Feedback & Reports

Two nice brownies, the biggest about a pound caught on a gold head hare's ear. The river was running clear and a few fish were rising to the dry. A very enjoyable morning.

2 Trout

Superb conditions, 1 kelt on beat 2. Nothing seen other than that. Coarse fishing seems slow also perhaps the spawning is early this year?

1 Other

Many thanks to owner Barry for the invitation today. A fine spring day after the fog cleared, but I drew a blank for salmon unfortunately. I did briefly shake hands with something which felt more deliberate than a trout, but a couple of head shakes and it was off. After lunch I was able to watch a brief but intense hatch of march browns and some explosive rises from trout in response. As, in my wisdom, I had brought no trout tackle in the car, it was indeed a matter of just sitting on the bank and watching.

Landed two 6lb plus barbel and lost one by 10.30am so thought I was in for a better day than the one before but no bites for the rest of the day. Over the 2 days the feeding spells were very short, morning and last hour only.

2 Barbel

Fished Legg Meadow and caught two 8lb barbel on pellet and boilies.

2 Barbel

Began at 11am. Caught first fish within 10 mins on size 10 Damsel nymph(Floating line with 5ft intermediate tip). Wind picked up causing a strong in shore wave and things went quiet. Changed to intermediate line after lunch and bagged up within an hour. All fish taken on Damsel nymph. No surface activity.
It's a shame that the wormers hogg the same spot all day.
They should be allocated a smaller section of water in my opinion. Makes fly fishing amongst them very difficult!

4 Trout

River was at a good height with good clarity, saw 5 salmon show, 3 were leaping high from the water so may have been kelts. Saw 2 others in different places head and tail quietly but could not tempt them, despite my efforts. Had 2 pike on rapala, one of which was around 30lb and leapt from the river twice, the other around 10lb,
Thanks to the WUF, in particular Seth for sorting out the locked gate.

2 Pike

1 x trout 13 inches, Tungsten Hare's Ear nymph. Not an easy afternoon of fishing, but a wonderful walk up a very beautiful valley. I didn't get anywhere near the top. A clear blue sky, strong but warm wind, rooks tumbling in the sky above their nests, blackthorn in blossom - sorry to wax lyrical, but I do like this time of year. After several hours, though, I had tumbled nymphs into various holes without any sign of life. Nothing rising. When the take finally came, I was caught by surprise and turned over one of the largest trout I have seen in a brook. It was only on for a couple of seconds, but I had a chance to see a giant spotted flank before it disappeared into murky depths again. Again, sorry to give you the "one that got away" story, but I was left slack-jawed standing on the pool tail for several minutes after this. There are some surprisingly big trout in the Escley. 5 minutes before I absolutely had to leave and walk down the valley (having promised to take my poor wife out for a drink) a much more modest fish consented to come to the net, so I don't have to record a blank.

1 Trout

A nice afternoon in the sun, but I blanked. River was nearly back down to normal levels after the recent floods and looked great (just in time for the closed season) but I didn't get more than a couple of knocks on the rod tip. Should have brought maggots and my silvers gear but was after Barbel. Will be back in June!

Fished 4pm - 6.30pm. Meant to fish the morning but work got in the way! Fished the lagoon, one bite no fish. Moved in front of ticket hut, very windy and cold. One bite, no fish. Saw nothing moving apart from a cormorant. Tried spinner and worm on bottom and on float. Moved to concrete by dam for dusk, at last a fish - perch. And 2 more of the same on worm on bottom.

3 Other