Feedback & Reports

Weather much cooler , cloudy and a N wind. 16 degrees at 08:00 and it never got higher than that. Rained gently most of am. But I had learnt a lesson and arrived armed with a packed lunch acquired from Morrisons in Leominster. Full of everything you need: Even the 5 a day (he lies - it was sarnies, brown food and a diet coke: boy food).

Checked out this small beat first. Just as well. The access at lower end is tough and only bank fishing near the weir is from right hand side (facing downstream). I slipped into the river in a glide just upstream of the woods - and promptly sat my fat arse on some barbed wire hidden in the undergrowth. My waders leaked henceforth and by the time I reached the top of the beat, it looked like I had some terrible inflamation of the right leg... about 4 litres of water was in there with my lower appendage... But the fishing....

Water was very clear and the slight milkiness seen yesterday at Lyepole and Middlemoor seems to have been diluted by the time the river hits this stretch. I could see the bottom in pools over 5' deep. Even determine if fish were in them... Which isn't good. Fish were rising sporadically so I went dry fly straight off and stuck with it. I put down 5 or 7 fish for every splashy rise - and missed 5 to every 1 I hooked. Incompetence seems my middle name... Although the very clear water is my defense, m'lud.

Result? In the morning I caught 2 wbt of 6" & 8" (the latter perhaps generous) and a 8" Grayling. The productive pools were a straight run about 100m from my wader ripping access and a series of pools starting at the downstream cormer of the 'main' field that you go through from the farm...

Saw a grey heron and a white version of a similar bird (?). Bloody big anyway. Kingfishers too. But on second day.. yawn. At the top of the beat (the woods bit after the weir, where the river is like something out of Borneo, except for the flora, obviously - and the temperature) I found scat and spoor of what I believe to be otter. Didn't see any fish, even though it looks very 'fishy'... So if you are put off by the almost impossible access you ain't missing much, frankly.

Went to B&Q in Leominster after I finished first run through and mended my breathable waders with something called Gorilla Glue. Welded the holes and rips shut (I found 7 in total, some more than an inch long - no wonder the bloody things leaked). It dried in an hour and seems to have done the job (looks like my waders have acne, but they are almost teenagers now). Certainly my evening trip involved me keeping dry, apart from soaking feet where I replaced my socks onto the wrong feet and the soaking wet neoprene from the earlier water carrier experiment. I just didn't think that through...

Evening I stuck to the easy wading bit. Not many rises, so I prospected with a dry adams where I now knew fish were. Rose a few that I missed and spooked some others, as witnessed by the bow waves in tailwaters... But I still managed to hook the fish of the day: A 14" grayling, that came from the depths at the head of a deep hole to hit the fly like it was its last meal. It very nearly was. The de-barbed hook was right down its' throat. Got the old disgorger out and that immediately sliced through the leader like it was a razor. Making use of the tool a tad difficult. So back to plan B: my Foreceps. Mr/Mrs fish didn't enjoy this at all and after I had got the fly free the fish refused to swim... I took 10 minutes to nurse that fish back to life.

Having done my duty as a C&R angler I packed up, as the western skyline tinged pink. Which is pretty much how I felt.

A good day... very challenging, making the reward that bit sweeter. I had booked Middlemoor as my reserve beat, but never got there.

2 Trout, 2 Grayling

Fished the morning with shfc had my 1st ever Wye salmon from the neck of the Rectory a hen fish of about 10lb very lightly hooked. Fish was slightly coloured but in great condition. Beautiful stretch of water cannot wait to return. Highly recommend beat

1 Salmon

Fished the hitch through the mill stream and neck of the rectory to no avail but a beautiful sunset !

4 rainbow trout

4 Trout

1 barbel around 7lbs on feeder. Access is quite limited

1 Barbel

Cloudy all day with rain mid morning. Good bit of colour to the river. Tricky access, and too deep to wade in places. No signs of any fish rising all day. Tried dry but switched to nymph and caught two Grayling around mid day. Went quiet after that for the rest of the day. A slightly frustrating day.

2 Grayling

My luck has been poor of late..... I passed Abercynrig the other day and saw lots of trout rising and booked it as i haven't been this year. Today was quite cold and breezy, with hardly any flies evident. So there were no trout rising.. I caught only 2 small ones but there were no other signs.... even at the top pool which is good for trout.

Oh well..... just my luck again. Will endeavour to return before the end of the season.

2 Trout

Another hard day to tempt anything. There was just nothing rising. Tried everything but they just weren't interested. Still managed a couple though and on this beat and the upper wye in general it is just great to be there.

2 Grayling

I started fishing at 14:00 and immediately could see why this beat has a reputation as a good trout fishing ground. Lots of varied opportunities including varied pools, ripples and runs. The temperature dropped overnight and the local fisherman I shared the beat with told me that this will affect the fishing for the day. There was a some activity, with the occasional rise, but the fish was not interested in any dry fly I presented. I switched to nymphing, but this did not improve my luck either. The river is beautiful. I saw kingfishers, birds of pray and even a decent size salmon jumping! I stuck it out till the evening rise, where I picked up a couple of nice trout, on a Parachute Adams. Glad to have finished the day on a catch. I will be back to fish this beat again in prime time.

2 Trout

2 Trout