Feedback & Reports

Another very hot but enjoyable day on the Wye.
We walked the river first to check out swims and try to spot fish. Once again, my friend saw some barbel first which were cleaning themselves off on a rocky shallow swim so we made that our main target area. We made a route through the vegetation to get slightly upstream of them and fished 10mm pellets with pellet loose feed via catapult. We had four barbel and a chub during the afternoon but we felt they were not feeding very well in the bright conditions.
We gave the swim a rest and tried the croy for a short while but no joy there, just chub knocks.
We returned to the previous swim and in the last hour before dusk we had six more barbel again sharing one rod taking turns between us. Checking your rig was not stuck in the rocks was important, a gentle lift up to make sure after each cast.
This stretch does have enough swims we thought. We travel light and sit on unhooking mats. The walk is short but does have a steep climb back to the car which is always easier when you have had a good day.

10 Barbel, 2 Chub

Low, clear water, wet fly success. Fish 8 to 10 inches, all returned in good condition.

4 Trout

Fished using pellet in the midday sun, too hot, too bright. It didn't help having three people paddling there feet up steam of me. Couldn't fish any where else as the banks just too overgrown. So I went home. Shall try again some place else next time.

Too hot.

Tried a few swims but the barbel just didn't want to play. It was very hot again so the chub of maybe a pound was a lovely distraction on what, although not a great day for fishing, was a lovely day to just be out.

1 Chub

1 trout,1 crayfish AGAIN!

1 Trout

River low but still fishable in certain areas. Fish cruising all day but not really interested in a wide range of flies offered, both wet and dry. 1 fish just under a pound taken from the tail of the top pool on a Diawl Bach. Evidence of spinner fishing on top pool with spinners attached to power lines!
Lovely beat even though water low. Would be tempted to come back when more water around.
On the downside, the whole beat has been invaded by Japanese Knotweed which is in need of eradication.

2 Trout

Small trout and grayling on nymphs/spiders. A good chub on a streamer.

4 Trout, 2 Grayling, 1 Chub

Extremely tough Going, river level too low and weather too hot. Fished the wood section dawn till dusk with a short break in the afternoon. Wood crib in the morning and about 3 pegs downstream of the rocks in the evening. One bite one fish 2nd to last cast 7lb barbel.

1 Barbel

An excellent afternoon/early evening's fishing on my favourite beat. River very slightly coloured and the Rhayader Gauge at 9'' , pretty much perfect.
The Sedge hatches were pretty much constant though the time I was there, and at times incredible. However, as is the case on this part of the river, very few fish interested with surface feeding, why I have no idea.
I fished New Zealand Style with an Elk Hair Brown or Yellow Sedge with a small gold head GRHE with a pink thorax (deadly for Grayling and the Trout love them too) fished about a foot and a half deep. This set up works well through the beat, with very little need to change depth, in fact I didn't all day!
Saw 2 trout feeding close to the near side of the channel and took one first cast, which came off close to the net, about a pound and a half. After this the fish kept coming, mainly 8-10 inch grayling but a few bigger ones, the best being a fish of 18 inches, beautiful dark coloured fish which didn't fight much until it saw me and the awaiting net, after which it decided to try and get to Builth Wells!
Moved upstream targeting pocket water and the many features such as single rocks which offer a perfect hiding place, taking grayling and the odd trout.
Then got to a spot, which I feel is one of the best on the whole Wye (I'm not giving that one away!), where I have caught many sizable trout up to 3.5 lb. On this occasion, the resident was a trout of 2lb, actually I little disappointed as I had hoped for much bigger.
All in all, a great days sport, probably more fish than I normally take here, but no real specimens, which was a surprise considering the amount of fish caught. Only 3 fish took the dry, one trout and two grayling.

5 Trout, 25 Grayling