Feedback & Reports

Quite easy to find and decent parking just inside the gate of a local farm. Another chilly morning. But very heartened to see the Escley brimming with water after fishing it in wellies last summer. You have to work hard on this beat to get the best out of it. Getting in and out of the river, scrambling up banks, climbing debris, styles, etc. A graveyard for waders! However, if you persisit you will be rewarded with cracking pool after cracking pool and an extraordinary head of trout. And I mean beautiful little specimens, speckled red and flanked in gold. The majority tend to be 7"-9", plump and feisty.
Slow morning but kicked off for a couple of hours in the early afternoon. Mixed hatch of medium olives, LDO's and Yellow Mayfly.

Alternated between Para Adams and French Partridge (FP small hook size 14, after missing too many takes on a size 10 last year on this beat).

Brought 8 wbt to hand, all put a handsome bend in my 3wt rod (I want to be buried with that little Streamflex).

Still didn't get to the top of this beat, but am getting closer on each visit.

All that bank scrambling is rewarded in spades, bend after bend, pool after pool, pretty fish after pretty fish. Oh, it even rained most of the afternoon and I didn't feel a drop so absorbing was the fishing.

Between us, caught 2 WBT to around 9-10". Beautiful beat with plenty of potential, cold water temp still a problem, insect life not plentiful yet.

6 Rainbow trout caught on spinner. One small but beautiful Brown Trout caught on same method and returned to the water. Good quality fish but a little on the small side in the main. However, the water is well stocked and good fishing is available. Many anglers enjoy the chance to spin for trout here. Very glad to be able to book online. I have recomended this venue to others for the last 25 years.
My only suggestion is that trees and bushes on the Cwm Cadlan side that are near the waters edge should be cut back, at least in a few places between the old stocking ramp and the bridge. When the water is full a large portion of the bank is not accesible to anglers which is a shame. Overall though a great place to fish and in the main well maintained.

No Salmon caught or seen, however two trout caught on a cascade. One at a pound and one a pound and a half. Beautiful strech of the river. Will be back and next time hopefully wont snap my salmon rod in two after only two hours....

Nice day on the river. Manage to come across a number of fish rising in a pool in the woods and successfully scared what looked to be a very nice trout. The smaller fish ignored everything in the fly box but looked to be feeding hard on Olives.
One concern was the water treatment plant on the right bank was releasing a cloudy white liquid into the river. I called the EA pollution hotline and they said that they would investigate and get the water company to check.

WUF NOTE: This is exactly what to do if you come across suspected pollution. Please also remember to ask the EA for an incident number and let us know what it is so that we can follow up on the action they took.

Nil catch - water one foot above normal.

Just two small trout caught (best 8 inches or so). Good fly hatches and great wildlife. Where are the fish?

Quick afternoon visit to this beat just above Brecon. Did the lower half of the beat with fairly fast water all through. Took one 10" WBT tempted up by an Adams. Another on and off in a flash. Not much rising. Low level but constant hatch.

17 x trout 6-9 inches. Nothing at all rising naturally, but I went upstream prospecting likely spots with a little Tan Klinkhammer and trout seemed happy to come up for it. Only after lunch, when a breeze was blowing hawthorns onto the surface, did a few trout rise and I got a couple on a St Mark's Fly put on just for the sake of it.
AF of Ross recently contributed some kind words about the trimming done during the winter. Thank you - it's always a bit of a quandary to know how much to cut, balancing the idea of providing enough room to cast without removing all cover and the overhead supply of beetles etc which trout like. Incidentally, nobody should imagine that the end of the trimmed section marks the top of the beat. In fact, overgrown as it is, I don't think I've ever quite reached the top; like the middle and lower beats, this a full day's fishing at least. No, the end of the trimmed section indicates the moment when the pubs opened and the team decided as one man to leave the river...there's more to be done!

Three trout and 1 lost. 2 to nymph and 1 to dry fly + 1 lost to dry fly. Very little fly about very occational rise.