Feedback & Reports

Another hot day. River low with not much flow. Barbel of 7lbs plus a decent chub and 3 small eels. A family of five mink entered the swim from the undergrowth scattering the ducks and then bold as brass trotted behind me in a long line until disappearing into some bankside vegetation. Not many swims available on this beat. Lots of anglers on opposite bank - this must be a day ticket stretch — they seemed to do better!

1 Barbel, 1 Chub, 3 Other

Lovely stretch with a few open swims, quite shallow in places with heavy canoe traffic. I lost a fish because of it so fish early or late. Road is a bit tricky getting down but made it ok. 5 chub small though best being 2 1/4 lb on sweetcorn.

5 Chub

3 eels.

6 Barbel, 6 Chub, 3 Other

River in lovely form - slightly higher than normal summer levels and with a greenish tinge. All fish came to pellet and meat on groundbait feeder dropped in the margins of the faster water at the pool at the bottom of this beat. Difficult to hold bottom - giant feeders needed. Plenty of snags to worry about. Lost more fish than we landed. Other swims looked tempting but we were lazy after the previous days exertions. Great to see Don again. Many thanks WUF and owners for looking after this wonderful river.

7 Barbel, 1 Chub

Hot hot day and long walk from youth hostel car park. There are not many swims you can get down to at the moment and I'm not one who minds a bit of adventure but short of a small chainsaw and petrol strimmer there were not many options! We only fished one of the rods due to lack access but it produced a couple of nice sized barbel which this stretch is known for. There are, we found (following a canoe recon trip later in week) some swims beyond the pumping station but it is a trek!

2 Barbel

Roving along beat 1 fishing pellet on the swim feeder. 3 barbel and 4 chub in the morning, 1 barbel and 2 chub mid afternoon, 8 barbel and 6 chub early evening. River coloured and slightly up on summer levels. Fantastic opening day to the season. A long walk so travelled light, fantastic scenery along this stretch!

12 Barbel, 12 Chub

River high and off colour. Conditions not great but good day out. Few small fish seen in slacker margins.

Halibut pellet, hair rigged on a 2oz running ledger rig.

1 Chub

A good days fishing with a new PB barbel of 11lb 13oz. A tough day to begin with. The fish didn't turn on until late afternoon. Five bites then came in quick succession resulting in 2 x chub around 3lb and three barbel weighing 7lb 10oz, 8lb 12oz and 11lb 13oz. In summary a nice stretch of river. It is a long walk but that was expected. My criticism would be the lack of swims due to fallen trees etc. With the river high we were a little limited. We also struggled to accurately workout were the fishery began and ended (maybe a sign would help). My angling partner didn't fair so well only managing the one chub around 3.5lb.

3 Barbel, 3 Chub

Having fished the Wyebank and Courtfield a few times we decided to have a look at the other side.
The track to the Youth hostel parking is interesting and requires care but is not a problem and the parking is fine. The Hostel seems to operate a cafe which is worth investigating further.
The walk up to the beat is not unpleasant and takes about 15 mins. There is plenty to go at, we walked to the top of the beat and even with the river a couple of ft over it was no problem finding swims. The banks are steep in places but easy enough to get down. In hindsight we should have fished fewer swims but with the bright sunshine and great company it just happened the way it did, the fish were a bonus. Great to catch up with Don. Looking forward to fishing this beat again in the summer, especially if the water is high.

2 Barbel, 2 Chub