Feedback & Reports

A day on the Usk with a beginner to river fishing. Met up with Martin around 10 am and after an hour on casting techniques we headed down to the bottom of the beat. As we sat watching the pool discussing rivercraft and the merits of various techniques a hatch of March Browns began. The fish were on to them immediately. After A couple of missed fish due to to quick a strike it was fish on but unfortunately off again before we got it to the net. The hatch petered out by 12.30 and due to the wrm sunny day never really got going again. The rest of the day was spent covering various methods and one fish was caught and a few more missed. The river was very low and as clear as I have ever seen it. Stealth and fishing from ones knees are advisable in these conditions.
Saw several FEBs through out the day, I hope we don't have a repeat of last year when on a single day I counted over 20 mergansers on this beat.

Great beat. Fished it last Friday. The owner has had wooden steps cut to take you from where you should park down to the river. The area near there is pretty much all good. It was around 10C so bearable. I took a trout on spider pattern before switching to dries when the rise started at around 11.30. Caught 4 more on dries (and my partner caught two more on dries) between then and 3.30pm (ish) when the rise primarily to dark olives stopped. There was also a short flush hatch (of March Browns I believe) at around 12.30. I say this because the same thing happened the next day on a different beat and time I knew it was March Browns. All 7 trout (1/2 to 3/4 lb) returned. Great day fishing thank you.

The conditions were more like summer than late winter/early spring. It was a truly fantastic day to be in the Usk valley. There was a variety of fly life around with at least 5 species of upwinged fly on the water (I even saw a couple of mayfly?), but no significant number of any species. The trout also failed to respond to them and I only saw 6 rises all day and these were all oncers. All covered but nothing raised.

Fishing the duo did pay off though and I took 2 fish on a goldhead HE of 1lb & 1 1/2lb from the pool above the A40 bridge.

Fishing towards the end of the day with a nymph in a fast glide in the middle of the rapids near the bottom of the beat I hooked what felt like a monster. It surged off powerfully and repeatedly, fighting deep and not showing itself. After 5 - 10 mins of making little impression on the fish and several hairy moments I was starting to get very excited, I'd still not seen the fish and I was even questioning whether it might be a salmon. However eventually I managed to steer it into slacker water near the shore and rather than the 5lb monster Usk brown I'd been anticipating there was a fish of about 1 1/2 foul hooked in it's back. A beautiful fish but something of an anticlimax.

Will definitely be back on the Usk soon.

One 12" brown trout caught and returned. Caught on gh hares ear.

Lovely beat with lots of recent maintance being carried out. The weather was not great but the snow on the black mountains reminded me how cold it was. I did not catch or see any fish which was a shame.

Hot and sunny day. Five Trout caught all on dry fly. Met Stewart retired Game Keeper who made the day with his amusing tales and expert knowledge of the river. Excellent fishery with easy to find insructions from Wye and Usk Foundation.

There was a strong downstream wind when we arrived. Periods of sunshine and cloud gave us a pleasant morning despite the wind. We caught 7 fish to 3/4lb on small tungsten PTN. At lunchtime the wind had moderated but heavy showers arrived. At about 4pm a sporadic rise started and we caught a further 12 fish mainly about 8"-10" on size 16 Parachute Adams, which the fish took with gusto! Two wet, cold but happy anglers set of a 6.15pm for the long drive home. Great fun !

3 brown trout all put back as they were only 8" to 10"

Despite almost perfect water conditions it was a very difficult day. We managed about 8 fish in all including two belters of 20 inches and 18 inches.

There was a big problem with Goosanders during the day, we spent the day chasing a group of more than ten from pool to pool. Maybe this would explain the low catch return.
There was also a pipe letting out hideous grey discharge at the top of the last run before the big flats at the top of the beat. It was colouring the water for quite a way down stream and did not smell too pleasant.

WUF NOTE - please report any suspected pollution to the Environment Agency's Hotline 0800 807060 immediately. Goosanders and Cormorants should be recorded on the Angling Trust's website.

5 WBT to 12 inches but had to work hard for these finnicky fish. The action came from the long flats, after fruitless searches of the riffles with nymphs. Stealth manouvres, long leaders, small flies and delicate casting were the order of the day. Took fish on #20 Griffiths gnat and #20 parachute (Pale Watery imitation). Missed a lot of rises too - in some cases I think the fish shied away at the last minute, in other cases it was my timing that was called into question! Heavy rain in the evening sent me home earlier than I'd hoped.