Feedback & Reports

A great few hours on a lovely stretch. Good sized Barbel up to 9 1/2lb.

7 Barbel, 2 Chub

Tried different spots but despite river being in great condition and the temp on the up. Only managed to lose 2 fish.
Very disappointing.

4 Barbel, 2 Chub

River fining down. Good colour and temp of 7.c. River about 2/3ft above summer levels. Very mild and the forecasted rain stayed away.
2 Barbel and 1 chub caught at up stream end ,chub and one lost barbel from last downstream field.
Usual pellet and boilie.
As stated earlier , don't attempt to get in the field without a 4x4.
Opening and shutting gates ,expect to get very muddy !

2 Barbel, 2 Chub

First point - DO NOT drive down the track to the river after any type of wet weather as you WILL get stuck and I got the impression the farmer is a bit tired of pulling people out - he was kind enough to pull me out though! River was pretty high and chocolate coloured so my plans for a bit of trotting were abandoned as I'd expected they would be. I set up on pellet with a big 80g feeder, tried first two swims for 30mins each without a tap then moved down to fish over a gravel bar I had previously sat on during very low flows. Started getting heavy whacks pretty quickly and after a succession of missed bites connected with a chub of about 4lb. More missed bites and stolen pellets saw me shorten the hair on my hair rig slightly and then I hooked 6 fish in a row, all over 4lb and a couple over 5lb! Finished the day around 4pm (started fishing at 10:30am after car disasters!) and with 9 chub, all over 4lb and a couple just over 5lb. Missed plenty of big bites and lost 3 or 4 fish to snags having struggled to turn them in the fast flow. No barbel but with a day of chub fishing like that who needs them?! Fantastic day and a fantastic beat if you know how to find the fish! Thanks to the owner and to WUF for a great end to my 2016/2017 season.

9 Chub

9 Barbel

No fish caught should of tried the top end of the fishery but ran out of time.

2nd time at Whitehouse and another cracking session. Fished the deeper area down the far end of the fishery. Caught 21 barbel between 2 of us. No massive fish, barbel between 4lb & 7lb. River up about a foot and it was a mild day! Good conditions. Lovely place.

21 Barbel

Conditions seemed ideal for barbel - the river was running slightly coloured and at a nice pace. Despite trying many swims along the whole beat, we only had a chub and barbel to show for our efforts. But we'll be back! The W&UF paid a flying visit and it was nice to see them out and about walking the river. We stayed at the excellent Cottage of Content where we enjoyed a warm welcome and excellent hospitality, food and drink.

1 Barbel, 1 Chub

First time on this stretch. Booked as part of anniversary weekend for me and my wife Becci hoping she could finally catch her first barbel. Track down the field was a bit ropey in my estate car and better suited a 4x4 but we managed - a bit of wheel spin on the way back up so I'd think twice before heading down there in a non-4x4 in wet weather but I'm sure the farmer would let you park at the top and walk down if you asked nicely.
Read a few reports about lack of swims - I can assure people that there are plenty of swims, at least in the relatively low flow conditions we had. Some towards the upper end are a little bit difficult but there is more accessible water than a couple of anglers could fish in one session without question. If you want perfectly manicured swims I suggest you stick to commercial fisheries. Absolutely nothing wrong with this beat.
Now the fishing - first fish out was an 8lb 3oz barbel to my wife. Hearing her nervous giggling as the reel screamed was an absolute delight. After that it all went very quiet apart from the odd salmon jumping and a few pike hitting fish at the surface so we moved downstream a bit - wish we'd done that earlier! 5 mins after moving my wife had her 2nd barbel and shortly after that I had one at 7lb 1oz. We finished with 4 barbel each, lost a couple, had a 4lb chub and then a few dace and a wee troot on trotted maggots - if you could be tempted away from the barbel (all caught on pellet) you could have great fun trotting on this stretch. If we'd moved earlier / had longer before dark we would have certainly added another couple of barbel to our tally. Also watched a kingfisher feeding throughout the day. One of my best fishing days ever and over the moon that my wife managed to catch her first barbel and that it was such a good size fish. Barbel ranged from 4lb up to 8lb 3oz. Great day, thanks to beat owner and WUF.

1 Trout, 8 Barbel, 1 Chub, 6 Other