Feedback & Reports

Another new beat. The river was very low, which made it hard work. Only caught 1 fish but what a fish, bigger than yesterdays WBT on the Lower Henllan. A good 14" plus and in very good condition. A good day which would have been an excellent day had I not lost another monster WBT a little later. I will just have to come back and have another go in the future, but not until it's rained first !
Also very impressed with the WUF and the efficient service they are providing. I think I will have to become a regular visitor.

1 Trout

The river here now is very low indeed but thought I would give it a go for a while after breaking camp at the lovely Tan house farm site . Very little moving on top which is not surprising but a chunky foam beetle got their attention.
The fish went from 10 - 13inch and all in super , plump , condition and the 13incher was properly portly !
Will be back after some rain and hopefully some of that soon ...please!

6 Trout

River very low and few fish showing. Two fish taken on size 18 black midge.

2 Trout

Very hot day,combined with low water levels, fished early morning and evening. 3 small trout caught on greenwells.

3 Trout

I've been keeping an eye on other anglers' comments on this beat, one of all time favourites, to see if the trout were still being caught in the recent almost drought-like conditions. I was pleasantly surprised to see that trout were still being caught, despite descriptions of the water being extremely low. And with rain falling all day Monday just gone and more yesterday, I thought it must be worth my annual visit to Longtown. And it proved a good decision! Hatching cast my vote it was off to the beat in intermittently heavy downpours, but I didn't mind, the more rain the better!
The river is still quite low, but definitely up on where it has been, and I started in the pool at the top of the beat where the Ecsley Brook meets the Monnow. A couple of small fish were rising as I arrived, moving as quietly as I could, I set up with a Grey Wulff and caught two in this deep, dark pool, both around 7 inches and fin perfect.

I then headed downstream and arrived ago the large pool with the big tree in the middle of it. Again, I cast out the Wulff and caught two more! One either side of the tree. One was around 8 inches, and the fourth was best till last - probably 12 inches and treated me to a leap before haring around the pool! By now it was around 5.30 pm and I felt a pint calling. I popped into the Bridge Inn at Michaelchurch Escley, which is as lovely as everyone says - give it a go! Great beer garden overlooking the brook, tempting you back!!

4 Trout

A midday / early afternoon session hoping to see if any Mayfly still about but unfortunately nothing hatching. Not much of anything actually bit a few fish noodling around on top here and there in the slow water, and the usual low and slow approach bought me a few risers to a small tan klink. One of these was a super fish that might have gone 15inch if laid out flat on the grass. Superb condition and superb colours and the gill plates looked like burnished Abalone. Fantastic. Dropped another one off of very similar size shortly after and spooked another in the shallows. All in the vicinity of the big corner pool with the tree in the middle of it.

The junction pool had quite a few risers way back where the two flow ins meet on the bank, they where having me at it with what they where taking, I thought after a good few fly changes, but then remembered I hadn't degreased the tippet for a good while , did so and bingo up they came to a small parachute Adams but hitting them way back there was hit and miss so gave them best after one fish. The call of the Crown and a pint of Butty helped the submission!

3 Trout

3 x trout 10-13 inches, Monnow Gosling. A real heatwave now in progress and the river very low. I had to fish early due to commitments later in the day, but I found the river looking virtually dead with just the odd mayfly around from the previous afternoon. Having worked halfway up the beat and seen nothing at all, I thought I was probably going to record a blank, but then I came across the odd fish hanging round the in-flow to deeper pools and a big fly was what they wanted. Three caught, one lost, and several missed on the strike. I left around 11....which was probably the right time to arrive, because more mayfly were starting to hatch.

3 Trout

Very little water. 4 trout between 8-10 inches - very hot, tough going. Still a joy to see the Kingfisher and Dippers.

4 Trout

Cold and windy day with showers on a low and clear Monnow. No signs of fish moving, and no success with nymphs in the pools or head of pool runs. Brief sunshine at 4.00pm saw a few flies emerge and a couple of splashy rises in one pool, but could not tempt them either. So, a blank but at least back on the river again!

No fish today, the fish don't seem to have woken from their winter slumber. There were a few olives coming off but not enough to wake the fish up.