Feedback & Reports

Having been beaten by the high flows the day before at Cwmwysg Ganol, it was a pleasure to see the river had dropped substantially overnight, and continued to drop through the day. A warmer day saw Penpont at nearly optimum conditions - a good flow of water, light wind, warm air. All these combine to bring the hatches on, and as seems to be the case every year, free rising fish.
Would recommend the lower end of the beat - despite camp sites next to the river, there are fish to be caught there.
Penpont is a dry fly heaven if your casting is accurate, and there are fish to be had all along the beat, especially in the glides. There are also fish to be had above the bridge on both sides, but wading in anything other than summer flows is risky - it is deeper that it looks. If you fancy an adventure, take a walk upstream; a very different river.
Penpont is imho the easiest beat on the Usk for wading, and rewards a stealthy approach. It is also a magnificent place to visit, and the scenery alone is well worth the fishing fee. We camped overnight on the banks of the river. The proprietors have gone to great trouble to ensure well-appointed and clean facilities.
On this occasion, I landed 4 brown trout to 14 inches, and lost 4 others, all on a size 14 brown pheasant tail dry. My companion, a beginner, pricked a few but couldn't land any. These fish give a great account of themselves - I call them the Penpont Airborne Division. There are bigger fish in this beat, and on the right day, they will oblige with great memories of 'Penpont Porkers' taken and lost.

One large trout of approximately 16 inches caught and returned, on a size 16 Hawthorn.
River was running high, fast, and slightly coloured. Only saw a couple of fish rising, temperature was still fairly cold, but still saw a fair amount of fly activity.

Quite windy and not warm. Nothing showing while I fished it (10:30am to 2:00pm).

River a bit high, 1 x 10" released.

13 Brown Trout to 2½lbs. Lost 6. 19 Brown Trout hooked. All fish taken on dogsbody dryfly. 10 Brown Trout on a size 16. 3 Brown Trout on a size 14. A lovely water and what a fight from the big fish!

Just one Brown Trout between the four rods.
Having been washed off from the Wye we gave the upper Usk a try. The river was high but clear with a good hatch of Olives, unfortunatly the fish were unimpressed and showed little interest.
The one fish caught, a 14" brown, fell to a Hares ear F fly which gave a good account of itself in the fast water, at one point I didnt think I would get it to the net. We didnt see this beat at its best with so much water pushing through and would be interested to see it again with less water.

Went looking for fishable water in the hills - the river was high, fast but only lightly coloured. Sunny day so some olives, hawthorns and others around but no rising fish. However, did return 2 trout and missed a couple more on gold bead GRHE. One of 9" and an absolute beauty of 18" - I measured it twice to make sure! Terrific scrap as it took off for the Usk... Wonderful day, can't wait to be back.

Very fishy beat - has bags of potential. However, on the day of our visit, there was still a lot of water moving after recent heavy rain. Some colour in the water, but not too much of a problem. Regrettably, a brisk cold wind meant little in the way of insect hatches, and we were unable to move a fish with nymph, wet or dry.
In higher flows, the lower couple of hundred yards are somewhat dicey to wade, and once in, getting out can mean retracing steps. Once past this section the banks are lower, and a the river is a wonderful mix of pools, glides and rockier sections. Would definitely visit again given better conditions.

Just to let you know no fish caught on Thursday R.H

River flooded off. Great to be able to re-book