Feedback & Reports

My last visit to Glan-Y-Cafn on a dank day in June was memorable for the quality of the fishing and the fine fish I caught there. Morevoer, it's a beautiful and atmospheric place. This time the sun was bright the temperature about 20c and little to no wind. I arrived late at 3pm thinking to fish the back end into dusk , only to find a group of lads throwing stones into the pool I planned to fish first. They did move on but not long after a few more lads with a couple of dogs turned up and began to play fetch the stick in some of the other pools! This was followed by the appearance of a friendly canoeist who paddled over to see if the fish were biting! I told him in a polite friendly manner that he was not supposed to be canoeing in this stretch. He apologised and said he thought folk could canoe anywhere they chose. Despite my being in a general recreational area on the day, I did manage 3 diminutive WBT on nymphs but nothing to dries. A few fish were rising to olives inbetween disturbances. I left feeling a tad disgruntled by comparison with my last visit to GYC, the day had been a bit of a shower but it was, nevertheless, a lovely afternoon in a lovely location .
PS - I also met a chap with a dog who said he used to poach on this same beat!

Fished from 9.30am until dusk, one trout under five inches in length. Very little in the way of movement in or on top of water. Banks are very high, also overgrown. Steps down from carpark need to be trimmed. Water is deep and not very good access from bank. Seems to be set up for spining for salmon.

Over priced and the lower part of the beat is not good wading, nil fish seen, nil fish caught.

The river was still coloured unfortunately so the few trout we caught were generally small and at the margins. I like the beat however and would like to try it again next year, hopefully in better conditions. I agree with recent post that the steps leading down are loose in places and potentially dangerous and would advise care generally when when walking on any slabs. The Himalayan Balsam is a problem also but the fly hatch seemed (from an earlier wash-off visit) to be excellent and the beat itself is rather lovely.

No salmon landed, but one of us had a pull in the tail of the long pool at the bottom of the beat. Wonderful water, but could probably have done with an inch or two more on the river level to allow more of it to fish well.

Brillaint day. River in fantastic condition with a good flow. 1 brown trout caught, approx 1lb on Black Montana fly. Several others striked but none landed.

None caught, six misses early in the session around 7am, after that nothing!
Maybe if the river had been lower, it could have been waded, but it wasn't and I spent more time tangled in trees, bushes etc. Although a cement walkway exists it looks as if there used to be timber on top of it, but that has mostly gone, the cement though is was thin in places, once I realised that I felt safer using the bank. Overall though it was challenging and enjoyable.

My third visit in what looked like promising conditions; river 1ft up and clearing. Fished hard from dawn, rain at 7am was a bit worrying but did'nt ruin it, bright sunshine in the afternoon for a snooze in great scenery, pleasant evening but nothing moved all day.
Really hammered the place with spinners, rapalas, floating/ intermidate lines with cone heads, size 8 + 10 cascades, shrimps etc. Fished through the whole beat twice during the day and the top end pool three times. Did not see anything except a few trout 6-10 inches, and the regular poacher frantically spinning and getting snagged up. At least he moved off when I was in sight!
Thank you WUF for arranging access and in general for all your excellent hard work but please can something be done to sort out some underlying problems in what looks an really interesting beat?
Its all a bit over grown but notably the Himalayan which has gone mad above the Cafn pool and upstream so access is now bad/ dodgey past the river to the top end pool. Its seems a shame at this top end (which I feel is the best of the beat) that you have to get into the pool tail and wade upstream to then fish it back down, even after flicking a spinner over it. The bushes have now fallen in on the opposite side (on the true left bank) of this top end pool making it impossible to land a fly tight to the far bank near the metal fencing (which seems a good spot).
I still can't decide if the huge pretty fly run which is the lower part of the beat is not a migratory motorway upstream or not? Its a shame it always seems to have a poacher on it but least it suggests fish are sometimes there.
Despite three blanks on this beat in good water and still not seeing a thing, its looks a great spot and I would go back. However to do the fishery justice and for a £35 day ticket, it would be great and hugely improved if things could be tweeked a little.

Fished 10am to 7pm, 3 wbt caught, all around 1lb.
All returned. Lovely stretch of Usk, although not many fish located.

There was no salmon caught just one pluck in the upper beat on a Cascade but it might have been a larger trout (five other trout landed all returned). Very nice beat but difficult acces in a large SUV. The Foundation provided all necessary details and your services, most important the fact that even from abroad such a nice beat can be reservated at little cost are to be recommended. Two little points, I like the beat to be controlled as it is the case in most countries. The second point, at 9pm on the opposite site of the river, not replying any greeting, a local boy with cowboy hat, spinning gear and net at hand was screening the bank of rhe river and was clearly annoyed we were still there. This sad fact is also universal on all but the best controlled beats .