Feedback & Reports

My first time on the Rectory - and what a lovely beat it is; plenty of streamy water, loads of long flats and some fun pocket water. After a diary error, I had to frantically replan and only made it to the hut around 1130. With blanket grey cloud, intermittent rain and a gusty breeze, things didn't look promising but a few small rising fish in the pool in front of the hut and a decent looking salmon topping in the Rectory Stream put me in a good mood.
I spent a couple of hours covering the bottom of the beat up to the Rectory Pot. The fast water is very "trouty" and every cast feels like it's covering fish, so I spent longer than I perhaps should have done for no reward. At the deep fast run below Rectory Pool I switched to a heavy weighted black magic nymph and had a hard fighting brownie of 14".
After that the wind died off for a spell, the rain paused and suddenly there were pale yellow and brown upwings and the fish were on the surface. I fished all the way round to New Catch with dries - yellow Comparaduns, pale evening dun, parachute adam's - and had 7 trout from 7-16", with a brief pause to throw a minnow pattern across the neck of the Rectory which resulted in two trout around 10".

By this time it was 7pm so I skipped over the flats and fished under the bridge quickly, losing one on an Adam's. Finishing just before 8pm I headed back to the hut but couldn't resist a couple more casts to the last few rises of the day in the pool directly in front of the hut; these led to a couple of tiny chub not much bigger than the fly!

All in all, a really excellent day despite unpleasant conditions. I'll certainly be back to this beat.

10 Trout, 2 Chub

Plenty of fish rising on the flats in the morning, took two on CDC including a good 1lb trout. Ran teams of spiders through the faster water and tails, picked up a hefty grayling and four more smaller trout. Very quiet from mid afternoon. Wind picked up after 6pm left the river at 7pm.

5 Trout, 1 Grayling

Fished Early and late, caught three trout 12-16oz, a small chub and two Shad one around 1.5 lbs and another nearer 2lbs. All taken on nymphs.

3 Trout, 1 Chub, 2 Other

8 Trout, 6 Grayling

1 Trout, 1 Chub

Weather conditions were warm but also cloudy all day such that the slightly cooler evening felt incredibly 'fishy' and very promising despite lowish water. I'm not completely sure of the height but it must have been roughly same as the previous day's 9ins. I cast a shortish line offering a #10 Usk Grub from just above the rock line of lower section Mill stream. After perhaps two casts, a nice fish of around 15lbs with slight colour, performed a splashy head and tail jump adjacent to me, so I moved down a little and re-cast a few times before a serious take from behind the second lie down. I saw the fish (presume the same one) just once during the course of an exciting approx 5 minute contest which involved much head-shaking and a few deep dives rather than long runs. All seemed to be going well when suddenly 'ping', the rod straightened and no fish after all. Fly and points in good shape so it must be me.

Hot day fished hard for no result . Nothing seen or touched. No sign of Shad

With the river at 9’’ I wasn’t particularly confident, but thought I’d fish the low water marks. No more than a couple of trout in the Mill Stream. Tried the Neck of the Rectory, 2 more trout and then at the bottom of the run saw a flash as a 14lb fresh fish took my size 12 Stoats Tail. Give a good account of itself with 4 or 5 strong runs before coming to the net. First fish of the season. Had a strong pull in the Rock Pool a little later, whilst on the phone to Stephen, so I’m blaming him for not connecting with that one!

Nice to be of the mark in what has been a challenging start to the season

1 Salmon

Weather was better than expected a little rain but not much, cloudy with some sunshine and a very light breeze. Insect life was good, with hatches of Mayfly and Yellow Sally's. However black flies were the order of the day, and fish were caught on a black klinkhammer, black spiders and hare's ear.

9 Trout

Spent the morning with Adam Fisher, a guide based in Ross. I wanted to learn a bit more about watercraft and the holding areas of the fish. He put me in amongst them and I pulled out a sizable wild brown followed by a smaller offering that took the klink and dink method practically at my feet.
Later that day after Adam had left I put all of my new knowledge to task and caught the best fish of the day on the Island run. A very interesting beat, with a school of barbel and spawning lampreys spotted from the bridge.
If like me you have struggled to catch and need to know a few secrets of the river, I recommend sourcing a guide for a half day or more. Could make all the difference next time.

3 Trout