Feedback & Reports

5 Grayling

This place is absolutely perfect for a fine day's trout fishing. The river was in tip top condition with just a slight colour to it but otherwise faultless. Great combination of glides and pools all yielding the finest looking brownies I've seen in a long time. I arrived at 8am and left at 4.30pm and caught fish consistently throughout the day. Despite the prolific mayfly hatch, almost all of the action was subsurface and upstream nymph was the order of the day. I began with a hare's ear nymph fished shallow and caught plenty of brownies between 6 and 7 inches, all beautifully coloured and conditioned. On the advice of the cottage occupant, I switched to a deeper presentation and fished the nymph deep into the pools and landed two or three 9 inch brownies and a gorgeous 12 inch grayling. My catch record above is an estimate as I lost count after the 10th fish!

15 Trout, 1 Grayling

Fantastic scenery. Only fished the upstream section, lots of pools and riffles to fish. Small fish caught on dry Greenwells Glory. Fished 4pm to 7pm.

2 Trout

Fished 4pm to 7pm in strong wind and rain. River colouring up and rising according to the sticks I put in the margins. Fished PTN but no takes, more to me feeling miserable and not trying to hard I think. Great to be out in such wonderful scenery.

The nicest evening of the week, quite a good hatch of olives but again few fish taking them. Managed 1 small fish on a PTN and three others on a stack winged olive; best was around a pound and was very welcome.

4 Trout

River higher than at same time previous years and also a bit coloured. Caught all fish on dry fly. Few flies about and no rises.

8 Trout

One of the best days I've had in a long while. A really lovely beat, interesting to fish and easy wading. Started around 10am working upstream. The only trout I saw were those that skittered away from my clumsy approach and a couple lying under overhanging branches and knots of vegetation. Spent two hours trying to sneak up and flick little casts at them with nothing to show except a collection of twigs. Around midday the trout very suddenly started feeding on the surface. A gentle hatch carried on all afternoon and evening - it was still just about going when I left at 6pm. Unsure of the entomology, I initially assumed LDO but when I got hold of a couple they were paler, more brown in colour with yellow legs.
Trout were rising consistently which made for exciting fishing but I was unable to effectively match what was hatching. I went through most of my box, taking a total of 5 and losing 4 more on a mixture of CDC Dark Olives, Cillabaetis Comparaduns, Royal Coachmen and Red Quill Duns. Largest was around 10 inches with the rest between 6 and 8. All returned.
A very exciting day I shall remember for a long time. The only thing that stopped me going on until dusk was the steady rain and cold that eventually left me unable to tie knots without dropping the contents of my fly box all over the floor. I'm sure somebody more competent than I with exactly the right colours in his box would have landed dozens more over the course of the day.

5 Trout

If someone was to ask me to imagine the perfect trout stream the Lugg at Lyepole would be it... The water hurries through series of rifles, runs and deep inviting pools through which you cant decide whether it better to cast a fly or jump in.
Practically speaking there was an ok rise from 1pm onwards of olives. I caught fish on quill nymphs with a black tungsten head, fished as the french do. Caught a cracking trout of about a 1.5 lb and a whopping oos Grayling nudging 2 lb. Only regret was not taking a fish on the dry. Thanks WUF

3 Trout, 4 Grayling

A day that begins with a long hold-up on the M42 is probably not going to be the best: this wasn't. When I finally arrived the river was at a reasonable height but carrying a deal more colour than I was expecting. When I saw the state of some of the surrounding fields I realised why - there is still a good deal of surface water left to drain and this is bringing enough muck to make the water pretty cloudy. Despite the day warming a little in the early afternoon and the small hatch that resulted, I neither saw nor contacted any fish. The winter floods have taken their toll and the river seems to have shifted here and there since last season. There is also a large tree right across it a little way upstream of the bridge. But cold weather and uncooperative fish apart, it was great to be back out again and I look forward with hope of more productive trips soon. It's still a cracking place to be.

Hoped water levels were at a fishable level. sadly they were not. Having never fished this beat before it was impossible to see where fish would hold. Water was running too hard for wading and bank fishing was a waste of time. Nil return but nice looking beat.