Feedback & Reports

22 x trout 6-11 inches, mostly 7 and 8 inches, plus various parr, on a Rusty Klinkhammer. A very wet bank holiday morning, which I could have spent indoors watching the levels on the online gauges and worrying about whether there might be a chance of a salmon on a rising river somewhere, or whether there would be spinning or fly fishing later, and if so, when and where? When would night fishing for sea trout start again? That’s the trouble with chasing these here today and gone tomorrow, will they or will they not be in the mood, migratory fish – they don’t allow you to relax and it’s all very hard on the nerves. Instead I went trout fishing on the nearby Cannop Brook. The rain was relentless. The steam train chuffed up and down the valley making a nice fug. Nothing was rising, but every pool seemed to have a little trout prepared to rise, which is really just as good. I got to the top in three hours, just as the stream coloured up.
Incidentally, there has been some discussion at the WUF about just why these Forest streams have such prolific populations of small trout. One view is that we have the woody debris, of which there is much lodged in the channels, to thank for it. It’s certainly true that, between the loose timber and the tree roots, there is a lot of cover. Apart from kingfishers you rarely see fish eating birds around these streams and I can’t recall catching a fish showing predator damage. Another view is that, most unusually, there is virtually no agricultural land in these catchments, but only mixed forest with a large deciduous component. The only livestock in the area (apart from deer and wild boar) are lightly managed free range sheep, grazing over a wide area and at low density.
Quite possibly it is a combination of both factors which keep these little fish healthy.

22 Trout

No joy for me today.

Started later in the day. Caught a small chub immediately followed by one of 3lb 5oz later on. The Barbel showed up late afternoon with four, the best of which was my first double at last! Stayed in the Inn On The Wye which was handy and excellent service although the food was only ok.

4 Barbel, 2 Chub

5 chub, poor day. Lack of suitable swims, could not get near river for most of the beat. Access to the river is a long walk and even further on the way back after spending most of the day finding somewhere to fish.

WUF note - As per the beat notes provided, anglers are permitted to drive a car along full length of this beat. The beat is over 1 mile long with over 20 swims, including one beach area over 100 yards long that produces a lot of fish.

5 Other

2 Barbel, 1 Chub

8 Chub

12 x trout 6-10 inches, mostly smaller ones, plus a lot of parr as usual, on a Rusty Klinkhammer. Given that it was quite chilly and almost autumnal this morning, 7 degrees on starting, I was quite happy with that. Power company engineers have opened up some sections to the light, having pruned some trees to give room to the lines.

12 Trout

River too low to fish, schoolboy error booking it but had a good look at river bed, for when there is water.

Booked this to fish after Lower Longtown, even less water in the Olchon. Tiny little stream this one, I have seen larger water leaks!
Curry was good in the Crown, and my dog enjoyed his walk so all was not lost!

Fished 8.30am - 1pm. Water clear and warmer than I was expecting with a light breeze.
Trout - 1 x 7, 2 x 9 and 2 x 10 inches. Grayling 7, 10 and 14 inches. All on dark nymphs. The larger Grayling has some small green domed fungal growths on the dorsum just back from the head.

5 Trout, 3 Grayling