Feedback & Reports

River painfully low. So much so that 95% of the bottom is visible here. I was greeted by two otters fighting/arguing half way down the stretch at dawn.
Not the start to fill me with confidence as I'd not been here before but unphased, and taking into account the river level, I decided to spend the day trotting with meat and cheese. Took chub all day (albeit sporadically) from many swims but best results were from the middle of the stretch (left bank steps/right bank reeds swim which cover the same water and about the only part where the bottom was not visible). Also had a couple from the middle of the fast run at the lower end. Great stretch to do some wading which I thoroughly enjoyed (I don't do it very often).
Met office forecast of overcast conditions was incorrect (what a shock!) and I was "treated" to a mostly sunny day which did not help sport at all in the shallow water (max depth I found was 3 1/2 foot) and made fishing in the day very hard work although I did continue to catch (but we are talking 1 fish per hour).
As usual, evening kick-started the fish into feeding and I continued to catch chub regularly until I could no longer see the float in the gloom. Biggest 5lb, smallest 1/2lb.
No sign of Mr Whiskers but not really surprised given the conditions and desperately low water. Having fished The Creel (immediately downstream) I would imagine they have dropped down there into the deeper water for some cover.
A word of warning. This is a double bank stretch which is fantastic but means you have to cross the Foy footbridge to access the right bank. If you don't like heights I suggest you stick to the left bank. I've never crossed this bridge before but it reminded me of a rope bridge over a gorge you might see in something like an Indiana Jones film (although it is wood/steel). There are 1" gaps between the treads and the whole bridge rocks and sways with each step you take. Rather unnerving at first!
I will definitely be back to this lovely short stretch but will wait until there's a foot more water on as I bet it would be cracking.

30 Chub

No luck today. River was low despite the drop of rain we had a few days ago.

2 dace also caught

4 Barbel, 6 Chub, 2 Other

4 TROUT

4 Trout

4 Rainbows taken. 1 @ 1 1/4 lb, 3 @ 1 1/2 lb. No Browns caught.

4 Trout

The others were eels, a little better than yesterday but still hard work in low conditions, barbel caught on pellets.

9 Barbel, 4 Other

6 Brown trout circa 6>9inches .
5 grayling again around 6>9 inches.
All in perfect condition and returned unharmed.

6 Trout, 5 Grayling

No fish caught. Not that surprising as one rod had never fly fished before (and doesn't fish) and the other rod was tutoring a lot and isn't that experienced on rivers anyway. Plus we only fished the middle of the day. The setting is great, kingfishers, dippers etc. The water was incredibly low. We saw several fish in the deeper pools but the only fish rising consistently that we saw, was safely tucked away under a tree!

My friend & I caught six trout between us - lost a few and missed lots! The rain stayed off and we had a fantastic day!

6 Trout

not a sausage. despite a good rise just as it got too dark.
Also managed to fall in. Good day all round.