Feedback & Reports

3 Trout, 6 Grayling

Fished manly with a grey parachute, size 18... 5 BT, and 25 grayling (4 x 15 inches)... missed quite as well. Pretty good fishing day considering river level is pretty low.

5 Trout, 25 Grayling

What a great spot. Only one 12" Grayling. Must improve my nymping, lost a couple and missed a few.
Will be back for another go.

1 Grayling

Great day in idyllic setting. All fish caught on various nymph patterns with gold bead being the favourite.

2 Trout, 4 Grayling

Directions good, river coloured following heavy rain . Fished downstream of bridge from noon until 4. A few fish rising so tried a G gnat and had a most enjoyable afternoon, 8 Grayling between 6''and 10''and 3 trout all about 9''. Access to river ok but getting out in some places a little difficult for well nourished mature gentlemen ! Expensive day, punctured waders and lost specs about 100yds downstream from bridge on right bank . If found there is a days fishing as a reward !

3 Trout, 8 Grayling

Great 7hrs fishing amongst kingfishers and dippers.River still low and slightly coloured.People in cottage so didn,t fish area in front but went on down to catch nice grayling up to 12".Jan had 2 wbt.Went above bridge in afternoon,more grayling and a lovely marked wbt.
In all ,BJ caught 11 grayling,1 WBT.JJ caught 7 grayling ,2 WBT.on a mixture of Fiery Brown F_Fly,GH HE,Orange head ptn,White tung bead nymph with ostich herl body.
Great stretch of river ,looking forward to fish again.

Note for WUF- is Himalayan Balsam a pink shrub, few feet high, very bright pink flowers and with buds that explode with a pop when squeezed? If so there is a lot on this otherwise beautiful beat. Would you like anglers to squash down the balsam?

WUF Note: That certainly sounds like balsam, so yes any help with pulling or removing it would be appreciated!

Not a bad day. Despite recent rain, level still quite low, overcast. Only caught one of the fish in the downstream section. Innumerable fish came off the hook, and missed many more takes. Biggest fish, 2 grayling 11/12" both on emerger dry. Majority caught on red bead ptn under a sedge, mostly in the slow, cloudier runs. Cottage section bypassed and didn't have time for the succession of pools near the top unfortunately. A mink also came along to the pool I was fishing and would not go away no matter how much I hissed at it.

7 Trout, 12 Grayling

Only managed very brief afternoon session upstream of bridge. Bright sunshine, nothing rising.
One trout and one grayling caught - both about 8 inches and both on weighted nymph.

1 Trout, 1 Grayling

Arrived before 8 am: thin cloud and 18 degrees. It promised to be a baking hot bank holiday and my expectation was obliterated by that fact. On the bottom of the beat at 08:25. Water felt cold and with just the merest touch of colour. Nothing hatching and no sign of fish. Picked a small gold bead GHRE, size 16 as my prospecting weapon of choice with no real expectation. So, naturally, I took 5 grayling from the very first pool! Not large, ranging from 4" to 8".

Then it got more difficult. Saw just 2 fish rising along the whole length of the beat by 3pm, when the sun had been freed from its veil and was beating down like a Spaniard on a donkey. I had 1 more grayling on a glide below the cottage, where 2 pairs of kingfishers residing, the males flashing past like dive bombers as I worked that section. A herd of cows had broken the fence on the left hand bank just up from he cottage (and down from the bridge) and had essentially camped in the shaded, cooling river by that time. Not that you could blame them...

2 more grayling of between 8" and 10" and a single 10" wbt from the top part. Saw a signal crayfish in the top half. This is where I saw the rising fish (it was afternoon by this time) and managed, through a process of stealthy stalking and careful casting (maybe not!), to put them down every time. Old elephant foot strikes again!

Getting out at the weir was fun... I had no idea I was that fat and useless. But then, I don't dare look in a mirror anymore.

A good beat. I should have tried the dry more. Went to Middlemoor for evening and discovered this works. Perhaps that's the secret to catching wbt...

1 Trout, 8 Grayling