Feedback & Reports

Hot bright conditions with no fish rising. Fished a euronymph rig with no results for an hour then switched to a small dry caddis when some started to flutter off the water and finally persuaded a few small fish to have a go. Missed five, landed one 9" fish in the remaining hour fishing. Lovely river. Would come back again at a better time to try for sewin.

1 Trout

1 Trout

6 trout
1early
Midday 4 in 10mins
1 afternoon

6 Trout, 2 Other

4 Trout

Good day at Cannop Book, 22 fish (21 trout and 1 roach). The trout were mostly juvenile, between 4 and 6 inches. That probably explained why I missed / lost so many fish. Dries outfished nymph today. Size 14 Klinkhammer caught most of the fish.

Checking my record, my previous trip was nearly 3 years ago. Time flew and it was great to be back. There is a new regulation to spray the wades and gears with Virkron disinfectant to prevent the outbreak of crayfish plague to a nearby Blackpool. I am happy to comply with it. However, talking to dog owners whose dogs jumped into the water, none of them know about it. I felt a signpost to inform the general public would be necessary if we are serious about protecting the native white-clawed crayfish.

Sadly, there are signs of poaching. Found a spinner hung -up on a tree branch. The hook and blade still looked shiny with no rust, suggesting the activity was fairly recent. I also came across one chap with coarse fishing gears. I didn't see him fishing. He just walked by to say hello and ask if I caught anything. He wished me luck and then quickly disappeared, before I could engage a longer conversation with him. For the rest of the stretch, I didn't see him again. So I guessed he could be fishing a free-stretch elsewhere (is there one?) or if he were to fish at the brook, he probably had no idea that he needed to purchase a day-ticket and would be limited to fly-fishing method only. Again, a signpost to provide the general public about fishing information would be extremely useful. It could even generate more revenue if people know they could fish there. Just a thought...

21 Trout, 1 Other

No catch

Had a great day at Fownhope. Fished on one of the swims through the woods, the path has become even more treacherous than it since the last time I fished there.
The chub were relentless for most of the day, mostly a good size, between 3-5lbs. Had one barbel in the morning around 9am, the other three came after 4pm smallest around 6lbs the largest a touch over 8lbs. All caught on feeder and soft halibut hookers on a hair rig.
Only fished one rod at a time. As I said a great day’s fishing, I’ll be back soon!

4 Barbel, 30 Chub

First time fishing the beat. Surprised by how much flat/pool water there was with only 3 discernible 'heads' to target. The fishing was exceptional. Found fish congregated around the oxygenated water (especially in 50-80cm of water). Fish were eating well on nymphs. Fished 2x 3mm PTN style nymphs most of the time (silver and copper beads).

Took some large fish (30-45cm) and lost (after a long fight and 2 jumps) a fish over 50cm (dark and heavy cockfish). Made me rethink fishing 7x on the lower Usk beats.

One thing I noted was that the water did not recover particularly well. Refishing productive areas was slow and only the odd fish came out.

42 Trout

No fish taken
fished with Shaun Watkins ( guided day) very enjoyable, Lovely stretch of water and scenery stunning
stayed in the caravan park railway hut the evening before which is 5 minutes walk from the river

12 Trout, 10 Grayling

1 Trout