Feedback & Reports

None caught, lost a 5 lb grilse, suspect had another but it shook the hook before I had a chance to see it. If not that a huge brownie!!

Great day, lovely water.

Grey,overcast morning with showers. Rain cleared through after lunch, with a cool breeze. Very occasional fish showing - three of which we managed to tempt on a size 18 Parachute Adams. We caught five further fish on size 16 tungsten headed PTNs the best of which was just under 3 lbs - the others ranged from 1/2-1lb.
This beat is always a delight to fish with so many varied pools and runs. Most success was from the faster water at the head of the runs.

Thought this was the day to break my Usk Salmon duck but alas ... conditions pretty good as well but no luck just a couple of trout.

1 x Trout 3¼lbs

One 3/4 lb brown trout (returned) caught on dry parachute black gnat size 18. Very hot sunny day with few fish showing. Could not stay for the evening. Suspect that this is when the fish would start feeding. River a bit low but still plenty of fishing opportunities. Very picturesque and excellent telephone advice given about beat at time of booking. A very enjoyable day. I wish I could have stayed for the evening.

8 fish with 3 at 3/4-1lb. All returned. Smaller fish on dries, black gnat, sherry spinner. Larger fish on nymph GRHE and hotspot PTN. As much action in last hour between 7-8 as in the rest of the day. River very low but once the light was fading on what was a hot sunny day the river was peppered with rising fish. Also saw mink along the bank. Foundation site was very useful in providing advice for the beat and easy to use to book. Great value.

River very very low, very very slow , paddling rather than wading.

I arrived early about 7.30 and took a 12 inch trout on a hairs ear emerger that was feeding under a tree in a "pool" below what would normally be some fastwater about 50 yds down from the parking area.

I worked my way up to "sewage pool" which I was pleased to find was not a literal description! The river at this point was only 5-6 ft wide, running quite fast and shaded by overhanging trees. A 7ft rod would have been ideal instead of the 10ft rod I had. By kneeling in a convenient hole I managed to flick an oliver emerger along side a log lying in the water and collected a nice trout about 10 inch.

I worked my way up to the top section under the A40 which in the hot, bright sun devoid of cover, looked singularly uninviting. The unusual smell that greets you in this area is a decomposing sheep by the way.

Decided to cut my losses at midday and return in the evening. Stoped at Sweets in Usk on the way back to Cwmbran and had a cup of tea with Jean, what a lovley lady and what an amazing shop, topped my fly box up with a few of her very reasonably priced flies. Hand made at internet prices, with a free cup of tea thrown in.


Returned about 7.30 nothing much happening until 9ish, prolific hatches of Yellow Mays. Lots of fish up and feeding but not ineterested in what I was offering. Tups, Yellow Mays, Griffiths, Adams, Iron Blues. Finally got one on an olive merger which took of like an express train, unfortunatley divesting itself of my fly on the way. Too dark to tie another fly on so i left

A stretch of river worth another visit after the river has benefitted from some prolonged rain.

In case you are wondering who vandalised the picnic benches it was the sheep. They get stuck under the bench and fight their way out. I saw one in action.

After the glories of Glanusk this was something of a disappointment. The day looked promising with some respectable cloud cover, but the fish were just not in the mood. I arrived around 10 a.m. and packed up, fishless, at 7 p.m. For most of the day there was little going on, small fish dimpling the surface after tiny flies. There was rather more activity toward the bottom of the beat where a small stream enters the river: a decent fish was indulging in a series of acrobatics here but resisted my blandishments. I went through all the usual dry fly options: adams, klinkhammer, black gnat, hare's ear, olive etc. and trundled a succession of nymphs through the deeper water at the top of the beat. No good. According to the fishing book at the gate there had been some spectacular catches here in the last couple of weeks, so perhaps the fish were a bit 'browned' off. I hope to return next year for further investigations.

After hold ups on the M5 we did not arrive until 11.30am
Warm and overcast with scarcely a breath of wind looked
perfect. We caught 13 fish the best 2.5/1.5/1.5/1lbs mostly
on small weighted nymphs from the fast water at the top of
the pools. There was no discernible hatch during
the day and one only saw a very occasional dimple on the surface. We had hoped for an evening rise, but that did
not materialise. A most enjoyable days fishing.

Between us we caught 8 brown trout 7 of which were between 8" and 10" with one good one at 12" (about a pound we guessesd) and 2 small salmon parr. We returned them all apart from one foul hooked brownie. We were guided by Frank Williams who was patient, knowledgeable and good company. We fished New Zealand method with a variety of dries uptop and small gold bead and tungsten bead nymphs below. Most were caught to the nymphs but one took a small mayfly. We were instructed on Czech nymphing by Frank and it was he who landed the pounder brownie using this method.