Feedback & Reports

Barbel of 6.5lb and 5lb, both caught on eliptical barbel pellets.

2 Barbel

Barbel (5.5 lb) caught on eliptical pellet, chub (3.5 lb) on spam. Water fairly clear and low.

1 Barbel, 1 Chub

No fish caught. The walk to the river must be close to mile over a very rough track, need to be young and fit manage it of which I am neither. The farmer will take you down and back for £5.

River fairly low and slightly coloured. Fished the top bend with an audience on deck chairs on the far bank. Had 3 dace on caster. Fed hemp and caster and had four barbel, biggest was 10lb. The water level dropped a foot and all bites dried up so dropped down into next peg and had 2 more barbel with another 10lber. Lovely place and a nice days fishing but a very long walk!

6 Barbel, 3 Other

River coloured and with good flow at the top of the beat. Small party of Goosanders ( 4 or 5 ) on the water below the wall of Weir gardens when we arrived at about 07.45. Water looked perfect but we couldn't find the barbel and they didn't find us. Fished with feeders and ground bait plus variety of pellets for hook bait including Hinders blitzed elipse. Rod 1 (mine!) blanked, rod 2 caught 3 chub during late afternoon and with the last cast about 19.10 caught a 4lb barbel. Hard work but in a great stretch of water!

1 Barbel, 3 Chub

Fished Tuesday 16th & Wednesday 17th September.
Tuesday - S.W opted to fish the maggot and Hemp by the gallon. The result was a bite a cast, all under 1/2lb, mostly chub but also minnows, bleak, dace, roach, perch & brown trout, all on feeder with 10lb hook link!!! No barbell so a bad tactical decision but worth a shot. In cooling temperatures it has worked well on the Severn before.
D.S opted for boilie, pellet & pellet ground bait combination and moved swims in response to local knowledge to bag 14 good chub to 5lb and a last gasp 7lb plus barbel
having lost two good barbel earlier in the day in the top of stretch swims.
Wednesday - the previous days rain impacted on the stretch seeing over 2 feet of cold dirty flood water hit the river at about 10am. D.S had a 5lb chub and 7lb barbel in first two casts but that was last of action until last thing when he managed two more barbel in flood conditions.
S.W. lost one Barbel on meat, but there was no other activity other than bleak, dace & chub on float.
All in all a challenging two days, but as always on the Wye a pleasure to be there!!

3 Trout, 4 Barbel, 22 Chub, 100 Other

Water very low and shallow, plenty of chub but unable to find the barbel until the last cast. Needs a drop of rain. Nice beat, all the fish taken on pellets with a feeder.

1 Barbel, 6 Chub

The Gods were against us. The coldest morning of the year (3 degrees) and pouring with rain. We walked the walk but didnt talk the talk. When we arrived at the swims, exhausted, we knew there were fish there because a Cormorant was busy eating them right in front of us. DC junior lost two Barbel on the snags and caught a 5 pounder on the last cast of the day. I caught an 8 pounder from my only bite of the day.

2 Barbel

Now I know where to find the fish, had another great day at this very picturesque beat. No joy in my initial spot, but after I found where there was depth and flow it was a fish a cast - despite losing a lot of rigs initially in the weed and very rocky bottom in places. The river was very low again and absolutely gin clear, but the secret was definitely to find some depth and flow. Not a single chub all day but barbel from 5lbs to 12lbs and a total of seven doubles. All fish caught on 2x12ml sonubaits ellipse pellets glued to a hair rig on a 15 inch hook link of 12lbs breaking strain, with micro-pellets in a large drennan flat-bed closed end feeder. Not a touch on smaller pellets, boillies, ground bait in the feeder or a longer hook-link. All fish caught on my 2.25lbs test curve Daiwa Infinity specialist babel rod with 15lbs TFT Gear red mist mainline and a size 10 Guru hook. I fished until 8pm and would have stayed in to the evening if I hadn't realised my head torch had packed in! The only slight down sides to the day were the noise and activity in the National Trust property opposite, having 5 canoes hit my line despite my giving them early warning, and having to remove previous hooks and line from 3 fish - but having said all that I can't wait to get back to this excellent Wye & Usk beat.

27 Barbel

Worked really hard for the fish we caught, also lost a couple of barbel, river was low and clear and the canoe traffic was ridiculous.
With another foot of water and some colour to give the fish the confidence to feed properly this beat could be one of the best on the river.
Barbel ranging from 7lb - 7lb.6oz and some nice 3lb chub.

3 Barbel, 2 Chub