Feedback & Reports

The weather was awful with constant rain, high winds and a temperature struggling to get above 10 degrees. The river was fairly clear and at a good level but the hatch was severely affected by the weather and we had to work hard to take fish during the very brief periods of fly activity.

6 Trout

Brecon Gauge up 3inches with overnight rain and little colour. Sporadic surface activity through the day with fish taken slowly. Few on surface Adams and Brown Klink but mainly on darker nymphs. 11 trout - 8 x 9-11inches and 3 x 13-15inches with the best at 1lb 13oz. Super fish and all in all a very satisfactory and enjoyable day.

11 Trout

We managed 12 wbt between our 2 rods, caught throughout the day, and all taken using nymph and spider patterns. Sporadic hatches led us to try dry flies but nothing could be tempted.
Access to the water is much improved since last season, which meant a good part of the water was available to us. Wading is still tricky in parts so caution is needed.
A terrific beat to spend a day on.

12 Trout

Good fishing weather if a little chilly, high cloud with a gentle down stream breeze. Fished the mid section of the beat from where a small stream joins the river at the top of the second field down towards the large rock about 300 yards or so. An easy section to get to and wade down although the water does run fast at the start of the rougher water slightly upstream. Upwings rose on and off throughout the day but no mass exodus.
Fished spiders including my favourite Partridge and orange, Waterhen bloa and Greenwells but no takers. The three fish I did catch fell to a nymph tied in black with silver wire body and black cocks tail with black SLF body and tungsten bead in size #14. Had three further good takes (long range releases) that may have been tempted by the spiders. No luck with dries I am afraid to report.
There are plenty of fish in this stretch of the river certainly enough to keep one angler busy for most of a day and there is nothing to suppose it will be any different in the rest of the beat. I would recommend Ashford House without hesitation and will certainly consider returning.

3 Trout

Another amazing few hours at Ashford House today. I arrived at 10am and the river looked like hot chocolate so on went the tungsten Pheasant Tail. The second cast produced a fine 1lb BT and so it went on until 2pm when I packed up and went home. The largest landed was around 1.5lb (taken). I also witnessed an otter splashing around in the head of the same pool I was fishing (amazing). Fortunately I did better than him! Then the usual fly past from the Hercules C130 at about 20 feet, great place!

5 Trout

3/4 lb brown trout on caught (and released) on nymph.
Only very, very occasional rises seen.

1 Trout

Once again the Usk trout tested us - and mostly won! When we set out from Churchdown it was a soft day - gentle overcast, no breeze - but the weather fluctuated throughout the day between warm sunshine and cold breeze during cloudy interludes. Not a good recipe for dry fly fishing. This is a lovely beat with lots of easily accessed water and there were sporadic hatches in the faster streamy stretches - LDOs, medium olives and brook duns - and occasionally the fish would rise. But persuading them to take an artificial was another matter! However within 30 mins of our starting J hooked a cracking fish on a para ginger quill - took at least 5 mins and several heart stopping moments to bring to hand - 20inches +, must have been at least a 2lber. (Separate email with picture). However the next fish risen wasn't until 3 in the afternoon - and then 4 fish took in 5 minutes, all lost or missed! Finally just to add ignomy a further fish was hooked which I suspect was of a similar stamp to the morning beauty - only on for a few seconds, but stripped line off reel in that time. Final score Fish 5 -Bullocks 1!

1 Trout

A beautiful beat and what should have been an ideal day. The weather conditions were good and there is plenty of water which you can access. A few flies were coming off but there was no sign of a rise. A blank day for me.

Having been washed off this beat 2 weeks ago, I returned on the warmest, sunniest day of the Easter weekend to find the river in fine fettle with a few LDOs in the air and the occasional rising fish. They were the only fish I saw. Despite trying various techniques I didn't touch a fish, although a long standing angler on the other bank had several from tight on the bottom.

Wild and windy day. Cold northeast wind, blowing downstream, with rain in afternoon did not make for ideal conditions. Sparse and short-lived hatch of LDOs and a few stoneflies in the mid afternoon. Very few fish seen rising. The beat is attractive and more than adequate for a days fishing, should conditions provide the opportunity to fish a dry fly or nymph. 2 fish caught, one 2lbs, but a little thin and the other more modest. Also hooked a fresh salmon of about 8lbs, which shook the hook after about 5 minutes. A moment of excitement on a 5 weight rod!

2 Trout