Feedback & Reports

River very high and ripping through but I have always fancied trying the eddy created by the willow first swim over the bridge, when the river is this state. So armed with my 2lbs test curve carp rod, bait runner loaded with 20lbs braid and 12lbs flouro hook link. Well my thoughts were if you do hook anything in that flow I would have a chance of banking it? My bait was a cheese paste with several add in's molded round a size 4 strong wide gape hook with the barb pinched down. 4oz of lead kept me on or near the edge of the flow, expecting chub was surprised that a steady bouncing bite produce a rather tatty looking Barbel, very pale in colour around 6lbs but it led me a right dance through weeds and bank vegetation (now under the water near the bank) several surging runs later it was netted. I had started fishing around 1pm and left just after 6pm. Same bait and rig saw me land a further 2 (good conditioned Barbel) and one lost fish in the submerged bank side weeds. Conclusion they are there and will feed in these high water conditions, but be prepared for a serious scrap if you hook Birty Barbel, all 3 fish required 10+ mins to recover in the landing net prior to release? Maybe pellet would have found a few chub but as always here, had a great afternoon.

3 Barbel

River had come up over night making accessing the swims difficult. I had 9 barbel and my mate had 1 and a chub.
Fantastic stretch of river that would benefit from a bit of tree clearance being carried out.

River levels too high after recent heavy rain. Even though the level had fallen during the day, no signs of fish anywhere on the beat.

An oddly shaped but pretty lake which is very shallow. As others have mentioned, one bank is not accessible and there are plenty of areas where fishing is not possible. I set up in the bay nearest parking spot. Beautiful clear day. Feeder (hemp-based ground bait) with corn was pretty ineffective although a couple of small roach did take the bait eventually. Stalking the margins with meat/corn yielded nothing, although I imagine it's a great tactic in summer. Plenty of small roach to maggot under the rod tip but it only keeps you interested for a while. I agree there doesn't appear to be a great number of big fish here although it probably wasn't the best time of year to find out. A real change from the usual commercial with just the cattle for company. Great directions and service from the Foundation. I'm back tomorrow as well.

20 Other

Reservoir really busy with worm and bait fishermen. Most of the access occupied making fly casting difficult. Fished west shore in the morning with no luck then caught a 3lb rainbow on the east side around lunch time. Returned to west shore and another 2lb rainbow caught. A pleasnat day albeit in a crowded location with squadrons of cormorants.

No fish caught that day by myself or any of the anglers around me.

We arrived at the venue to find 11' of flood water and the river just within its banks. The river did drop 3' during the day but was still unfishable in most areas. However, both anglers managed to find suitable spots but roving was clearly out of the question. We managed to catch a barbel each which we considered a decent result in these adverse conditions. The usual pellet and feeder being the successful method.

2 Barbel

The river was big when we first arrived and although I had fished it previously when high with some success it was exceptionally high with loads of debris. We fished very heavy and in close in the meadow, put in plenty of pellets and tried to present a static bait. My son had a nice 9lb 7oz barbel about an hour later and we thought we would catch some more. Unfortunately it went quiet and we started to lose a lot of tackle. We persevered but after a helpful chat we Don he suggested moving down to the top of the Wyebank beat. We took his offer and moved down, it certainly was easier to fish and hold bottom but the fish just weren't interested so we finished up with just the one fish but on a day when no one else bothered, we were pleased!

1 Barbel

I brought two of my mates along as a return favour. It was lashing it down all day. With the brolly blowing inside out and with the river rising we thought we would all struggle but my mate caught his pb barbel at 9lb 11oz and my son had one one at 8lb 4oz. We caught 7 barbel, 1 chub and foul hooked a jack pike. Not a bad day.

7 Barbel, 1 Chub, 1 Pike

We had a great day in spite of the weather which was awful !!! The track was impassable so parked at the Priory.
Access to swims was tricky and very slippery but we managed.
River was flowing fast and coloured but it didn't seem that high... We managed 3 barbel of 4lb, 5 1/2lb and one of 8lb 12oz plus a chub of 4lb 2oz and a 2lb ish eel. The barbel were taken on feeder with hair rigged pellet hookbait and the chub was taken on meat.

3 Barbel, 1 Chub