Feedback & Reports

Lovely day back on this fantastic beat. The water was fairly high with a little colour. Weather was overcast and some light drizzle but often bright too. One smashing little brownie of around a pound taken under the bridge on a gold headed hare's ear.

1 Trout

My last day of the season fizzled out I'm afraid.... The rain that had been forecast for the weekend had not happened, so the water remained very low (almost dry on the Brecon gauge). After about 4 hours there was one splash from a salmon, and one grilse showed itself later in the day, but that was it.
Typically, the rain arrived during early morning of the 17th. It's the third year in a row that there hasn't been any water until, or after the end of the season. I wish the season could be extended by at least a week in these circumstances.
Nil catch.

Fished from around 10 - 6 with some breaks in between. Lovely beat, could have done with a touch more water but conditions were fishable with a fly. Fish showed in the tail of the drop-off at the top end of the beat but in slack water and impossible to swing a fly past and no luck when stripping past. Thanks to Barry for his advice on the phone, much appreciated. Will be back I'm sure.

River 0.58m and clear. A cool easterly breeze resulted in the gloves being worn for the first time since April. Unusually for October didn't see a fish show all day. Fished all the different pockets in addition to the banker pools. Was lucky to have a 5lb cock fish in full tartan accept my size 10 Black Boar by the fallen tree under the bridge. Swam off strongly on release.

1 Salmon

Spent Monday afternoon and all of Tuesday by the river . Conditions were perfect for fly and spinner. Mariusz landed his first salmon, a 5lb cock to a red FC. We had great company on both days , sharing stories, the sights and a beer or two. What else could one want?

1 Salmon

Lovely day fishing, beautiful beat. Tried FCs and Devon minnows but unfortunately no luck. Saw a big salmon surface well below the bridge, but wall to wall sunshine so tough fishing. Excellent roast at Foxhunter too

Good water & nice beat to fish (although the incessant rain didn't bode well) but no salmon. Water too coloured and got worse during the day. Unfortunately, the small stream a few hundred metres upstream of the hut was discharging untreated effluent into the river. Smelt very much like a sewer overflow. I have reported to NRW, as an incident, but may be worth following up.

1 Trout

Arrived with river 0.66m and nice colour. Fished hard for 7 hrs Only two fish seen at tip of Rock and Cables. G.E. had a good pull fishing on the opposite bank but that was the sum of the action, except S.B. Going for a late afternoon swim ! No salmon but enjoyable day ended with four of us talking about fishing pint in hand on the sunny pub decking. River rose to over 1 metre in next 2 hrs. Back soon but time running out.

2 salmon fishing novices trying their luck again on the Usk. Encouraged by the falling water a catch on the beat the previous evening. Bari the owner was generous with his advice and also enthusiastic re prospects. We arrived to find more colour than expected and tried with various FCs, devons and mepps but no connections or surface activity during the day. 2 trout of about 12oz as bicatch in the flats above the bridge. Thank you to Dave, the season rod, for his company. A really enjoyable day on a picturesque beat with a convenient pub for lunch (soon to close for a fortnight as new management take over).

2 Trout

Fishing the beat as a prize in a WUF raffle, my wife and I arrived at Chain Bridge at a delayed 11 am expecting the river to be high but not 1 metre up a and of a colour that would do justice to a mixture of Irfon and Ithon at their worst. We had been well briefed ,however, by Bari, the owner and kind donor, that being the Usk, it would fall during the day and even clear a little.
Fly fishing was out of the question and we spent the morning exploring the beat, even making the occasional cast with a yellow FC more in hope than expectation.
After a prolonged and excellent lunch supplied by Charles at the Chain Bridge Hotel, Bari's prediction was spot on and the river had fallen a few inches and was marginally clearer.
I started fishing again with a yellow tailed FC and connected with a coloured hen of around 12 lbs just upstream of the bridge at about 4.30 pm. It was quickly released and swam off strongly.
I was most impressed with the beat, especially the Rocks pool which must be super to fish in good water conditions. Very many thanks to all concerned for a most enjoyable day. Strangely enough in over 70 years of salmon fishing, this was only my third Usk salmon.

1 Salmon