Feedback & Reports

This turned out to be a very expensive day of casting practice. The river was high, though not in flood and very coloured. You couldn't see the bottom in water deeper than 18". Despite a continual trickle of mayfly coming off, we saw only 3 fish rises the whole day. Not a single rise to any of our mayfly patterns or other dry flies. Nymphs and spiders were equally ignored whether fished up or downstream. We had possible 3 bites on nymph between us in the day. It was hard to know what was up with the trout but they were not in the mood to feed. Shame because the stretch of river is lovely.

The river was quite fast and brown-at least it seemed to us on our first wild fly trip. I got one small trout on a nymph who swam away happily after being admired for a little bit.. My 12 year old son spent a good 20 mins trying to tempt a jumper onto a dry fly before a family of swans intervened. It's a beautiful stretch of river and the low return is a reflection of our inexperience rather than the place.

1 Trout

Unfortunately this was a pointless exercise, the river looked more like a carp pond due to recent flooding, very swollen and absolutely no visibility. There was plenty of fly life, some mays, etc in so many respects it could have been perfect on what is a really lovely beat. I tackled up all the same just for the hell of it. Still, had a very comfortable night at the Bell Inn but it was very disappointing to get these conditions on what is generally only an annual trip to this area.

Sunny and only light breeze. Plenty of flies about but very few rises. Caught 7 trout max 15in all on dry fly.

7 Trout

All on dry fly. 8 Trout max 13in. One Grayling. Sunny and warm at first with a few flies and some rising fish. Strong wind after 2pm stopped activity.

8 Trout, 1 Grayling

Our second annual visit to this enchanting beat. It was a very warm sunny day and the fishing took a few hours to come alive – very little action on NZ setups all morning.
Mid-afternoon, after a good lunch at The Bell, the Mayfly hatch began and we caught three trout of 7-9 inches in fairly quick succession from one of the upper pools, on French Partridge and Wulff patterns.
We returned at about 7pm to fish the spinner fall and after a few bodged strikes to rises from wily fish in the slick glides, finally managed to connect with one last fish as the light faded.
Glorious!

4 Trout

River level good. Warm day. Flies hatching and laying. Trout feeding, especially 4pm onwards.
2 x 9 inch trout, 2 x 12 inch trout. All on dry fly. Celebratory pint at the Bridge Inn. Great day!

4 Trout

Wet fly used as despite a good hatch there was little surface activity. Trout caught were small and were returned. Barbless hooks used.
The river was a little cloudy following the previous rain but otherwise was in good condition.

3 Trout

3 nice trout, 10" to 12" long. The day was cool and showery with a strong wind blowing downstream from about 2pm onwards. The fish were caught during the sunny spells before then. There were quite a few olives hatching with the odd yellow mayfly making a showing.
An enjoyable few hours fishing.

3 Trout

Day started well with two 10-12inch trout however from midday onwards, it was totally ruined by kayakers and canoeists. Despite there supposedly being no right of navigation Monmouth Canoes are happy to offer guided trips and Canoe Wales advertise the whole beat on their website so personally I won't be returning as I suspect there's little chance of changing this behaviour. The Bell as welcoming as ever.

2 Trout