Feedback & Reports

Weather report suggested that we would be rained off but with some excellent advice from Allison, we kept an eye on the river levels (http://www.gaugemap.co.uk/) the river dropped over night to a fishable level (below 700mm).
Day was overcast, and very little fly life was seen. No fish were rising. 1 small Brown caught & 1 Lost, near the old Church on hare’s ear nymph.
Nice stretch of river lots of different conditions - though wading difficult in a lot of area due to water level. We would return again later in the summer.

1 Trout

River very low and clear. Fly fishing only - mainly using dry fly. Small grayling caught on dry fly.
Very few fish spotted - contrary to years ago when the river held a good stock of trout and grayling. We wondered whether the prescence of otters in the river is having a detrimental effect on fish stocks?
WUF Note: We would caution against assuming low stocks of fish if nothing is seen. This is quite often the case in low, clear water conditions, especially when nothing much is hatching.

1 Grayling

First time on this beautiful beat. No fish moved or seen at all the whole day, except a 40 meter long, slow moving flat section about the middle of the beat, where grayling fed from the surface almost continuously in the afternoon. 5 caught on Adams 10-12 inch, but takes on spider as well. Several lost.
Regarding access to the water - had no problem at all. Only disappointment is the amount of rubbish.

5 Grayling

A tragic blank from me today. Absolutely lovely water, however my mistake was to try and work through all of it rather than to single out on the promising spots. I saw fish rise at the head of 2 of the pools. Some fly live, although poor by River Usk standards. A lot of technical riffle water elsewhere, especially on the upstream half of the beat. Apart from that there wasn't much clear activity, although it was a cloudless sky, so that never helps.

First visit to this beat, and was welcomed by a huge otter which we watched feeding for 5 minutes in the lower part of the stretch. In fact, throughout the day, the wildlife was out in force. Saw many Kingfishers, Butterflies and a variety of Flies coming off, mainly Olives but saw a few Grannom making an early appearance. Despite this, the fish were not overly keen to rise, and we had to work hard and cover a lot of water to find them. The best fish being a 2 and a half pound Trout which took a tiny Duster with the most subtle of takes.

6 Trout, 2 Grayling

River at 8am was .71m on the Climery gauge and clearing. Weather conditions throughout the day from bright sunshine to driving squalls! River was in pretty good order, clearing and a good height. This was our first trip to the Irfon and definitely not our last! The river valley here was stunning, rapids and glides and space to roam! Wildlife of all sorts to add to the fishing. The short story is trotting maggots 4 OOS trout to about 1.5lbs and 2 grayling nearing the 2lb mark. Worked hard for them but what fish when you catch them! Long, thick set and stunning looking and fought like tigers! Plenty of fish hooked and rolled off the hook and one fish lost which took, turned and snapped the hook-length like cotton - salmon? We will be back!

6 Trout, 2 Grayling

Crystal clear water, beautiful surroundings but the fishing was hard this time. Found it hard to locate the grayling and was much harder going than our previous visits. But that's fishing for you. Still enjoyed it though, lovely beat. Thank you.

5 Trout, 1 Grayling

Walked the length of the beat but found it hard to locate the grayling.

4 Trout

River high after much rain, so arrived more in hope than expectation! Long trotting on maggot. Grayling 1lb 11oz.

4 Trout, 1 Grayling

One Grayling of around 14" hooked (red tag) but lost. One decent, 16", OOS Brown trout taken on a 'Holy Grail Hare's Ear Olive' which went ballistic when hooked!

1 Trout