Feedback & Reports

Very few fish rising for most of the day and those that did seemed to be 'oncers'. Never seen the Usk before and this beat has superb variety and there's plenty of it. Spent a lot of time walking/slipping and looking. 5 fish on black bead hares ear and 1 on a dry olive at 9.00pm when a few were rising consistently. Biggest fish 15" another 14", others averaged about 8", all returned. About 16 degrees C, showers and overcast most of day. River looked up slightly up with a bit of colour.

6 Trout

I fished the upper half of the beat & managed to land 2wbt on nymph. There was lots of fly life but not many fish rising & I couldn't tempt any with my dries. This is excellent trout water & I'm looking forward to fishing the lower half of the beat. Access from the bank is very limited but river is low enough to follow in waist waders but you need to protect yourself from stinging nettles.

2 Trout

Only fished for an hour. Wasnt happy with my car parked on the road.

Fished pm and evening on an overcast cool day with a gusty strong wind. No surface activity early pm so fished a team of wet flies downstream with little success - just 2 small brownies caught near the top of the beat in fast water. By early evening some sporadic surface feeding between strong gusts in response to hatches of olives and iron blues. 2 brownies were then taken on dry fly, one of approx 12 oz and another slightly over 1 lb. Lovely stretch of river that I suspect would fish much better in more favorable conditions.

4 Trout

Spinner.

4 Trout

Some bank work has been done with good access down the bank to the Vanstone with some new steps cut on one of them. Access to Maddox overgrown but reasonable. Due to high grass the direct route from the car park to Windmill is not practical so you have to follow the river making it a long walk to the upper pools - especially in waders on a hot day.
The level water level was fine but the water was very coloured - red/brown with visibility about a foot or a little better out of the stream. Starting very early I tried a Flying C for a while in Maddox through to the Vanstone but gave up after 3 hours.

No salmon seen or caught, river very low. Caught 1 chub on fly at Glangwy and hooked two shad on the spinner below Mill Stream.

1 Chub

The river was low (5in on brecon cam) and the water gin clear. Warm and overcast so we expected a hatch but the wind and rain soon arrived to kill the sport. Finished the day with a few small brownies, no sign of larger fish except one large salmon.

4 Trout

A good morning followed by a wet afternoon. Water was 50% coloured but fish were rising and Mayfly hatching throughout. My one trout, an 8 inch brownie, I'm a newcomer to river fishing, took an Elk but I also got bites on winged nymphs and very small brown dries.
Most rises seen down by the end of the beat at the stream. An enjoyable day but cut short by the weather which can't be helped.

1 Trout

Spent most of the day on the river. Conditions were promising but again as per my experience on the previous day on the Lower Escley, blanked again. Only Two rises, and one fish sub surface, but no takers for olive dry or ptn. Being as stealthy as a heron I was expecting some action but still no show. Fantastic scenery though, beats a day at work :-)