Feedback & Reports

6 Barbel, 3 Chub

A bit too low at 1’2 for salmon prospecting but I gave it a go putting a fly through all of the beat below the hut.Nothing seen though.
There were plenty of grayling in Gromain’s pools today, and the trout were looking up as well. Trout to 11” but some bigger grayling with only a few juvenile fish. Caught on the usual spider and weighted nymph patterns . Some tight line nymphing with a pair of perdigons took most of the bigger fish.
All quickly returned.

12 Trout, 20 Grayling

2 Trout

2 Trout

3 Anglers fished. The old boys saved the day.

29 Barbel, 36 Chub

1 Barbel, 4 Chub

Nothing caught

According to my records, I fished the lower half of this beat in early 2008; today I fished the upper half, so it has taken me just over 13 years to complete this beat! What the hell was I thinking - this is a lovely bit of the Usk and I see from my notes I had a great time on the last trip too. It has a wonderful mixture of deep pools, riffles, runs and glides - something for everyone (some of the deep gutter pools scream salmon too?). The bedrock in some places is indeed treacherous - like ice, would definitely repeat the advice for felt soles and studs. I was more Torvill & Dean than Lefty Kreh out there (at one point I think I managed a triple salco, was thankful to land it but doubt I would have scored more than a 3! XD). The fishing was a bit slow today, not much rising and when they did it was nearly always a single rise which did not repeat. The one fish that did rise repeatedly was near some tree canopy and there were needle fly around there - after a couple of changes I caught him on a Snipe and Claret spider which made a good imitation. Also some caddis, and very occasional mayfly hatching, but they didn't really get going well - caught the other four on nymphs. All average or small for the Usk (between 8 and 12") - I did manage one bite on a dry (Elk Hair Caddis) which looked much bigger from the rise form, but didn't connect unfortunately. Thanks and I look forward to fishing it again (and it won't be another 13 years)!

5 Trout

4 Rods - had to share swims. Not great for 4 rods. The wood was blocked off with overgrown swims. Long walk but picturesque. Nice chub though 2lb to 5lb

12 Chub

River in really nice condition and excellent day the barbel came from a few different places and all caught on meat. More kayaks and paddle boarders on the bottom end quieter further up. Other fish were eels.

13 Barbel, 2 Chub, 3 Other