Feedback & Reports

Another day on the Edw. Slow start in the morning but towards the afternoon the fishing improved. Some nice trout at the top end of the beat . Best about 12". Same as the other days, all fish came to the nymph fished deep.

8 Trout

Nice sunny day but water still cold. Not many fish rising. All fish came to the nymph. Trout up to 12 "

10 Trout

River in fast flowing and brown.

Last day of a four day blast on the WUF. Fished about half way up and all fish caught to a dry Adam Para. Thanks WUF for a great weekend.

9 Trout

Last day of a four day blast on the WUF. Fished about half way up and all fish caught to a dry Adam Para. Thanks WUF for a great weekend.

9 Trout

I have fished this beat on many occasions so know it well. But it was a very different proposition with high water levels. Some of the usual pools and lies off limits but still plenty to cast at. As ever, a steady trickle of LDO's which had one or two fish moving.

14 wbt caught and released. Best 12", plump and ready for winter spawning. All took a dry fly. In fact I stayed on an f-fly all day as it kept working. Rain stopped play at about 4pm so headed back to our base in Hay for a pint of Butty Bach!

14 Trout

Fished the top part of the beat. Caught some nice trout up to 10 inch.
River is very low and all trout came to the nymph.

5 Trout

River is very low. All trout up to 10 inch caught on nymphs. Very nice couple of hours on the river.

10 Trout

2 Trout

Started out at 12 degrees with poor cloud cover. That was story of day, really, except that temperature hit 16... A slight but noticeable northerly breeze.

I hit the water at 09:15 exactly. 2 fish were moving in the pool below the start. Drat. Noting moved upstream... A small hatch of mixed beasties ranging in size from 22's to 12's, although I saw a crane fly carry out a catastrophic crash in the tail of a pool later in the afternoon which panicked the 3 parr lying there. Otherwise the water was very thin, although it carried a touch of milky colour that helped the deeper pools retain some mystery. Which was where the better fish were. Otherwise those in the tails were highly skittish.

I covered the lower part of the beat by 3:00. I had seen maybe 20 small parr, taken 2 wbt on para adams (8" and a belting, if lean, 12", from the same pool). The wading is not challenging and the only reason I took so long was the fact that it was too easy to panic any fish sitting in the shallows - sometimes when still 15 metres from the tail! And I was wading carefully. Well carefully for an 18 stone idiot. But this allowed me to get size right (16) and discard any nymphing as a waste of time. I had a couple of parr too, but they don't count.

The upper part looked the same when I got there at 4pm. But it had 1 major difference: Fish. Okay, I only caught 5 wbt ranging from 8" -10" but for another 12" which was the exact twin of the other larger fish I caught down towards the start of the lower beat. There were fish in every pool in the upper part, including several (okay, maybe just 5 or 6) parr. I also missed a couple. What a great beat! Okay, I had refined the fly size by that time and 7X end tippet, at least 9' long and regularly degreased, made all the difference - and arguably I had learnt these lessons on the lower part. Finished at 7pm ish, but before the light was faiuling. Beat signs very helpful, and obviously there were moving fish above me beyond that sign. Drat again!

To be frank, wading is moderate on this beat. Ideal for the slightly inferm or just the terminally lazy (I fit in that latter group). But just don't miss the upper part. You will not be sorry. In fact, if pressed, skip the lower part if water is low...

Just 1 note: there was a dead lamb on RH bank (looking downstream) on the upper part, in that gorge type place below the B&B. The dead had blue markings and didn't smell too bad, so probably not been there long. Can WUF tell the farmer, please?

Thanks again to WUF for my 5 day's fishing. I was overly ambitious in booking 2 beats early doors, especially down Wye way. So much better than commuting into town...

Thanks again.

7 Trout