Feedback & Reports

It was a lovely September day with quite reasonable hatches of olives and sedges but very few fish moving. I saw just two trout and one salmon, but caught none.....that's fishing and the reason why we always go again!

weather: Sunny, with a fresh squally wind at times.

conditions: Would have estimated carrying around 2 feet of fresh water due to weed and debris being washed down river.

num-rods: 4

comments: Total fish landed, 3 Chub to 5lb's 4oz, 8 Barbel between 5lb and 10lb 8oz, which was a personal best landed from the Vanstone. All fish caught on pellet. Access was very limited due to high water levels, many swims were also overgrown with vegetation. The joys and challenge of fishing non match fished waters, consisting of bare mud banks.

Started off slow, lost a barbel early on and my friend Darren had a hook straightend. The barbel came late on, me having 4 on corn and Darren taking 6 on pellet. I was snapped twice. Thanks to every one at the wye & usk, keep up the great work..

Sept 23rd 24th & 25th 2008 at Sheephouse

weather: dry, overcast, NE wind. Conditions: fairly low and v clear

number of rods 2

1st Day : 8 Chub up to 4lb 8oz
caught on pellet/corn

2nd Day : 3 Chub to 4lb, 1 Barbel to 8lb 10oz
caught-on2: pellet/corn

3rd Day : 4 Barbel 6lb 4oz, 7lb 10oz, 10lb 4oz, 10lb 8oz!
caught-on3: corn

Worried on the first day. met the bailiff who told us there were no barbel there, adding "dont listen to those fools at Builth, they know nothin" ! Eventually located some fish on the 2nd day and as you can see, had a great last day. thank you guys.

What can we say? After a difficult couple of days in Wales after salmon we wanted a classical dry fly end to our season. And as so often before Gromain delivered the goods. A very relaxed days fishing - even stopped for an hour in middle of day to tie some more flies on the river bank. Not many fish rising but a well presented fly in the right spot would soon bring up a willing taker.

Once again - thank you all for a superb seasons fishing.

WUF Notes : Conditions: 1ft on guage - clear. Fly-hatches: Needle flies predominated - large and small olives too.

14 x Grayling to 1?lbs. On para ginger quill
17 x Trout to 1lb. On para ginger quill

I had a lovely day at Lyepole yesterday, cold and misty in the morning, brightening to warm sunshine from 11am.

The river was a nice summer level, clear and with a bit of a chill from the cold nights.

Six fish caught, 4 grayling and 2 trout. few missed and 3 or 4 dropped off before the net. The trout were small, (8") but very beautiful, 2 of the grayling were outstanding, one at about 2lb and another about a pound with a similar one dropping off the barbless hook. One trout caught on a size 14 CDC shuttlecock, but very little surface activity
in evidence. All of the rest caught on size 14 or 14 longshank Gold Bead GRHE fished upstream with an indicator, (sorry), and one on a
small coch y bon.

Fishery is in good condition with obvious increase in bankside growth since my visit in the Spring but not too bad for access. I hate the barbed wire but think the stiles are excellent but could be a bit lower to allow for the creaky joints of elderly piscators.

There is a tree down across the river above the fast water on the sharp bend a few hundred yards above the bridge but does not appear to be causing any trouble at the moment.

Thanks for providing us with a lovely facility in an outstandingly beautiful location. I had the whole stretch to myself and enjoyed the day immensely. The fish were a bonus.

A beautiful beat but not for the faint-hearted. The wading can very hairy and a wading staff is essential in my view. Plenty of fish, but generally small - I'm sure the big ones are in there but not many showed themselves. We were plagued by salmon parr which although nice to see, could not be avoided on any method.

WUF Notes : 2 x rods fishing. Weather, sunny and warm (eventually). Conditions, clear, showing 11 inches on the guage

Fly-hatches: very few - some pale wateries and some sedge

20+ Trout mainly around 6 inches, best about 10 inches
Caught-on dry sedges + north country spiders

30+ Grayling mainly small, but 3 around 1lb and one of 1?lbs
Caught-on nymphs, dry sedge and ducks dun, north country spiders

Sorry this catch return is so very late but I was a bit too busy to do it straight away and then it slipped my mind.

It seems ages ago now but myself and my cousin fished the Usk at Glan-yr-Afon on the last weekend of the trout season. The river was still a bit high and slightly coloured but the sun was out and fish were rising when we arrived around midday. After a few refusals I realised they were feeding just below the surface and put on a cul-de-canard emerger which produced a couple of beautiful little trout of about 9 inches.

This hatch ended soon and the rest of the day was spent deep nymphing with no reward. In the early evening clouds of olive duns came down and we switched back to dries. At the very top of the beat I cast at a rise and hooked into a very big trout but it was never hooked properly and came off after a couple of determined leaps. It was a long cast from one bank to the other and after much cursing I realised I'd been lucky to hook it at all at that distance on a dry fly.

We made our way back to the gravel runs above the bridge and landed a couple more smallish browns on dries but then the hatch ended and as soon as the sun went down it got cold very quickly as it tends to do at this time of year.

Anyway, a truly lovely bit of river (if decidedly tricky to wade) and I look forward to fishing it again next season.

All the best and sorry for the lateness of this return.

Brilliant fishing.

WUF Notes : Fishing over two days 25/9/08 5 x Barbel to 9lb 6oz. 26/9/08 3 x Barbel to 10lb 7oz

Many thanks for a nice day last Friday in glorious weather on Abernant and Plas Gwyn.

Fishing results on North Country spiders were 21 grayling, 3 trout and a 10 pound hen salmon, safely released. The last took a size 16 Dark Moor Game on the middle dropper. Happens every year, doesn't it?

Anyway, depending on the weather, I might book a proper salmon day with you at the end of this week, to see if I can catch one on the right rod for once!

I'll be in touch, best wishes.