Feedback & Reports

5 x out of season trout 10-13 inches, 3 x chub to 2.5 pounds, 2 x grayling 6-14 inches, trotting. I'm always fond of Monnow Valley for spring trout fishing, despite all the criticism about the access. In the spring, it's mainly a matter of looking for rising fish. And as Monnow Valley is relatively close to home, every winter I get this hopeful idea of catching a nice bag of grayling there. It's quite a few years now since this plan worked out, at least more than a handful...although the grayling must be gathering somewhere in there. But on this day the trout (which are still in superb condition) seemed to be dominating the upper part of the beat and chub were to the fore in the lower part. Just one nice grayling caught at 14 inches, with that special Monnow silver-blue colour to it, which cheered me up, plus a little 6 inch grayling parr to give hope for the future. It was not quite the day I planned, but a very enjoyable one all the same. And so warm! It was 15 degrees and almost like a summer evening as the light faded at 4.30 this afternoon. Altogether it has been a strange up and down week for autumn temperatures. On Wednesday, I felt really cold standing in the upper Wye on a wintry day of cold fog and high water. On Tuesday, I watched a client catching Irfon grayling with a dry fly.

One point on the Monnow Valley access: The stile on the first field fence above the mill house has been broken all year. Undergrowth and crowding trees are a feature of this beat and a lot of it can be pushed through with a bit of care, but we don't want to be trampling down farmer's wire fences - or tearing our waders - just to make our way along the bank. The fishery owner needs to attend to this. Also, thanks to the farmer on the upper part of the beat for not planting his winter wheat right up to the bank - a sensible path has been left this time.

The river was in flood, far too swollen. Went walking instead, but a lovely area.

Beautiful river, but access was very challenging. Could only get in at 7 different areas, the rest was completely overgrown. My advice would be to leave your best clothing in the car due to the brambles etc.

One fish lost in the large deep pool up upstream of the house. 0 caught.

Worth a trip due to fantastic scenery, but take a chainsaw along if you've got one!!!!!

Complete blank. River very brown. Seemed quite high, but it was my first time on this river so not sure what are "optimum" conditions.

First time I have blanked here for a year or more. No bites at all: nout. Still, lovely hot day and a great place to be by the water. Still very overgrown.

3 brown trout, best 12 inches in length. Two caught on a grey mayfly on the point and 1 to a PTN dropper. Wet day and some difficult fishing conditions: terribly overgrown and I had decided not to return until access was improved but glad I went.

Bright sunny day with water very clear, no fish rising a decent WBT seen but not caught, single dace on PTN - have to say access to water now in need of advice from Ray Mears or other jungle expert. The map provides a number of access points of which less than 30% are useable making most of the river beyond easy reach. This is a fantastic stretch of river in great need of maintenance to secure better access or provide a free machete for the £20 fee, the beat is currently very poor value for money.

I really love this stretch of water and have fished it many times with lots of success. I have to say though that I was finally overcome by the state of the bank undergrowth to the extent that I only stayed for a couple of hours with a catch of just one brownie of about 11". Moving between my favourite stretches of water has become too much of a challenge. I will go back, but only when my options elsewhere are limited or in early season when the vegetation is not so dense. It would be great to see work done to improve access to this stretch of river so that it can be enjoyed to the full by all.

Yes this beat is very overgrown, but it is a lovey beat and would probably be booked up far more often if access was easy as well. So I did not mind too much crashing through the undergrowth to get to the water (be warned it is not cow parsley it is hemlock)! I had a Lovely brown trout about 14 inches and what looked like a rainbow of about 12 inches (how did that get in there)! a few dace and at last my first grayling, all on kinks and paras.

6 trout caught on mayfly, varying from 8" to 12". Some nice hard fighting fish. Lots of rises and many other fish hooked but not landed.