Feedback & Reports

River looked good and even saw a fish, so must put down failure to ineptitude on my part..... getting seriously fed up with failure now!!
On a brighter note, there was a good mayfly hatch (despite overcast conditions and cold wind), and I suspect some decent trout were on the move most of the afternoon, particularly on the wooded bank of Vanstone.

Cold and overcast. Nil catch.

Fished this expansive beat with 3 other rods, plenty of water for all. The Wye still quite high and crossing the river below the steps down to the beat not an option.
Nothing much happening in terms of fly life and nothing rising in the morning.

A trickle of flies from about 1.30pm got the fish moving. LDO's and Yellow Mayfly being the most obvious part of this light, mixed hatch. 3 wbt 10"-14" and one muscular out of season grayling of around 13" but very thick and deep set. All took a French Partridge off the top, 3 below the bend half way down the beat, the the 4th at the bottom of the glide at just up river from the steps.

Fish turned off at about 4pm as the temperature dipped. The water dropped by 3"-4" during the day and with an improving forecast the following week some lucky anglers are going to be in for a good time on this outstanding beat.

Two brown trout caught during a short early afternoon rise, both measured exactly 28cms, taken on a grey spent mayfly pattern.

Cool day with downstream wind but persevered with various dry flies and the occasional wet resulting in 10 trout to 12" and 8 out of season grayling also to 12". Most were closer to 6" though! Thanks to the previous days excellent guiding from Oliver Burch - we feel much more confident about this type of fishing.

Fished The Boards thoroughly twice - a pull, possibly a trout? - second time down. River in lovely condition!
I'd forotten about that horrid snag (with sink tip) towards the end of the penultimate, downstream board...

A lovely relaxed day on a fascinating stretch of water. Apart from being a little cooler than we'd hoped little breeze and overcast conditions raised expectations. Fish were rising sporadically but more consistently after lunch. Personally I landed 2 good grayling and a fine trout all in the 12oz to pound and a half range while others in the party fared similarly and we all had stories of numerous missed takes. Pockets of rising fish took small dries enthusiastically when located and the deeper sections responded to sparse nymphs fished slowly.

Careful monitoring of the river level over the previous days (at the EA recording site at Titley Mill) showed that it was dropping albeit rather slowly!
Klink'n'dink tactic produced fish in roughly 50:50 proportions to each fly - a Western Olive and a brass-headed size 18 PT nymph. Only the calmer pools produced fish and despite sedges and medium olives hatching most of the day there were very few rising fish.

Had a fantastic day. I must of hit the river at a good time - the water was only slightly coloured and pushing through a tad so I didn't know what to expect, especially with the amount of rain we had the night before.
I started at the middle and worked nymphs upstream, the response from the fish was fantastic, fishing pool after pool connecting with fin perfect wild brown trout. The air stayed cool all day with a trickle of pale wateries and blue winged olives. I saw one mayfly and also what looked like a large brook dun. I think had it been a few degrees warmer there would have been alot more hatching fly.
Turning over rocks I saw some huge heptagenid nymphs which could be the large brook dun, also an abundance of baetis nymphs and caddis. The river is in superb condition. there was a rise to the bwo duns in the evening....
A wonderful day I will not forget. Thank you Wye and Usk Foundation.

Overnight rain rather more than I thought left the Brook slightly coloured and still a bit high, perhaps 9".
Weather very overcast damp and foggy. Conditions did not look promising. TH using nymphs scored a decisive blank not a bump or touch, nothing. DB had four wbt all on beaded nymph and all about 8" or so. We packed after about 3 hours and went for some fish and chips at Eywas Harold only to find the chip shop was shut, but the pub was open, hurrah.