Feedback & Reports

A difficult day on the dries as only one smallish section had any significant amount of trout rising. The fish we did get were a good size on olive patterns. The wind was quite strong downwind which did not help our upstream dry fly casting but we rose and lost a few others too so reasonable action. No evening rise. We watched an otter from the high bank swimming under the water and popping its head up now and again - magical ! Will return as I'm sure there will be better rises on other days.

3 Trout

Started with French Nymphing which went very well with 12 fish caught in rapid succession, to 18inches, so decided to switch to dry fly. Well that was different, with fish refusing offerings and ignoring my verbal demands that they should take! Managed 3 more on duo set up to finish the day at a score draw; angler verses fish.

15 Trout

Nil. Bit of a freak heatwave - 22 degrees - in Brecon for the 3 hours I had spare to fish the beat on Saturday. The fish must have gone to the beach for the day :). Wish I had!

Nice hatch of olives, all fish taken on dries. Good stretch of water with some nice variation. Some of the wading was on gravel so easier than many other places on the upper river.

6 Trout

Decided to fish Penpont for the first time today, as I thought that the club beats above Abergavenny might be off limits following the recent heavy rain off the Black Mountains. What a truly stunning beat this is - just turning a few stones shows how the beat feeds its reputed “Porkers”. Shrimp, cased and caseless caddis, mini-caddis, and Heptagenid Heaven. An invertebrate McDonalds! On arrival at 8 a.m. there were midge, olives and lots of Olive Uprights (at last!!) already on the wing, and fish rising, which they kept doing until the various hatches finished at about 1.30 p.m. when the forecast wind got up as well. After that, there were a few solitary risers but brunch was over for sure! I had eighteen fish with the majority surprisingly of 14-16 inches, generally 1.5-2lb, of Penpont fatties, plus a lovely 18” fish of 2.5lb. All the fish were off the top with most taken on an Olive Upright Duck’s Dun, and the rest on a hare’s ear emerger and an olive Jingler. Given the numbers of upwings, there must be an evening spinner fall well-worth fishing for here at this time of year, but today I had to go. Also saw quite a lot of mayfly so, if you come to fish this beat over the coming month, bring some mayfly patterns as well. I must fish on Friday the 13th again! I’ll be back.

18 Trout

A morning of light yet consistent rain meant water clarity dropped as the day progressed. A few blustery winds meant hatches were slim, however, fish were caught on a number of dry LBD patterns. A few fish missed on spiders and nymphs too, but a great day, and angler over the moon with his first visit back on the Usk after a break of decades.

2 Trout

Another hard day on the Usk! We had had a wash off on Glan-Y-Cafn so on the advice of the WUF office moved 20 miles upstream to Penbont which we hadn't fished before. River was running with a good flow and color after the previous day's rain. The few fish we had came to sub surface flies (emergers) and traditional across and down techniques. The morning was wet but cleared up after lunch although this didn't encourage any hatch. We found the beat to be much easier fishing than other upper Usk beats with some nice flats with shallow gravels.

7 Trout

Trout responded well to nymph, sad to see mink in abundance, never a good sign. River in great condition, with sporadic hatches through afternoon but few fish responding yet.

10 Trout

Lovely stretch with more than enough water for our two rods to go at over the course of the day.
We arrived to find a small hatch of upwings taking place, overcast, with a slight tinge of colour in the water . . . . promising. . . . . until that was the sun decided to make an appearance and rain up stream coloured the water further, with large amounts of algae/debris being washed down which pretty much killed any hope of a hatch and rising fish. We persevered by prospecting the faster runs with heavy nymphs and were rewarded with 2 fish. One small and the other a lovely plump trout of 1lb 6oz (both returned).
Will return in hopefully more favourable conditions.

2 Trout

Fished 9am to 2pm. Good fly life with fish rising early. Caught 5 trout up to 15in on dry fly. Activity cooled after about 12 noon. Good day.

5 Trout