Feedback & Reports

Real mixed bag of weather, sun, cloud, rain and hail. River dropping after Tuesday's deluge but level made wading challenging and unable to reach the middle of the river to cast under the trees, a prime spot on this beat.
Mixed hatch, with the odd flurry of LDO's in the afternoon but nothing really rising. Nymphed most of the day. 6 thumping wbt caught, 5 over 12 inches, best around 15". One caught on a dry late afternoon, all returned. Given the forecast earlier in the week much better than expected.
If you plan to fish this beat the track to car park 2 is a challenge, best negotiated in a 4 x 4 or with similar clearance.

6 Trout

5 trout caught on 2 rods using worm as bait.

5 Trout

Beat holds lots of big trout. Caught four very nice trout up to 3lb+ on Deer Hair Emerger and bead head nymphs. Plenty of water and strong currents but only a little rain over the day. Fished only a small part of the beat but had plenty of takes.

4 Trout

Took dogs for evening walk along Pinsley and saw first rise of the season. Went home - tied on an 16 Iron Blue Dun and hurried back. 1st cast - aimed at inside channel missed a very splashy take. 2nd cast - hooked and landed same fish, lovely 8" wbt. 3rd cast - aimed at far channel but landed on central weed bed. 4th cast - into far channel and hooked and landed identical twin. Few more casts, but no interest.
Very satisfying first fish of the season.
Pinsley lovely at moment and holds some fiesty, not so little fish, but bankside vegetation and streamer weed already making it challenging. If you plan to fish this Wild Stream beat - would do so in the next few weeks.

2 Trout

It felt like I was fishing in a time warp, it is May and not March? I only fished the morning before the rain arrived. The temperature was ten degrees and the fish knew it. One rise in four hours and I brought him to the fly but he just bounced on it in disgust.

No salmon caught or seen.

Saw fish rising when crossing Bredwardine Bridge at lunchtime today, so decided to go and wet a line on the home patch in the rain in the afternoon, in anticipation of everything dirtying up tomorrow after the rain! In spite of the 7 degrees and pretty steady rain (but no stair rods), but being blessedly still, with little or no wind, yellow mays continued to come off during the afternoon and fish were rising to emergers and some to duns. All rising fish that were caught proved to be trout and all were caught on a yellow may emerger pattern (if interested, see Gwent Angling Society website for tying details). Also saw some mayfly - good news maybe for the prospect of their also now beginning to show on the brooks and streams that hold them in the WUF catchment.

6 Trout

Started fishing at 5:00 am worked down through Maddox, Corner pool, and into The Vanstone with fly and spinner. River was in good condition, nice clarity but too much silkweed washing through though. No fish seen but a good day, cant wait to go back.

Trout were caught on size 12 dry flies and small nymphs. A lot of rain all day and temperatures like in April. At least no hail!

4 Trout

One of the best days I've had in a long while. A really lovely beat, interesting to fish and easy wading. Started around 10am working upstream. The only trout I saw were those that skittered away from my clumsy approach and a couple lying under overhanging branches and knots of vegetation. Spent two hours trying to sneak up and flick little casts at them with nothing to show except a collection of twigs. Around midday the trout very suddenly started feeding on the surface. A gentle hatch carried on all afternoon and evening - it was still just about going when I left at 6pm. Unsure of the entomology, I initially assumed LDO but when I got hold of a couple they were paler, more brown in colour with yellow legs.
Trout were rising consistently which made for exciting fishing but I was unable to effectively match what was hatching. I went through most of my box, taking a total of 5 and losing 4 more on a mixture of CDC Dark Olives, Cillabaetis Comparaduns, Royal Coachmen and Red Quill Duns. Largest was around 10 inches with the rest between 6 and 8. All returned.
A very exciting day I shall remember for a long time. The only thing that stopped me going on until dusk was the steady rain and cold that eventually left me unable to tie knots without dropping the contents of my fly box all over the floor. I'm sure somebody more competent than I with exactly the right colours in his box would have landed dozens more over the course of the day.

5 Trout