Feedback & Reports

Simon’s helpful guidance on the telephone a few days prior to fishing, and then Ian’s excellent introduction to the beat at the start of the day, both served to heighten my anticipation. Many thanks to both.

The day itself brought many special memories. Very pleasant weather and surroundings. Buzzards, Herons, Kingfishers and an unforgettable close encounter with a young Mink, who showed no concern when wandering right to my feet. Don’t think he’d seen a human before.

And then the fish. What a day! Frankly, these facts don’t do the day justice. First two casts brought two handsome Chub, and the day just got better from there.
5 Chub, 2lb 5oz, 2lb 4oz, 1lb, 3lb, 2lb 12oz
10 Barbel, 5lb 12oz, 6lb 8oz, 6lb 12oz, 6lb 8oz, 6lb, 7lb 14oz, 9lb 6oz (personal best!), 5lb 2oz, 8lb and 6lb 2oz.

All fish caught on pellet. All returned fighting fit.
Everyone talks about the fight from Wye Barbel. I can only add the following:
On two occasions, I was sure I was snagged on the bottom, only for the ‘snag’ to start taking line off the reel a few seconds later. 10lb hook link was also snapped twice, and several other fish lost. Phenomenal fishing.

Many thanks to everyone involved for helping to provide yet another first-class experience.

Another day where the way you approached the pools was far more important than the flies you fished. Low & clear conditions on these small streams can sometimes lead to fruitless days if you don't blend into the surroundings and keep foot disturbance down to a minimum.

Plenty of smaller trout (10" or less) providing good sport on light tackle with the bigger fish too wise to venture out in such conditions,(a return imminent).

Fishing with two others - to do own returns. Caught 4-5 "tiddlers" - Fished 12.00 - 15.00

A modest 1 barbel on pellet from beat 4, but very exciting for the children to net for me. A lovely few hours spent on the bank with wife and children. Also saw the mink referred to earlier and the sand martins provided plenty of entertainment.

Saturday morning was damp and cold and the river coloured and flowing strongly after friday's heavy rain. We decided to fish as ML had come over from Boston Lincs. Day improved as sky cleared and river dropped slightly. ML had 3 trout best 10 inches on olives and blue dun. JM - complete novice - 0, but learnt a lot about casting.
Lovely stretch of river and will be back in next couple of weeks. If you do fish this beat do not linger too long by high sand banks as sand martins feeding young.

A very good day, with 3 barbel caught - best 8.5lb and a good number of chub - best around 3.5lb, also a few roach which is good news for the river.

A short beat, with difficult access to the river, should have packed my waders and then been able to access more water.

Great way to start the season off. 9 Chub caught 2lb - 4.5lb, 5 Barbel 3lb - 7lb, all caught on pellet.
Great wild life as usual, saw Jays, Buzzards and even a Peregrine falcon.

As usual lots of canoes on the river they were all very considerate once you made your presence known. Definitely will be booking up again in the future.
Thanks to everybody at Wye and Usk.

I found the upper reaches of the beat quite difficult to fish even with a 7' rod, but still managed to catch 3 Trout up to 12" on nymphs.
There was no significant hatch of flies on the day.
The weir pool and lower stretch were quite pleasant, though the river is perhaps a little smaller than I'm used to.
The clearance work planned for the upper stretch will no doubt improve its fishability.

11 Barbel to almost 7lb and 6 Chub to 2.5lb. This is one of the most Angler friendly beats I have fished with the vegetation strimmed and even a map in the hut showing the most productive areas. Very useful for those fishing it for the first time.

River very very low, very very slow , paddling rather than wading.

I arrived early about 7.30 and took a 12 inch trout on a hairs ear emerger that was feeding under a tree in a "pool" below what would normally be some fastwater about 50 yds down from the parking area.

I worked my way up to "sewage pool" which I was pleased to find was not a literal description! The river at this point was only 5-6 ft wide, running quite fast and shaded by overhanging trees. A 7ft rod would have been ideal instead of the 10ft rod I had. By kneeling in a convenient hole I managed to flick an oliver emerger along side a log lying in the water and collected a nice trout about 10 inch.

I worked my way up to the top section under the A40 which in the hot, bright sun devoid of cover, looked singularly uninviting. The unusual smell that greets you in this area is a decomposing sheep by the way.

Decided to cut my losses at midday and return in the evening. Stoped at Sweets in Usk on the way back to Cwmbran and had a cup of tea with Jean, what a lovley lady and what an amazing shop, topped my fly box up with a few of her very reasonably priced flies. Hand made at internet prices, with a free cup of tea thrown in.


Returned about 7.30 nothing much happening until 9ish, prolific hatches of Yellow Mays. Lots of fish up and feeding but not ineterested in what I was offering. Tups, Yellow Mays, Griffiths, Adams, Iron Blues. Finally got one on an olive merger which took of like an express train, unfortunatley divesting itself of my fly on the way. Too dark to tie another fly on so i left

A stretch of river worth another visit after the river has benefitted from some prolonged rain.

In case you are wondering who vandalised the picnic benches it was the sheep. They get stuck under the bench and fight their way out. I saw one in action.