Feedback & Reports

No sign of fish. Raw and muddy water. Very good beat if condition is good...

A wonderful first day for me on Caradoc, a beautiful place for a days fishing with good banks with fly and spinning water with the benefit of being able to drive your car along all of the bank when dry. fished the fly below the suspension bridge most of the day, lots of shad taking and bumping the fly to give some fun with the absence of any sign of salmon . Anglers beware of the wasp nest on the back of the toilet door by the hut, they certainly gave me a buzz when I opened it !! ( Ha Ha )
15 plus Shad

9 Other

Caradoc was a lovely beat to fish and I can see with 1' to 2' of extra water the whole river would liven up, as it was .24 on the Ross guage and we were always going to struggle I think.
Unfortunately we would never fish Caradoc again at the weekend as canoe traffic was very high especially in the morning. Despite several signs displayed by the owners not to beach, light fires or BBQ's the shingle banks below the suspension bridge were a magnet for groups of canoeists to do exactly the opposite. I had two chaps decide to try and stop mid-stream in the narrows, right opposite me as fly fishing this run, to chat with mates around a fire on the bank. I politely asked if they could move through quickly and was answered with the stock answer " you don't own the river " to which I replied " no but I do pay a rod licence and rent to fish the beat and they contribute nout" and off they went having completely disturbed the pool. These were followed by the same group of approx. 10 canoes that upset another angler later in the day downstream at Upper Bigsweir ( seen on his catch return ). We could hear them coming from over half a mile away playing a loud sound system on board and as they went by a trail of cannabis smoke filled the air, young Welsh lads on a jolly up, but as they passed my brother fly fishing below me one decided to capsize in the last and most promising pool at the bottom of the river. After about 10 mins of chaos trying to sort themselves out they were gone to annoy those downstream.
I hadn't fished the Wye for about 15 years and this was a 4 day trip to celebrate my brothers birthday so was surprised at how things have changed, and to me a lack of respect from walkers who think its ok for there children to throw rocks into water you are about to fish, dogs owners doing the same with sticks and canoes all over.
Apart from all the moans we did have a great time and my brother managed a fresh 9lb fish on his birthday fishing a guest ticket at Ross on the Friday.

18lb caught by George Staniforth on fly

1 Salmon

Glorious weather - 23 C - which we shared with 300 'Fun Riders', who were raising money for the local hunt and a number of canoeists. Everybody was extremely courteous and chatty! Large hatches of fly during the day, but nothing rising to them.
Apart from one 3 lbs chub, we did not see or touch a fish. There was a slight bit of colour in the water, which helped to mitigate the blazing sun to some extent. 2' 6" on the gauge. A lovely piece of water to fish - we all returned home with a nice tan!

1 Chub

Washed Off

Nice bit of water and we will certainly have another trip this season

1 Trout

Nothing caught although had had a good pull in the bottom pool. I am amazed at this beat's poor returns- single figures for the whole season! There are two obvious areas for salmon. At the hut around the groins and below the footbridge looks great. I can only assume that the poor results reflect a lack of angling effort. The suggestion that coarse anglers pay £45 a day is unreasonable as no effort has been made to create swims along the bank. The paths accessing the groins could do with a little work also.

Conditions were good and there were fish showing but the closest I got was a single tug. One of the other fishermen did have a good take but it was on and off. So a disappointing end to my season.