trout fishing. Having said that I would love to Salmon fish this beat at some point later in the season. Hooking a Salmon here would be quite an experience, with the bedrock gutters and pocket water. Even the trout are difficult to handle. Hard fighting fish, beautiful dark red and brown in colour to match their surroundings.
However, it's been a strange trout season so far, due to the cold spring, the trout don't seem to have woken up yet, and why would they with cold water and few significant hatches to speak of. Not seen a March Brown this year, not even many Dark Olives which you would expect to really. Got caught in a massive Grannom Hatch at Chainbridge last week, but few fish rising to them.
Concentrated on the pocket water firstly with jig patterns and small heavy GRHE on the dropper under an indicator which produced a beautiful fish of 3/4 lb which fought really hard, taking to the air on numerous occasions. Czech Nymphing experts would love this beat.
A large otter showed up in the middle of the beat, had a look at us, entered the water to return with a fish, to show us how it was done! Took a fish on a dry, the Parachute Adams doing the business after many other patterns were ignored by the couple of fish which did feed on the surface.
Lovely lunch and a few beers in the Coach and Horses, so all in all a good day

3 Trout

Nice to be back on this varied and demanding beat. Bright day with sunny intervals, breezy at times. Temp in the morning was around 8-9C, around 13C in afternoon. Not many flies coming off in morning. Fished pockets and faster water around the bridge at bottom of beat with bugs. But little activity. Moved up onto the flats late morning--some dark olives coming off. Fished NZ-style and caught a nicely conditioned trout around 2lb mark on nymph. After lunch there was a hatch of LDOs and fish came up immediately. Landed two both around 1lb mark on dry fly. Satisfying day, and managed to stay on my feet and stay dry!! SEP

3 Trout