Feedback & Reports

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.

4 Trout

Upon arrival everything looked quiet but as the temperature climbed the odd fish took something off the surface.
At the top of the beat fish were rising steadily to large olives. Sadly most were on the far side of the river and beyond reach. A couple of splashy risers were missed partly due to incompetence, incorrect fly pattern and drag.
5 fish missed, 2 hooked. A fascinating day in lovely conditions with the final score well in the fishes favour.

2 Trout

Lovely day out, beautiful beat and a reasonable hatch of LDO's in the morning then some March Browns in the afternoon!

16 Trout

Two trout, one good sized to a Ptn under a Caddis and another to a dry March Brown, this being brought to the net during an intense but very short lived hatch of March Browns followed by the most voracious feeding, 15 mins ? Great to witness this for the first time! Not so great though for JH who still had a duo on and then tied on a silver sedge in the rush, all over by another change.

2 Sea Trout

Lovely day on one of my favourite Usk beats; scenery here takes some beating. Wading presenting the usual challenges (nearly fell in a few times despite use of wading staff!). Nice hatch around midday and took one WBT off the top on a Klinkhammer. Lost a couple of fish on the nymph. Looking forward to my return. Thanks WUF.

1 Trout

Nil. My first time on this beat and it was a beautiful spring day. Sunshine interspersed with fluffy clouds, about 12 degrees, soft southerly breeze. Should have been perfect. But, the river was pushing through stronger and higher than I had anticipated. I read that this beat has challenging wading at the best of times but today the river height made acces very hard, even in chest waders. There was a hatch of LDO but no rises seen. A beat for lower water I think. The gauge at Abergavenny was 1 foot 8 inches. 4 kayakers seen.

4 Trout

Lovely beat to look at but wind and rain stopped play.

Heavy rain and river was quite full. Only fished for an hour. No fish but did see a few rises.