Feedback & Reports

River conditions were the same as day previous despite some nightime rain; which carried on up until mid morning. Bites were again hard to come by, even fishing the deeper water in the two swims closest to the tree line.
A good sized barbel eventually was banked (9lb 2oz) fishing very tight under a overhanging willow in the near margin. By this time the rain had cleared and gave way to a warm, but dull day.
A couple chub were also caught, again fishing the near margin shelf; one of which tipped the scales at just over 5lb.
Tactics and bait used were the same as previous day.
There was a slight issue with the anglers who fish the opposite bank (as part of the estate ) casting over to the far bank (our side) and also one guy deciding to wade right across and trott a bait along the margin where we were fishing. However, these were minor issues and we just moved to another part of the river.
A good 2 days fishing on the Wye, not as prolific as previous visits, but enjoyable nevertheless.

1 Barbel, 2 Chub

I had not intended to fish the main river, only wild stream beats and, as a result, was seriously undergunned for Penpont with a 7' 6" 3wt rod. After the tight confines of the Crai beats, Penpont felt luxuriously spacious and I didn't lose a single fly to the tree gods all afternoon.
There were a few fish rising early on but none even attempted to take my duo offering of an elk hair caddis and a beaded GRHE nymph. I switched over to an olive klinkhamer later but still no luck.
It's certainly a lovely looking beat and relatively easy wading. Thing is, when you mostly fish small rivers (as I do), something the size of the main Usk looks a bit daunting - loads of water and no real idea of how to approach it. I'll probably be back with a guide next time.

River in excellent condition, slightly up and coloured, but the fishing was slow. All the fish were caught on feeder and pellets. Don the fella that leases the stretch came down and was very helpful and informative.

6 Barbel, 5 Chub

Fished above the car parking space until the rain stopped, moved right down to the bottom of the beat, but no fishable spots. Found a spot on the bank in the middle of the second field, had a barbel 6lb 9oz, only bite. Fished just below the car space, late afternoon, had a 8lb 2oz towards the far bank were the Salmon were leaping. Good to be back on the Wye, off to Fownhope No 5 tomorrow.

2 Barbel, 2 Chub

Beautiful wild beat, but very cold when I went. A few rises from grayling but the river was very quiet. Called it a day after three hours with nothing accounted for.

Fished for 8hrs, nothing caught. Is the place getting stocked? Not worth the money.

Fished from 11am till 4pm. Took 3 browns on small nymphs in Gravel Catch and 2 Grayling. Missed 2 sizeable fish or what i thought were sizeable. All fish caught were released and between 10-12 inches. Perfect day, slight cloud cover, no wind.

3 Trout, 2 Grayling

Day two of the Usk reccie and another stunning stretch of water. Fished from car park 3 upstream through the wooded section and there's some fabulous runs and pockets for the speculative dry here and this did result in a 1 pounder (on a CDC & elk) that thought it was 2 pound, or on steroids. Fantastic condition and colours it was. Beautiful woodland on the right bank section up there too, a pleasure just to be there .
Very little rising today but nothing substantial hatching though and what was rising looked they where on needle fly and the flat glide immediately down from the car parking area (great hardstanding here BTW) had a lot of fish sipping away but after a couple of fish, eventually, to a tiny F fly I gave in and headed off away upstream.
Lot's more to do here and seems fantastic value for money to me and one thing that did strike me was the clarity of the water (some of the long pools and runs are hugely deep!) and also the sparklingly clean condition of the river bed in many places. It was a joy to be standing in the river casting a long line when its like this. The same applies to Pantyscallog too and turning over the stones reveals very large numbers of tiny olive nymphs (next years adults ?) and cased caddis/stone clingers, some pretty big ones too.
Can't wait to explore more and hopefully with a hatch on too. Its going to be fun, lots of fun.
Thanks WUF

3 Trout

My 4th trip here and different every time. Water very low and clear. Being an idiot I thought I was good enough to catch the few fish rising on the exposed, shallow and very sunny flats. Took 5 hours to quit that fantasy! Late pm it clouded over and I moved up to faster water where I caught 6 fish that went like demons and restored my self-esteem a bit. One fish to size 16 black magic nymph, otherwise Soft hackle dry fly did the business, 2 fish taking from sub surface after dry fly overwhelmed, so in similar conditions I'd probably try leggy wet flies but ran out of time today. Fish up to 16". Few par nibbled when I tried nymphing. Still fairly new to big rivers, still so much to learn. Lovely place, wading fairly ok today - but only because of how low it was.

6 Trout

Fly fishing. River very low, very little cloud cover. Very few fish showing and those that did were coloured.