Oliver Burch's Game Fishing Monthly Report - September 2024

The coarse fishing bonanza continued while August turned to September. MR from Norwich scored 6 barbel and 13 chub at Middle Hill Court, followed a day later by GR from Yeovil with 2 barbel and 50 chub. CF from Alton fished at Middle Ballingham and Fownhope No 8 for 3 barbel to 6 pounds and no less than 90 chub. AW from Crew with a friend had 5 barbel and 20 chub from Upper Breinton, while CH from Newport had 2 barbel and 9 chub to 4.5 pounds from Foy Bridge. As usual, there were some complaints. RW from Bradford on Avon was disappointed at being left to pick up the litter left by previous anglers at Upper Hill Court. There were numerous reports of successful days at the Beacons reservoirs, Llwyn on and Usk, but PL from Merthyr Tydfil was annoyed at catching 26 perch at Usk along with his 4 trout and suggested a campaign of perch extirpation: “…something needs to be done.” I would suggest maybe trying fly fishing rather than worm to avoid most of the unwanted perch? More seriously, GD from Pentre with a friend took 8 trout at Llwyn On, but as they arrived in the morning found the bony remains of a fish barbecue on still smouldering fires left by overnight stayers. I concede that we really should ask Welsh Water to look at that problem.

Meanwhile HD from Coral Gables fished the Middle Bran for 5 trout to 7 inches. (Yes, I wondered where Coral Gables is too, and found out that it is in Florida. It’s always nice to welcome guests from overseas). MN from Bristol wisely picked a quiet day at Glan yr Afon now that the school holidays are over and caught 7 trout including specimens of 18, 17 and 16 inches. AA from Norwich with a friend had 16 trout to 2 pounds 3 pounces while fishing the fast water at Abercynrg. RB from Bromyard had a small trout on a nymph fishing at Hindwell Coombe and I had some sympathy when he wrote that at 80 years old he is starting to find the Wild Streams difficult to get around. A neighbour to the beat suggested to him some alternative parking to the one listed on the directions, which might require clarification from the Passport Office?

JD from Chippenham with a friend reported a big fall of flying ants at Llyn Craigypistyll near Aberystwyth. I wish I had seen that. They caught 10 trout on small black patterns. RM from Yeovil was fishing for salmon when he caught a small chub with a single hooked Flying C at Goodrich Court on 4th September. However, we should remind everybody that spinning on the Wye, which comes under Welsh cross-border river byelaws, legally ends on 31st August.

The weather continued as strange as it has been all this season: warm and humid, great towers of cumulus cloud drifting up from the coast with occasional lightning and thunder storms. We hardly saw the sun and mist hung over the hills in daytime darkness. Some of the showers were truly tropical in their intensity, but nevertheless intermittent and very much localised. To my surprise, there were only a couple of minor and short-lived lifts in water levels on the rivers during this rainy period. 6 inches on the upper Wye for a day or so seems to have sparked just a little salmon activity, the first in a long while. Mike Foster had a 9 pounds fish from Glanwye on the 5th. March Harris caught a small cock fish of something like 6-7 pounds from Chapel Catch at the bottom of Llangoed and Lower Llanstephan on the same day. He was using a Silver Stoat tied on a ½ inch copper tube. I can remember once in high summer catching a 6 pounds grilse on an 11 foot switch rod from those same deep gutters; that very welcome fish came up for a size 12 Black Pennell on the dropper on that day.

AA from Norwich caught 17 trout from the Usk’s Dufnant beat, the best fish being a very impressive 3 pounds 2 ounces. MN from Bristol recorded a 19 inch specimen in a bag of 6 trout taken at Upper Tower; that one would also have weighed around 3 pounds. PB from Churchdown with a friend reported 17 trout to 16 inches taken with a Grey Duster Parachute at Llangadog on the Towy. However, no sewin were to be found. Such is likely to be the future for these South Wales rivers, I am afraid. And NG from Bampton caught 2 barbel and 10 chub while trotting meat at Caradoc on the middle Wye. SD from Rotherham fishing with two friends at Middle Hill Court, while acknowledging the stirling efforts of keeper Stefan, put in a plea for more bank improvement and investment by fishery owners. RH from Ashford asked for more ropes at the same beat. This worry about the banks became a common theme during a month of rain and mud. However MJ from Weston-Super-Mare pronounced him pleased with the fishing at Wyebank: “Nice day’s fishing in the rain.” He caught 5 barbel, 5 chub and an eel. RR from Bridgend fishing at Upper Breinton reported 1 trout, 3 barbel to 8 pounds, 12 chub, 24 dace and 2 perch including a 2 pounder. The river was slightly coloured. JJ from Stourbridge with a friend fished the Usk at Dinas and caught 16 trout. AA from Norwich fished at Buckland and also reported 16 trout to 2 pounds 1 ounce: “A good day, not a great day.” Ah well, fair enough. We do try to please.

On the 6th MB from Northampton while fishing at the Creel had 7 barbel to 7 pounds and 37 chub to 4 pounds. MH from Swansea put in a remarkable effort, fishing the Usk at the Breconshire Fishery for trout and the Wye at the Rectory for salmon, all on the same day. No cigar on this occasion, sadly. AS from Wallingford recorded 4 barbel and 40 chub from Middle Ballingham and Fownhope No 8. He was at Caradoc on the following day for 3 barbel and 10 chub. NA from Oundle caught 1 barbel and 15 chub at Fownhope No 5. AF from Stroud fished Upper Clochfaen at the top of the Wye and had a brace of trout including an 18 inch fish. MD from Walton on Thames had 10 trout on dry flies at Greta Farm. IM from Gloucester caught 3 trout from rising water in the Bideford Brook under the Forest of Dean, but was not happy about the access. This was mainly due to a herd of cattle including a bull now present in the field on the right bank of the river, along with the associated electric fencing to keep the beasts out of the water. It’s difficult to give advice about this one; the bankside field are usually reserved for silage while the cattle are normally kept on the other side of the road. The farmer has his priorities and he needs to fatten his livestock. It is admittedly a bit of a bore, but if you don’t want to walk through cattle it is possible to wade up the whole beat in the river channel bar a couple of diversions up onto the left bank to get around fallen trees, and you can even come back to your car via the village if you wish. Just keep turning right. BC from Northamptonshire caught 1 barbel and 14 chub from Holme Lacy 3 and Lechmere’s Ley, while AT from Basingstoke fished through rain showers at How Caple Court for 1 barbel at 8 pounds 9 ounces, and 11 chub to 5 pounds 2 ounces.

As you might expect, the flush of high water stirred the salmon up a bit once more. On the 12th Wyesham reported a fish of 7 pounds on a Junction Shrimp, followed by 3 more on the 13th. Two fish, 14 and 17 pounds, both on a Willie Gunn tube fly, were reported from Nyth and Tyrcelyn on the upper river on the same day, followed by a 9 pounder on the 14th. James Blachford had a fish of 15 pounds from Glanwye on the 15th. Dennis Cotter fished his regular beat at Llangoed and Upper Llanstephan and caught a cock fish of 15 pounds on a Silver Doctor tied on a no 6 double. You couldn’t call this a dramatic run for the Wye, but after the drought of the summer it was very welcome. Abercothi on the Towy reported no less than 15 salmon over the previous 6 days.

We had a sudden drop in temperature on the morning of the 13th, with the first ground frosts of the year showing in Forest hollows. Regular Dave Collins from Moccas fished at Ty Newydd, but found his access restricted due to the high water – 1ft 5 inches on the Llanstephan gauge. There were some flies hatching and he managed 1 trout and 8 grayling nevertheless. On the 14th LE from Usk made the journey up to Llyn Bugeilyn where he caught 30 trout on claret-coloured patterns, which sounds like a traditional approach. However, his day was spoiled by trespassers who insisted on swimming in the lake while he fished. Their proffered justification that they had “paid subs to Canoe Wales” is of course totally irrelevant, except perhaps for the fact that Canoe Wales also have a pretty cavalier attitude to private property. NM from Shoreham by Sea had a worse experience at Dinas, on the Usk just outside Brecon. Firstly he found the outer gate off the layby on the by-pass was hanging on one hinge and he strained his back trying to drag it open. Secondly he encountered and challenged – for which thanks – two local poachers who were spinning the Usk. These two were apparently quite threatening, which I can well believe having had a similar experience on the same beat. NM did make a call to the WUF, although I note that this was on a weekend. Were the police called? I can imagine that all this took any residual pleasure out of NM’s day, for which I sympathise. JM from Lancaster on the following day noted the unpleasant sewage discharge to the upper part of the beat, which is another problem for what is really one of the best trout fishing beats on the Usk.

Warmer weather followed with high pressure and clear skies. As the level of the Wye dropped, MJ from Bristol caught 19 chub at Fownhope No 5, “… a thoroughly enjoyable day.” AS from Malton with a friend had 10 barbel to 10 pounds 6 ounces plus 10 chub from How Caple Court. CH from Bridport recorded 4 barbel to 5 pounds plus a big catch of chub to 5 pounds 2 ounces at Middle Hill Court: “…a magnificent day’s fishing.”   

Joe Alexander of Rhayader fished the Ithon at Llandewi over two consecutive days, for 12 and 14 trout respectively. On 16th PA from Bristol had a slightly curious catch on nymphs from the Bideford Brook, reporting 2 trout, a perch and a rudd. The last looks a bit like a roach to me, but I could be wrong. SM from Redditch with a friend took 2 barbel and 22 chub at Caradoc, while AH from Witney caught 8 barbel to 9 pounds 1 ounce and 16 chub to 5 pounds from Home Fishery. He also put in a plea for access ropes during the wetter months. AT from Basingstoke caught 8 barbel to 9 pounds 4 ounces and 10 chub to 5 pounds 6 ounces at Wyastone Leys. AT from Hereford fished the Ithon at the Severn Arms no 1 beat, catching 10 trout and 14 grayling including a big one. DW from Poole noted brown foam in the river while catching 2 barbel at Wyastone Leys and wondered whether this might indicate a raw sewage discharge. Well, not necessarily so, I should caution; don’t believe everything you read about the Wye in the papers. I do remember that old salmon fishers used to complain that the fishing was never good when the foam was collecting on the surface.

By the 18th the rivers had dropped back to a normal level, but there were a couple more salmon to record from the bottom of the Wye. Wyesham reported a fish of 8 pounds and Dave Rickards caught a 10 pounder from Little Run on Upper Bigsweir with an Ally’s Shrimp. Terry Hickman had another from the same pool, while Joshua Bunning caught a hen salmon at Whitney Court. Abercothi on the Towy announced another 8 fish, making 23 so far for September. On the upper Wye Brian Skinner caught a coloured cock fish of 8 pounds from the Ferry Pool at Gromaine. This one took a Thunder and Lightning fished on a dropper while extending line near the bank apparently. Thunder and Lightning is a pattern I used to fish a lot, mainly due to a whimsical fondness for the colour combination. Also I remember the late Stuart Jarvis, gillie at Glanusk, was always on at me to fish a dropper when the water was low. Sometimes I would, but I once asked him: “Isn’t there a big risk playing a salmon hooked on a dropper with the point fly trailing around behind?” He responded: “Not if you have the two flies just 30 inches apart. The chances are that the point fly will just wrap itself around the body of the salmon. I think two flies must look like one thing chasing another thing and they go for that.” I expect he was right. Note that those were, of course, the days of catch and kill.

At this time we had the highest spring tides of the year, so again there was reason to expect some new fish in the lower rivers. Wyesham reported two more salmon on the 20th, at 8 and 11 pounds. The annual total was now standing at around 160, not an impressive figure for the Wye, but with more rain in the weather forecast there were presumably grounds for optimism about the final month of the season. There were rumours about fish seen and taken in the lower Usk. PB from Churchdown with a friend fished the Towy at Llangadog and caught 22 brown trout, but sadly no sewin. AF from Nailsworth fished the upper Wye at the top part of Doldowlod and caught 7 trout and 2 grayling on spiders. AS from Malton with a friend had a “great day fishing on the Wye” at Fownhope No 5, catching 5 barbel to 7 pounds and 18 chub. AM from Bristol had 6 barbel and 5 chub from Thomas Wood. CM from Ware with 2 friends fished at Home Fishery for 10 barbel to 8 pounds 3 ounces and 24 chub to 5 pounds 9 ounces. MT from Brighton was booked on at Wyastone Leys with 3 friends, but the others remained at home with covid – there seems to be a lot of it about again. He caught 4 barbel and 8 chub while being troubled with eels attacking meat baits. SG from Taunton had an interesting day at Upper Breinton on the 19th, using meat on a waggler float, for 5 barbel, 50 chub, 2 trout and 10 perch. GJ from Rangeworthy was fishing at Middle Ballingham and Fownhope no 8, catching 19 chub: “Must say the Wye is fishing so well.” GR from Liverpool was on the same beat and caught 2 barbel and 22 chub. MO from Congresbury caught 18 barbel and 50 chub from the Creel: “Great day fishing…being overcast helped.”

Talking to out of town clients lately, those visitors who are fishing our rivers for the very first time, the phrases “chicken farm” and “slurry spreading”  come up at once. It seems that everybody including me thought they knew what is wrong with the Wye, but it is in fact all too easy to mistakenly assign our problems to a single cause. Phosphate levels have certainly been high at times, but a newsletter from the WUF on 5th September gave us some early results of a 2 year survey carried out by Cardiff University about the water quality of the Wye and its recent algal blooms, both the free drifting kind and the slimy coating on bottom stones. Results so far are not quite as expected. More precisely it is not just phosphate levels responsible for our troubles; the matter is more complicated than that. Nitrates, ammonia, water flow volumes and water temperatures are all likely to be part of the problem. This implies a need for more nuanced approach to protecting and restoring the river. Hopefully we will hear some more detail about this during the WUF AGM on 15th November. Personally, I would like to congratulate the WUF for having the courage to be openly frank about the situation and the possible need to change the direction of their efforts. Which is quite a contrast to most political organisations in the modern world, which prefer to change direction and indeed break pledges while hoping nobody will notice.

Meanwhile the crayfish plague problem experienced on the Irfon tributary is as yet unresolved. Other Wye tributaries, particularly the Arrow, are considered to be at risk. Currently the strong advice from environmental organisations on both sides of the border as well as from the WUF is that anglers and others should not enter either the Irfon or the Arrow in an attempt to contain the infection until the problem is over. From our experiences with the same plague in the Forest of Dean, I can advise that resolving this situation may take some time. We are waiting to hear the results of some eDNA testing at the time of writing. I appreciate this wait is frustrating for autumn grayling fishers who would like to fish both the Irfon and Arrow.

At this time of year while the nights lengthen, I try to be careful during my early and late drives across the Forest. Whether I’m heading for Herefordshire or Wales, I need to cross those miles of thick woods twice each day. No-one wants to hit an animal, particularly a deer, or indeed have the car wrecked. This evening I had a close call with two big black boars. This morning there were two muntjacs running from the bracken across in front of me, and a fallow doe on the verge last night. The handsome fallow deer moving through trees like silent ghosts have always been familiar encounters when walking quietly at either dawn or dusk, but even they lose some of their caution on the roads as the rutting season approaches.

During the centuries when the Dean was a royal hunting forest, a surprising number of people seemed to have a claim on the King’s deer. Hunting laws were administered by a Swainmote Court and officials known as Verderers, Foresters and Agisters, who “disposed of all cases in which deer were killed without warrant.” There had been a time when killing the royal deer was a capital crime, but later it attracted a year and a day imprisonment in St Briavels Castle, or a very heavy fine. However, each of the Dean’s four Verderers was entitled personally to a buck and a doe every year. The holder of the title “Chief Forester in Fee and Bow-Bearer to the King” claimed the right to kill 10 bucks and 10 does every year, and additionally to be entitled to the right shoulder of every deer killed in the Forest. He also had the right to hawk, hunt, fish and fowl within the Forest. In return for these privileges he would attend the King with a bow and arrow and six men clothed in green, whenever the monarch wished to hunt in the Dean. Even stranger was the ruling that any archbishop, bishop, earl or baron summoned to the King and passing on his way through a royal forest, had the right to “take and kill one or two deer, by the view of the Forester, if he be present, or cause one to blow an horn for him that he seem not to steal the deer.”

 The “fence month” or fawning season, 15 days before to 15 days after mid-summer day, was strictly observed. All dogs were to be kept in at the peril of the owner and any found “hunting or out of the highway with bow or gun” would be brought before the Verderers for judgment and punishment. Nor were swine or cattle to be driven or underwood gathered in such a way as to disquiet the deer.

So much for the medieval Forest. It is often said there has always been a herd of between 800 and 1,000 fallow deer in the Dean, since the Forest’s time as a royal hunting domain. That idea is not strictly true; the number of deer in the Forest has had its ups and downs, just as the much quoted 20,000 acres of trees has varied tremendously over time (if you include the numerous outlying and private woods on both sides of the Wye, the forested area is rather more than that today). However, it seems clear that the deer had a hard time of it during the Civil War and documents from the time of Charles II’s Restoration suggested that “should His Majesty think fit to restore the game of deer within the said Forrest, the same shall not exceed the number of 800 deer of all sorts at any one time.”

I’m closing early this month because our editor Seth, lucky man, is off to Portugal. Afonydd Cymru have featured the Teifi as their River fo the Month for September, which you can read here.

Our trout fishing season will be at an end in just a few more days, so there may be a few late reports to catch up for next month’s letter. We have the best of the grayling to look forward to of course and a couple more weeks of the salmon. The barbel and chub fishermen should be getting into their stride for autumn after a wonderful start this season. Meanwhile, as a reminder of the days of summer past, here is another video from Lyn Davies, this one about small streams. Lyn uses a 7 foot 3 weight Hardy Marksman for this work – I know this, because I bought one exactly the same myself for the brooks, purely because Lyn has one! On the other hand, I also really like my old 7ft Greys Missionary, which is the one I lend to clients. I load it with a Cortlands 444 Sylk floating line, double tapered for a 3 weight. A short rod, light reel, short leader, spool of tippet, box of dry flies and a couple of nymphs is about all you need for this delightful type of fly fishing.

Another spring is not so very far away and the grayling season is already on us – tight lines!

Oliver Burch

http://wyevalleyflyfishing.com