Feedback & Reports

With the river carrying over a metre of floodwater, it was a difficult day. Two barbel around six pounds and three chub responded to our pellet and feeder tactics and it was a real pleasure to be fishing. A chat with Colin rounded off a very enjoyable session.

2 Barbel, 3 Chub

12 x grayling 10-16 inches, 11 x out of season trout 6-15 inches, long trotting. Gauge watching is getting to be a nerve racking business. Dry for a couple of days now and the Irfon slowly dropping off, nice and clear. That's looking hopeful. But then about 6 hours of moderate rain during the night before fishing, ending around dawn. Would this bring the Irfon up into a spike of muddy high water, or would it be absorbed? I went anyway, and the river continued to run down (around 0.65 at Cilmery) and remained clear. Another dark day with odd showers, warm and with an upstream wind, which is the right kind for float fishing. In fact about 2 in the afternoon there was a concerted rise to dark olives for about half an hour, with fish coming up right next to me. Oh for a dry fly; they didn't want maggots at that moment! As I had been lazy and left the fly rod in the car, I missed out on this opportunity. There are times when the fly rod will beat trotting hands down and I'm sure this would have been one of them.

12 Grayling

Found conditions slightly tough with the river right at the top of its range but we carried on. A few OOSB and 4 grayling not big fish up to 12" or so but enough to keep our party happy, this is a lovely area/beat though.

4 Grayling

1 barbel and 2 chub on pellet and bread.

1 Barbel, 2 Chub

Didn't really do it justice, after a heavy night got there late in the day but wanted to try a new roll casting line, so had a flick about for an hour or so. It's a lovely stretch which I will be returning to soon.

2 Grayling

Nice day on the Irfon. River a bit high but running clear, still proved difficult to find the fish. Only one small grayling caught on a goldhead nymph. One larger fish lost as well.

1 Grayling

We arrived to find the river very high as expected, and didn't feel we had a great chance of catching the barbel but thought it worth a try for the chub, so we soldiered on. Alas, fish on the bank was not to be today, but never the less, we had a great day trying to catch fish. There was an otter around which didn't help the cause but the scenery was stunning. A great day, tried hard but failed this time. Can't wait to visit again. Did Fownhope 5 three weeks ago and couldn't stop catching all day long.

River quite high after the rain Thursday night. Only a few small pike caught.

3 Pike

Having struggled the previous day on Backney, the ever increasing river level did not bode well for this session. River up over two feet on previous day. From past experience we knew the beat would not offer many opportunities to present a bait, other than the odd spot right in the edge. Which is what we did. My buddy MH managed a PB 10 lb barbel from under his feet. After a short nap to help recover from the previous nights over indulgence in Ross, MH had another one of 7 1/2 lb. Both on pellet. Proving the point that no matter how unfishable the river can appear at times there is always the chance of mugging a beard or two if your willing to put the effort in! This beat is also one of the most scenic I've fished and I look forward to returning soon.

2 Barbel

No fish caught on a tough day, river in flood.