Feedback & Reports

2 x trout 15 inches and 19 inches, Waterhen Bloa. Many thanks to owner Barry Paraskevas for inviting me to try for a salmon. However, this was not to be, although I did get a long slow pull in the Rock pool. Still, the casting practice was good and this beat has an interesting variety of pools to try. After lunch, the LDOs showed up, so I dug out the trout rod and got a lovely brace of fish on spiders which made my day. A pleasantly warm afternoon, with no wind for a change.

2 Trout

Fished woodstream morning and rockpool afternoon. Some March Browns on surface in late morning to 2pm but no fish rising. I had no takes fishing small waterhen bloas. John had one fish of half pound - returned.
Fished rockpool from staging. No result. Water about .88 but cold ENE.

1 Trout

Nice day when out of the wind. Fished Woodstream as that gave more wind protection and better casting. Landed a nice brown of around 1lb on Thunder and Lightning tube around midday at the bridge.
One salmon topped and tailed above bridge but was fished over and not seen again.
Stuart Bigley and David MacPherson fished at the top and through the Rockpool with no takes.
John Lewis fished an orange and black tube but did not contact any fish.
Little or no fly life in the stiff cold westerly but a few trout did show mid afternoon. I had no luck fishing a pair of waterhen bloas in the margins.
We all enjoyed the opening day.

1 Trout

Great to be out on the river again. Water was clearing and starting to fall and so was full of anticipation. However, no sign of any fish during the day. It was good to get the muscles working again and look forward to a good season.

Had a lovely and very sociable day on the riverbank at the kind (as ever) invitation of owner. River was at 0.9m, reasonable colour but rising slowly. Saw approximately 8 salmon on the day, all runners I suspect.
They completely ignored the offerings of 6 competent salmon anglers till the curtain came down on another season frustratingly soon. Just 2 feisty 1lb trout caught. Best wishes to every one. See you next year.

2 Trout

A good day, however no fish seen or caught.

Last blog for the Monday rods. Allowed Rupert Banks to fish the day with us and what a red letter day for him, landing one trout on a cascade fishing for salmon followed by two salmon at Woodstream. The first was a good fish of 8lb, the second a monster 23lb cock fish which was released. (See ID 18772 report)
John Lewis caught and released a 15lb hen taken above the Rock on a single hook yellow/copper FC.
I had no luck!!! 3 fish for our last Monday of the season. Look forward to next season.
Well done Rupert!!

1 Salmon

Thanks must go to Lynn Thomas for encouraging me to fish Chainbridge today rather than somewhere else.
Within 20 minutes of starting to fish I landed a clean 8lb hen fish on a Red Francis Brass tube fly. Later in the day and after a 35 minute battle a 38.5" Cock fish, estimated at 23lb was landed on fly again, this time a Cascade, to complete a truly memorable day. My first and second Usk Salmon.

2 Salmon

Water was at 1mtr on gauge when we started at 1pm. We started at the Rock Pool with flying c's. 2 trout took them but no salmon. After two hours moved below the bridge and watched an angler on beat below land and release a good fish. A few salmon were showing and the water was falling and clearing when we left. Prospects look good for rest of week if we don't get another rise in water levels.

2 Trout

Arrived at dawn. River at 1.02m dropping slowly, colour just fishable. Had a few hours below bridge, saw 2 fish show well below the cables. Then spent a most enjoyable few hours with J.H. from Monmouth (a successful and very regular rod on the river) and osmosed a wealth of knowledge and tips from him.
Fished Rock for a few hours with just one hard pull on the dangle, but no other fishy contact. Thunderstorm dropped a pile of debris in the river. After hooking a leaf on six successive casts, retired defeated for a warming cup of tea with J.W.