Feedback & Reports

Fished the morning for salmon - no takes switched to trout rods in the afternoon and had great sport 7 landed all over 1lb 2 over 2lb and lots more lost. The Beat has obviously taken a battering over the winter and could do with a little tidying up but great little beat nonetheless.

7 Trout

River Usk lovely clear water although well above normal levels. lots of branches and trees brought down by flood making access to the top pool on the beat really difficult and dangerous. the condition of the access is really neglected with broken steps and mud. the footpath as described in the beat notes down the side of the river has been in parts washed away and the wooden section is in really bad condition with rot and broken treads. With the extra water in the river one slip and you are in real trouble with some of the deeper parts of the river. this section needs some significant maintenance work to bring this up to standard.
The quality of fish and fishing for trout was good with deep nymphs being the order of the day with fish caught up to almost 2 lb and bigger fish lost. would fish this again when hopefully some clear up work as been undertaken.
GP and NP

15 Trout

A lovely couple of hours but very challenging conditions with high water and high winds.

Just the beginnings of Spring! A bright sunny and warm day. The river was very full and cold. Lots of bank erosion made access and back-casting tricky and wading a bit dangerous due to the volume of water. Quite breezy to start with but the wind died down as the afternoon progressed to a beautifully settled afternoon/evening. Saw two fish rise on the late walk back to Abergavenny at dusk but otherwise no rise at all and only 1 or 2 March Browns making an appearance mid afternoon. Nonetheless, despite tricky conditions fishing small-ish bead-headed pheasant tale nymphs I connected with 2 trout. The larger of the two I got to my feet before he got off (barbless hooks and early season rustiness on the part of the angler!) What I saw of it though was an absolutely stunning fish of about a pound and beautifully pale golden colour. Otherwise a quiet day but it's whet my appetite for the coming season!

Great day , no fish!. Lots of flood damage on the upper part of this beat, but still accessible . A small hatch mid day but very few fish rising.

The river was quite low. I was using nymphs and dry fly and did not have a bite - I was fishing around mid-day as it is the beginning of the season. I did not see any fish rising.

Cold day in and out of water. Light easterly wind, more so in morning, and dark clouds. Temp around 6C throughout. When wind dropped and conditions slightly brightened one or two fish came up for the odd dark olive. One nice conditioned trout on dry fly around 1.75 lb. Nothing on bugs. Short windows bewteen 11ish and 3.30 p.m. Good alternative beat to upper Usk which can cut down driving time if you are coming a long way via Abervagenny. Can't recommend my guide Chris Price highly enough. It was a real pleasure to fish with him. SEP

1 Trout

This was my (and my brothers) first visit to this beat. It really is a very pleasant place to fish. Contrary to information provided the lower end of the beat produced most action and rising trout. I lost two fish to a beaded nymph early on and rose a fish to deer hair emerger but did not connect. My brother managed, as I did, to spook a few fish but both of us not landing anything did not stop us having a very pleasing day. We should have stuck to our -not before april rule- but the draw of the river was too much. Some grannom and smallish olives were hatching but not in huge numbers...not yet.

Not a bite. A beautiful stretch of river with long mirror-glass glides and riffles on a lovely autumn day. Surprisingly, little surface activity but I'm sure there's fish to be caught. Easy access. A long tough day but definitely one for next season.

No sign of salmon all day, the water was very clear.