Feedback & Reports

The beat and weather got the better of us on the day. 7deg C as we arrived, and the day brought only strong winds and rain rather than an increase in temperature.
A beautiful stretch of river, probably a foot below normal level and crystal clear. Only a few small pools were located, but there were no signs of fish throughout the day. A small brief hatch at about 1pm brought a little hope but no rises. Access to river difficult for some sections and a proliferation of barbed wire so watch the waders!

The Honddu looks in fine fettle but it was deadly stuff today. Fished from 12pm through until 2pm. No fish moved or seen despite trying every nook and cranny of this great bit of water. There was a dribble of LDOs at around 1pm but nothing to disturb their progress. The water is very cold still. Give it a couple of weeks. Moved on the Middle Escley to try and save the blank!

Thank goodness for this little gem of a brook! A favourite pool yielded 4 fish in half a dozen casts - all to tungsten - including a beautiful 12" fish, quite a size for up here. Wish I'd had more time to fish further on!

4 Trout

Fly & spinning for salmon, but failed to catch any! However a 10-12lb pike took a black flying C at the Corner Tree pool just on the lip of the bankside rocks. Good, strong, health fish, it was returned to the water.
Otherwise, the river was quite high and would we think have fished better with slighly less water and more clarity.

1 Pike

A beautiful stream with lovely pocket water. Unfortunately not the best of days.

Overcast early then sunny later with a strong wind blowing up stream. Trout came to surface fly, black klinkhammer with a nymph leaded attached at the tail. Lost a good size trout approx 1.5lb. The fish caught was about 8 inches and in lovely condition. Water cold and clear. Nice to start the season on a dry day.

1 Trout

Another amazing day on the Usk, very cold downstream wind to start with so threw a nymph around for a while in the faster water at the start of the beat but to no avail so moved up stream. At 12.20pm the Olive hatch started and the river came to life with lots of rises throughout the mid section of the beat, I managed to land 2 fat 1.5lb BT on a winged Olive and lost several more, its great to get back on the drys again.

2 Trout

Fished for a few hours today with heavily weighted nymphs, had six and lost as many. No hatch to raise them today, very enjoyable all the same.

6 Trout

Water still coloured but significantly better than 6 days ago and a lot lower.
One fish, probably a trout on for a couple of seconds on Stones.
Under the guidance of approved WUF Guide Oliver Burch one hen Kelt, 30 inches or a tad bigger caught in the Lines Pool on a black Flying C. One other fish seen jumping.
When the debris is removed, the tree thinning in progress will be a big improvement for wading and access.

1 Other

Mainly sunny afternoon but a strong downstream wind, almost nothing hatching and nothing rising. So, the tung head hares ear in action again, resulting in 6 trout, 5 at about 9" and one, in good nick, at 14". All from deep runs with a good flow. Also a surprise beautiful grayling at 12". Two of the pools are very different now, each with a full fallen tree across them - adds to the challenges!

6 Trout, 1 Grayling