Feedback & Reports

Cloudy day with intermittent rain and blustery wind. The top part of this beat is a tough one - real clambering and climbing along the left bank with lots of trees (need good roll casting here!!). Many deep pools over bedrock and not a sign of any fish. Day was not condusive to rises and we did not see any on this section. Fished all sorts of nymphs at various depths through the rills and channels but no luck. Thought that the fish were down and not really feeding. At the Wash pool where the banks open out some wading into the middle and fishing across and down with tiny wets and nymphs pulled 4 4 & 5" fish out. Moved on down the beat but water was very shallow so not easy to stay covered and not spook what few fish might be around. No rises. At the run into the Crawnon pool it looked distinctly more fishy and sure enough took two fish - one to the Pennell and the other, even though I say it myself, to a superbly presented dry fly to a 1lb fish rising behind some branches - 'just put it on that dinner plate over there without spooking the fish time.....'Nice fish and good way to finish the day. Total 6 fish - all returned.

NB about this beat - unless you are pretty agile and fit the top section from the footbridge down to the wash pool is very hard climbing and rather like an assault course. If the water is down it is not so bad because you can use the bedrock at the edges, if not then it would be climbing through trees and up and over rocks and boulders. Plus side however is that if the fish are there you are pretty well hidden and can cast (roll of course) straight to them - would be very little fishing pressure too.

Great beat. Very very cold, wet and windy - the weather did not do too much for the fishing. Still caught two trout and two grayling).

The most secluded and remote of all the beats on the Usk I have fished, with a great variety of water. Had an otter playing around in the water, just 30 feet away from me, for about 10 mins - totally unpeturbed by my presence (it only went after I had to go and rescue my bag, as I thought it was about to grab my lunch). Wet, dull day, with only a few fish rising during the entire day. After a long fight, caught 1 x lovely 18 inch trout, on a March brown - safely returned.

7 brown trout , best 11" plus one smolt. All returned.
PS. This beat is shorter than described. Nearer 1,000 yards i.e. just over half a mile.

Not a particularly encouraging start , cold windy and dull.
Water very very low , very difficult to nymph so we tried, despite the lack of fish rising, tempting fish out of the margins with yellow may duns and Adams. Worked very well had about twelve fish between us, 4 about 8 inch the rest around 12. 2 of the smaller fish were grayling, the rest browns.

Stayed at the Wellington in in Brecon, clean room , ensuite, good breakfast, £46, not bad! Only problem no parking, but parked 2 minutes down the road

The french anglers are coming back with most beautifull views in their heads. We would like to thank you to help us, without your difficulties, to make our dream reality. We catch (and release!) most beautifull fishes. We hope to see you soon.
My friend would like a W&U Foundation Passeport, could you please send me one?

First time for me on the beat and its a big piece of river, took some time to find my way around. Very cold, felt more like March, warmed up a bit in the afternoon. Fishing risng spradically but nothing consistent. Some olives around midday, yellow may duns in the afternoon and evening. Caught 6 on the day none bigger than 8 inches, 50/50 dries and nymphs.

5 x Trout
1 x Grayling

Another cold morning so, with nothing hatching, if you will forgive the innuendo, I started on a nymph just above the weir. Very slow and almost back up to the car before I caught the first fish - a grayling of about 1lb on a GRHE. Much warmer by then with a few flys (mostly PWOs) hatching and the odd fish on the top. Switching to a dry and targeting rising fish, I picked up 5 trout through the afternoon. Some quality fish - I needed the net for all of them with two of them at 1lb plus.

8 x trout 8 - 17 inches; best fish 2 x 16 inches, 1 x 17 inches. A slow start on a very cold morning, 3 degrees when I got there from Swansea and a dusting of snow on the Beacon peaks overnight. River also very low, which makes some of the pools difficult. But olives hatching as it warmed up and a few hawthorns around; the odd fish prepared to come up to spiders during the morning and the Bridge pool is always good for a few. After lunch, though, a serious hatch of ? brought some nice wild fish steadily on the rise. I was going to type march browns there, but all this talk of correct identification and false march browns has made me lose confidence a bit. A specimen in alcohol is on its way by post to the Foundation and if it turns out to be large brook dun, you are going to have to forgive me! The main thing is the trout seemed to be really keen on them and a Deer's Hair Emerger with a prominent wing turned out to be the medicine of the day.

6 trout to 10" 3 Grayling to 7" caught on green bead head hare's ear nymph apart from one trout on cdc dry olive. All returned. Not much fly hatching. Lost my metal frame snowbee hand net but apart from that most enjoyable day in beautiful location.