Feedback & Reports

Fishing very slow due to the river being gin clear and very low. During the day best to keep moving and try to spot the fish (either that or go to the pub !) we saw them flashing in a nearside gulley between the weed and one of us had 3 barbel out during the day. Evening is when the fishing picks up with a total of 10 barbel to 4 rods.

Fished 2 days, 5 Barbel, 4 Chub.

River was very low, with quite a lot of weed coming through which made fishing difficult. Fished a number of swims from about 11am - 9pm, with a couple of good barbel (both over 8lb) coming in the final hour to pellet. Very nice beat, will hopefully be back when conditions are more favourable.

At last managed to get on this beat! River low and lots of floating weed coming downstream. We plumbed to fish the bottom end of the beat as the flow was faster, both rods using pellets. Jack kicked off with his first barbel after about 3/4 hour and continued to take a further 5 up to lunch time. I was in a perfect looking glide and managed to blank! My fault, not the river's. I must learn to sit on my hands for longer and let the rod pull round! We fished the middle slower sections 1-4.30pm with no takes so it was back downstream and oncve again Jack was into the barbel, taking a further 8 fish to just under 9lb. I managed to save the blank with 2 barbel and 1 chub. Thank god for that!

Canoeists were all good. 1 little tip - if you want them to go on the far side tell them near side bank and vice versa because none of them can paddle straight anyway!

Thanks to everyone at Wye & Usk.

The last day of our trip to the Wye and I was at last able to get on this beat. Access is superb, being able to drive all along the bank and the croys provide a number of swims. The stretch is a mix of glides and deeper slower sections, with the bottom section being much faster. This bottom section looked superb, but as this beat is on a footpath, it seems to become a haven for picnics, people swimming etc. I would not reccommend fishing this beat on a weekend.

The fishing was very difficult due to drifting weed, which made keeping a line in the water almost impossible. 1 barbel of 9lb caught at last knockings, so well worth the wait.

Thanks WUF for a great three days on the Wye. Even if the fishing is tough, the surroundings more than make up for it.

1 chub - slow going - lots of weed coming down.

Lovely stretch that I didn't do justice. Ended with bits and a couple of decent chub while Andy had 4 barbel.

Five days on WUF waters was something to look forward to and we were not disappointed. Day one found G and D perplexed since last year's swims at Caradoc had disappeared so we started afresh testing new ones. Late afternoon saw the first barbel in the net and then as, surprisingly, water levels began to rise eight more were netted before we retired for the day.
Rain in the mountains on Sunday had produced a flash flood and we were greeted with a rise of 7 feet of muddy weed strewn torrent at Lower Ballingham. Ever helpful WUF staff diverted us to the Lugg where the opposite was the case and this delightful small river, rather low, made finding barbel difficult. After fighting our way through a jungle of Himalayan Balsam feeling rather like the Ellawe tribe we finally emerged tousled and sweaty but fishless.
The following day we returned to Lower Ballingham and found water levels dropping fast so settled into two swims on the Lower Bridge Pool. The barbel were feeding as usual three quarters of the way across the river, - why are they always on the opposite side ? - but once we had found how to hold the bottom with our feeders we caught 10 barbel and 4 chub.
The last 2 days were on Holme Lacy 3. G took his favourite swim part way down while I went the distance and fished the last swim. We were not disappointed and for once didn't need Colin's expert guidance. G caught 10 superb barbel and 4 chub while I landed 19 hungry chub and 5 barbel. An eventful day.
The same swims on the last day were less productive as the water level was reaching normal and clearing and the fish had fed. So the tally for the day was 11 barbel and 18 chub.
An excellent 5 day break in gorgeous surroundings with each beat to ourselves.

8 barbel between us to 9lb+ on pellets. Drifting weed made fishing difficult.

The river was low and carrying a lot of drifting weed, which can be frustrating in many of the swims, due to the fishery being largely on the outside of a long gradual bend.
The first fish came out of the blue at nearly 5 o'clock and we finished with 5 barbel to just over 8lb. (Four from one swim and one from another).