Feedback & Reports

Bright sunny day. Wind was very variable in direction. Water level was 0.30m at Brecon. Condition was very good. I was on the water for a long time and did not see anything of a hatch. Tough day for fishing - although I expect the heron I saw had better luck than me. Managed a couple of WBT on a pale yellow may in the flats at about 10:00am. The one that got away was a beauty but you know that story......
After that everything stopped.
First time on this beat for me - not sure about beat limits as the map shows that the top end of the beat ends an open space at Afon Crawnon but there is a prominent "PRIVATE" sign before the Crawnon?? Please clarify for anglers wishing to fish the Crawnon Pool.

2 Trout

Arrived mid afternoon to the beat to find little sign of any fish rising. I decided to fish the lower part just above the bridge and managed to get a substantial trout to take an Olive Emerger. This fish fought very hard and managed to detach itself from the fly within a few feet of my net. I then repeated this a further twice in the space of half an hour so all-in-all a bit frustrating but still very enjoyable fishing for a couple of hours on this lovely beat.

Lovely spring day on the Usk, fish rising between 11 and 12 but then a cold wind kept the hatch and the fish down. 2 wbt taken on dries. 1 sizeable fish also lost.

2 Trout

What a stunning beat, first time here and enjoyed it immensely. Having spent all my time Salmon fishing, it's a day like this which remind me why I love trout fishing. Having said that I would love to Salmon fish this beat at some point later in the season. Hooking a Salmon here would be quite an experience, with the bedrock gutters and pocket water. Even the trout are difficult to handle. Hard fighting fish, beautiful dark red and brown in colour to match their surroundings.
However, it's been a strange trout season so far, due to the cold spring, the trout don't seem to have woken up yet, and why would they with cold water and few significant hatches to speak of. Not seen a March Brown this year, not even many Dark Olives which you would expect to really. Got caught in a massive Grannom Hatch at Chainbridge last week, but few fish rising to them.
Concentrated on the pocket water firstly with jig patterns and small heavy GRHE on the dropper under an indicator which produced a beautiful fish of 3/4 lb which fought really hard, taking to the air on numerous occasions. Czech Nymphing experts would love this beat.
A large otter showed up in the middle of the beat, had a look at us, entered the water to return with a fish, to show us how it was done! Took a fish on a dry, the Parachute Adams doing the business after many other patterns were ignored by the couple of fish which did feed on the surface.
Lovely lunch and a few beers in the Coach and Horses, so all in all a good day

3 Trout

Nice to be back on this varied and demanding beat. Bright day with sunny intervals, breezy at times. Temp in the morning was around 8-9C, around 13C in afternoon. Not many flies coming off in morning. Fished pockets and faster water around the bridge at bottom of beat with bugs. But little activity. Moved up onto the flats late morning--some dark olives coming off. Fished NZ-style and caught a nicely conditioned trout around 2lb mark on nymph. After lunch there was a hatch of LDOs and fish came up immediately. Landed two both around 1lb mark on dry fly. Satisfying day, and managed to stay on my feet and stay dry!! SEP

3 Trout

A cold downstream wind made for tricky fishing but a steady hatch of a variety of upwings kept the fish looking up. Fish caught on both nymphs and dries, biggest was 18", all returned.

12 Trout

Cold downstream wind made it tough to cast at times, steady hatch of olives all day which got heavy at 2 pm, had 4 trout and lost others. All fish were 15" plus and fought really well. Small cdc olive patterns in grey and olive did the trick.

4 Trout

First time here and was a little daunted by the size and pace of the Usk as I've only been fly fishing 12 months. The river was clear and very cold and the weather was completely bonkers swinging from glorious spring sunshine to heavy freezing cold snow, sleet and hail, I would soon find myself fishing dry flies and catching in the snow! I walked the length of the beat trying likely looking spots as I went but nothing seemed to be moving. By the time I reached the up stream limit a few Large Dark Olives were coming off and the fish started to respond, the wading was quite difficult over large smooth rocks but I finally got myself into position and was soon getting takes, the first fish was about a pound in weight and as very silvery with black spots not like any brown trout I'd ever caught, I suspect it may have been a small salmon, perhaps you can advise? I didn't take it out of the water and was released quickly without close examination. Next was a huge, by my standards at least, brown trout of over 2lb which just fit in my landing net, very happy with a new PB! The Olives continued to hatch along with a few Large brook Dun throughout the day and at one point they were everywhere sending the Swifts as well as the fish balmy, I had a couple more fish, lost a few more and missed a lot of takes but all the fish were of a very good size taking dries I'd tied myself so made for exciting fishing. I should have caught more but was more than happy with a new PB and a great days fishing in stunning surroundings, I left cold and damp but very happy.

4 Trout

Two brown trout - returned. 1/2lb and 1lb. GRHE and Adams. River low, weather bright and cold with showers - including some hail. There was a small hatch of up winged olives in the middle of the day.

2 Trout

It was a lovely day, warmer compared to Saturday. This stretch of river is very beautiful, fast and slow pools, bedrocks of any shape which makes the fishing very technical. We fished from 10 to 12 without seeing any rise, then some shy bites on nymphs and then just after midday a hatch of olives started which moved few fishes on a dry fly. All of a sudden a squadron of 7/8 canoes was seen upstream, perfect, exactly when the hatch was at its top moment, and considering how cold is the USK water these days and the restricted window you've got during Olives hatches this is wonderful. So I sat down reviewed the fishery rules and saw that canoeing is permitted until 2 March so I am wondering what those canoes were doing there? I sat down thinking of waiting a bit as maybe in 30 mins/1hr the river will go back to normal until after about 20 minutes I spotted another squadron of 6/7 happy individuals coming down noisily under our annoyed look. We decided to move towards the top of the beat on a long deep pool that looked very promising we wait to see if the hatches produced any rising fish but after a while another groups of canoes came down. Needless to say that the activity was definitively over, the top of the hatch was over and we didn’t see any more fish for the day.
I took pictures of these people as I was wondering how they managed to get permissions of canoeing since we are on 24th April and also considering the water levels.
The following Monday I have informed the WUF office, those individuals were acting illegally, they did not have any permissions to enter the beat and/or the property.
PLEASE NOTE that if this happens to you the only thing you can do is asking them to leave to river immediately and you should also ask them which group/association they belongs to (assuming they will tell you) then report it to the WUF Office. The chaps I saw on Sunday told me they asked all permissions to the authorities and Environment Agency (??!). Although they seemed very polite and apologetic they acted very dishonestly.
A wonderful fishing day RUINED by a group of fraudulent, deceitful individuals.