Feedback & Reports

M. and I fished the Wye and Usk on the 10th and 11th of September and I just wanted to update you....

We had a good days fishing on the Wye catching 15 fish between us up to one and half pounds. Four of those 15 were grayling. I also lost a couple of substantially bigger fish which moved into fast water (c. 2-4lb mark).

At Fenni Fach we saw a number of cracking trout(3-4lb) sipping of the surface and there was a lot of surface activity around 5pm. The fish however were very very spooky and hard to catch and we only manage to get four good fish up to one and half pounds. I think the seriel rise may have been to caenis because they were very fussy. Fantastic stretch of water! I will be back in June to fish it when the water is higher and to have another crack on Penpont and Glan yr Afon.

Thanks so much for your advice it came up trumps again.

The Passport arrived today, and I have had a great deal of pleasure already looking through the booklets, plotting and planning for the next trout season - inspired by my recent trip to the Usk.

It all looks wonderfully tempting, and the documents (indeed the whole system) are extremely well thought-out.

I look forward to receiving the 2008 Passport in due course, and in the longer term to some good fishing trips to Wales. I hadn't been there for at least 15 years, and am wondering why ever not - it's as easy to get to from London as, say, Dorset. Could be "the new Scotland" for me!

Catch returns for our day at Presteigne - Beat 33 yesterday.

We finished on the upper beat and didn't fancy the walk back down to the voucher box (hope this is OK).

M.W. - 31 trout, biggest 11"
G.W. - 41 trout, biggest 12"
C.W. - 20 trout, 1 grayling, biggest trout 12"

I think these catch returns shocked us all, when we arrived the river looked very clear and low, I have walked this stretch a few times in the past and although this river runs very clear most of the time the level was the lowest I've seen it. As far as quantity of fish this trip must rate the best for all three of us.

The lower stretch was by far the most productive with the upper stretch being far more overgrown (many lost nymphs) and much harder to target the fish.

The amount of fish we all lost out-numbered the ones we actually caught which shows the quality of this stretch of river, by the way the vast majority of fish were caught on nymphs although the fish were rising and many flies were hatching the catch rate was far better on nymph.

Another superb bit of WUF water!

Hoorah! Finally managed to extract a salmon from Llyn Em. In fact I hooked two, but the bigger one got off (mid double). The smaller was a 27" hen fish taken from Middle Caban and put up a terrific scrap but swam off strongly on release. It made my day.

Had only my second day on the beat yesterday and returned covered in glory.

Hooked and landed a very black but very strong cock about 7lb by the Yew Tree in the Spring Pool c9am. Fished that out and started down the Cottage Pool in a somewhat prefunctory manner having hardly any expectation of anything in there and promptly hooked a very bright little grilse of about 5lb. Drove round to the other side and scoured the Boards and nearly went to lunch but thought I ought to try the tail of Bach Howey. Fiddled about trying to fish round the big rock with too short a line which did not seem to be very effective, so I cast a longer line and figure of eighted it back and wallop! Ten minutes later I had a dark 10lb Hen in the net and then duly photographed and returned.

At this point my luck changed and the ungrateful brute whacked my digital camera with its tail and deposited it in the Wye. I replaced it today for ?80 which I must say is a price I would have gladly paid for a day like that and the photographs survived. Thanks for an excellent day.

I just had to write to extol the virtues of fishing for wild brown trout on the river Usk aided by Frank Williams.

Firstly the Usk, we fished the Glan-Yr-Afon beat right at the end of the season and it was a beautiful beat. The water was wide enough in places to allow casting with ease in most places with some novice tight stretches to test the roll cast, and fast water to sink some heavy nymphs in. With mountains in the distance set in secluded woodland with an ancient single track bridge marking the start of the beat it was all you could ask of a Welsh wild brown trout river, and though the conditions were not perfect we could see the trout, but getting them out would be the test.

Without Franks help me and my friend (both virgins to river fly fishing for trout) would have struggled. My friend Phil had only picked up the fly rod this year and I have mainly fished stillwaters since a lad with some spinning for salmon. His assistance was far and above what we expected he managed to cram into just a few hours, he taught us how to roll cast and the importance of mending line, how to read the river and what was hatching. He had even visited the day before and tied some fly?s to match the hatches he had seen for us to use. We were then shown the Northern method of fishing spiders, Czech Nymphing, and the New Zealand dropper method. Plus he even brewed up a tea and had lunch with us, giving far to many pointers to mention. My friend said his casting had come on leaps and bounds thanks to Frank & I had picked up some great new techniques and tips, truly invaluable.

The outcome was that I managed to catch two brownies between 6?-8? with two more 10? and the first one of the day (just 3 casts after instructions from Frank ended and I started fishing in earnest) a cracking 15? of Wild Hard Fighting Brownie that made my day!

I cant thank enough both The Wye and Usk Foundation for the sterling work they do enabling us to fish this great Welsh wild brown trout river, and Frank Williams a committed, passionate angler who is a great coach!

I fished the Court Of Noke section of the Arrow yesterday which considering the amount of rain that we had prior to my visit remained low and clear, I must say I wasn't too optimistic initially but shortly after starting to fish I lost a fish which was a good sign.

Flies were coming off the water all day and there were one or two fish rising to them but most of my success was on the nymph which produced a total of 9 fish and quite a few lost.

I have attached a couple of photos (not very good quality I'm afraid), one of the grayling (17 1/2") and one of the trout (16 1/2") which is hard to believe you can catch out of a river the size of the Arrow, this really is a little gem if your prepared to lose a few flies on the trees and vegetation!.

As always all fish returned safely.

Keep up the good work.

Excellent day's fishing with good evidence of habitat maintenance. Kept company by a patrolling kingfisher all day. Hooked and lost a fantastic bright silver grilse c6-8lbs. Spent 3/4 of the day on fly but wihtout luck.
Will definitely return to try again. Returned the caught salmon (8-9lbs) - slightly reddening but in very good condition.

Just a note re the fishing at Winforton and Middle Hill Court on 13th, 14th Sept. Winforton was tough going, could have done with a bit more water but managed a good chub of about 5lb and a couple of small brownies on the fly.

Met up with Adam Fisher at Middle Hill Court who gave us a really useful and detailed intro to the water. Fishing and surroundings were stunning. Both the fly fishing barbel virgins I had with me caught good fish and absolutely loved it. I?ve attached a couple of pics which I think sum the day up better than words can. 10 in total without really trying too hard including 3, 9lbers. All absolute mint condition. On an interesting note the barbel were jumping out of the water around us throughout the day ? never seen that before.

Thanks for the recommendation for Kilsby house. The wife and I stayed at the house for a few days last week and had a great time. I fished their beat optimistically as the water was really low from the lack of rain but still took some small brownies on a dry. The river and setting is beautiful and I bet the fishing would have been great if the river had been at normal level.