Feedback & Reports

After a night of over indulgence and four hours sleep I arrived at the fishery full of anticipation. The river was very low and clear with lots of weed so I plumped for a swim near the Vanstone Pool with a clear channel down the middle. Fishing by 8 a.m. I had a 3lb 2oz chub almost immediately so I was expecting great things. Sadly it proved to be a false dawn and as it was a Sunday the river went canoe crazy. All were, to be fair, sensible and courteous but a series of bizarre sights drifted past constantly and made fishing almost impossible so I decided to catch up on some sleep as it was a very hot and bright day anyway and far from ideal for fishing. Around 3 hours later I woke up feeling dehydrated and pessimistic but at least the boat traffic had died down a lot. I cast out a feeder more in hope than expectation. After around half an hour the tip smashed down twice very quickly and I struck into what was obviously a big barbel. I counted my blessings as, for reasons best known to itself, the fish stuck to the clear channel in the middle of the river and tried to head off upstream. I am sure if it had tried to get into the weed at the sides I would have lost it. Anyway after several long and powerful runs I prised it up off the bottom and eventually could see it up in the water. When I finally started to get the upper hand I thought it would be virtually impossible to net the fish without it getting into the weed first. Once agin I was lucky and she was as quite as a lamb as I drew her to the net. A new p.b. she weighed exactly 10lb 8oz and to say I was elated would be an understatement. Anyway a quick photo and the fish was returned safely and swam off strongly. Immensely broad across the 'shoulders'. Later on I lost another fish in the weed and landed a small chub.

The following day I made and early start lost a barbel and landed another of around 4lb before the swim died as the sun started to roast me so I packed up and made my way home around noon unable to stay until the evening when I suspect the fish would have been on the feed again. Excellent trip and will definitely be back soon.

3 days fishing with A.T who will I am sure enter his own catch report. 14 barbel over the three days to 8.25 lbs. 6 chub to 2lbs. 3 small eels. All on pellet/paste. Very quiet during the day.....watched a fine pair of sandpipers feeding in the margins. Evenings were the most productive time. Lots of cut weed coming down for the whole three days.

River is very low and clear but with a stealthy approach and sensible tackle the sport was great this evening. Fished hemp and corn, 1oz closed end feeder straight through to 12 hook. It was fish a cast and even had barbel feeding in full view. Conditions are tough, but it's satisfying to adapt to them and still catch barbel as if it were a 3 foot warm flood in September. Finished with a dozen to 8lb ish. A few small chub were also caught, and salmon moving regularly.

Had the beat booked for three days with SE but really only fished for the first two. Had run out of steam by Wednesday as the fishing was not easy. So was fairly pleased with 11 barbel including 2 over 8lb and one just over 9lb in what were not ideal conditions, low water, very weedy and mostly sunny. Hence most fish came out in the evenings.

What a fantastic bit of water. Like the previous day, the level was low and it was very bright for most of the day. Fished had from 7am until about 3pm, but remained fish-less. Still, I can't think of a better place to blank, with salmon jumping and kingfishers darting all around. I'd rather blank 100 days on the trot here, fishing for wild fish in amazing scenery, than fish a muddy pool stuffed with carp. Thanks WUF - will be back!

River low and very clear. Difficult day with only 2 barbel and 1 chub between the 4 of us.

Huge amount of salmon activity. They were crashing out of the water every few minutes all day long including a very impressive orange coloured fish which was easily topping 20lbs.

Beautiful stretch of the Wye. Weather hot and overcast. Didn't start fishing untill 9.00 am had problems locating fishery shame there wasnt a small sign on track gates as we went passed gates 3 times. Two barbel caught between 6 & 7lb fish in lovely condition caught on pellat. Apart from getting lost we all had a great day and cant wait to return. Many thanks to the WUF.

A very frustrating day on a normally very productive beat. 6 barbel between the 3 of us all from the Vanstone pool. WE had at least 5 salmon in the pool, including an enormous orange coloured one which i guess had been in the river some time. We speculated the prescence on the salmon may have contributed to the lack of barbel, as conditions were perfect.

There are not many swims on this beat, and most are centered on the Vanstone pool, so ok if the beat is booked by a party of anglers, but less so otherwise.

Salmon everywhere, jumping over the line 2 feet from the bank! All sightings were of coloured fish. Later on we caught 5 barbel and 2 chub from a really comfy swim down at the Rope Pool. Had an hour in the Vanstone but no joy. There really are a lot of options on this beat if you look around. Surprised to read negative reports of lack of swims - I counted at least 14 good ones from the top to the bottom of the stretch, not to mention the roving opportunities. I'll be back! Thanks WUF - lovely day out.

Quite a slow day compared to previous experience on this stretch. 9 barbel, and 4 chub between us. A beautiful stretch but with relatively few places where you can access the river bank. The greasy banks meant that even some of those were unsafe to fish. I'm sure we will be back.