Feedback & Reports

After fishing the top field the previous day I thought I'd actually walk the whole stretch before starting to fish on the final day. I hiked over the hill but I could only find one swim that looked like it had some depth and so I decided to fish the same swims as the day before. I had a small Barbel from the hole down from the dead tree followed by a decent trout. Moving up to the top swim I had three more Barbel in quick succession and then the Dace moved in, finally for the last couple of hours I moved back down to the previous swim and managed to net a decent Chub.
All in all I had a lovely couple of days on what was a new stretch of the Wye for me. As I mentioned it's always worth giving Woody a call for river info before coming up and if like me in London all your local tackle shops seem to be geared solely for carp anglers, his shop is a veritable Aladin's cave of river tackle.
Can't wait til my next trip up!

4 Barbel

As always I phoned up Woody from Woody's Angling shop in Hereford before I came up just to check on river conditions and what methods he'd recommend (he runs the Hereford Angling Association which owns quite a bit of fishing on the Wye so he always knows what's working). He told me that the river was running clear and low and suggested maggot and block end feeder would be my best bet. Unfortunately I'd just been down to my local tackle shop in South London and bought a load of ground bait, pellet and a few more cage feeders - so this was filed for future use and I went back down and got several pints of maggots as I was planning to start fishing before Woody opened.
As it turned out I got a late start and went by the shop in Hereford anyway - I took my smartphone with me and got a close up image of this section of the river on Google Maps (satellite) then got him to show me the best swims to fish.
So I started in the top field above the rapids - just down from the first groyne of stones there's a big dead tree and about 40 yds down stream from this is a pool. I fished there for the morning and had a couple of Barbel, then in the afternoon I went up to the top and fished the furthermost swim with the steep bank. I had another Barbel here and luckily I'd also bought myself a decent landing net with a very long handle whilst getting fishing information that morning, otherwise I'm not quite sure if I'd have got it out. I had a few dace after this but that was the end of the Barbel for the day.

3 Barbel, 4 Other

Another hard day on the river after a frosty start to the day again. No barbel caught and settled for trying to catch a chub. Ended the day with 3 with one lost, 2 on meat and 1 on bread. Aa pair of otters put on a fine display along the far bank and in the middle of the river.

3 Chub

Great experience for my first trip on the Wye. 11 barbel up to 8lb all on pellet and feeder at the top end. Frequent salmon showing and spectacular close up views of Kingfishers. Thanks WUF.

11 Barbel

After a cold start to the day and a chilly north easterly we were thinking "Chub day". However they failed to oblige! The Wye "Double" remains elusive but three fine Barbel
of 8lb. 12oz., 9lb. 2oz. and 9lb. 12oz. fell to meat from the lower end of the woods. Just as the swim was coming to life the last hour or so was somewhat spoiled as an Otter
surfaced practically in the middle of the swim, that's life!! A tough day with only a half dozen bites all day but still a joy to be on the river.

3 Barbel, 1 Chub

The frost on the grass was a bad omen and so it proved, despite my best efforts in the wood and downstream I failed to get a single bite! Should have put a loaf of bread in the bag but never mind, never easy after the first proper frost. Lots of anglers on the opposite bank in the top field, I counted 7 cars parked on the river bank.

A very pleasant day fishing in superb surroundings. We all started off the day in the woods and further downstream and caught steadily thoughout the morning using pellet and feeder tactics.
The afternoon was spent fishing the croys in the top field which was alive with small chub and dace, a good sign for the future. We spotted a fishing masterclass from a couple of kingfishers which had me putting down my rod to watch and marvel at. Best barbel was around 9lb ish and best chub 2.5lb.
As usual great service from the booking office. Many thanks.

6 Barbel, 6 Chub, 25 Other

First time to explore this beat. Access to certain areas is well documented in several other reports so suffice to say, the wood is not for the faint hearted. With the coloured river combining with the overcast morning, conditions looked promising but the day turned out to be challenging from both a physical and fish point of view.
Little interest shown in feeder / pellet, but a switch to free-lined meat paid immediate dividends with some very nice Chub on consecutive casts.
As a colder breeze turned up in the afternoon, the Barbel remained elusive but perseverance ultimately paid off with a magnificent personal-best Chub of 5lb 4oz. Another memorable day on a wonderful river, with Kingfishers and Wagtails replaced by numerous Bats as I left.

4 Chub

Great days sport. Barbel caught from top meadow and from woods. All in 6-8lb bracket. Feeder tactics with pellets proved successful.

18 Barbel, 16 Chub

River was a little higher than our previous visit due to heavy rain over the last few days. Started off in the woods. Proved to be nearly unfishable due to the amount of weed and debris floating down causing us to lose a few sets of tackle and constantly snagging our rigs. We did manage one barbel but by late morning we gave up and moved to the top field where we stayed for the rest of the day. Here we managed to catch 7 Barbel to 10lb and 2 Chub to 4lb. We had to fish close in due to weed and all the fish fell to usual baits. Quite hard going but all in all a good days fishing in the end!

8 Barbel, 2 Chub