Feedback & Reports

Fished for the morning during the rain showers. 2 trout landed and 2 lost on small gold head. Nothing rising to dry fly. Nice and peacful.

2 Trout

Very few fish rising for most of the day and those that did seemed to be 'oncers'. Never seen the Usk before and this beat has superb variety and there's plenty of it. Spent a lot of time walking/slipping and looking. 5 fish on black bead hares ear and 1 on a dry olive at 9.00pm when a few were rising consistently. Biggest fish 15" another 14", others averaged about 8", all returned. About 16 degrees C, showers and overcast most of day. River looked up slightly up with a bit of colour.

6 Trout

Oh the joys of Fenni Fach, big trout and a free swim, well more of a sit down really! Was being oh so careful too. Great evening of sport with some lovely trout to the net.

8 Trout

Good to return to this beat, and the lower water made it possible to access stretches usually more difficult.
The day produced 7 wbt between us, and we stayed late anticipating an evening rise, but unfortunately it didn't come.

7 Trout

x1 10 inch trout.

1 Trout

Started around 10am in bright sunshine, light upstream breeze and water low and clear. One or two fish were rising under the cover of overhanging trees but we decided to target the faster water with nymphs until the evening. We landed several fish to 15" which were all very well conditioned (2 taken). I lost another 15" in a fast run but the one that really got away was from a very deep and very fast gutter - I honestly thought I'd hooked bottom until it gradually moved upstream, a couple of shakes of the head and the line parted. This river breaks my heart everytime I fish it - but it keeps me coming back! Fabulous fishing in a fabulous location. Great company and fond memories too.

8 Trout

There is something about this beat that brings me back, maybe its the challenge of the very difficult wading in the top sections, balanced with the rewards. Rarely get away without some sort of wetting, so take care and take a change of clothes!

5 Trout

It was a treat to be back on this beguiling stretch of water after a long absence. The early start from camp near Crickhowell seemed a bit optimistic under an entirely cloudless sky and fierce sun and after two lean days on the middle Usk in slightly gentler conditions I thought I would largely be going through the motions today.
An early silvery ten-ouncer not far below the first access point was then followed by a long, painful reminder that trying to control a long, three-fly cast finishing in a small beadhead with a cast over the wrong shoulder (to avoid the tree line) is likely to end in tears - sooner, and frequently, rather than later. By lunch, and an overdue change to a two-fly set-up and down-and-across tactics over the right shoulder,with dries failing to bring fish up, I had reached the Poplar Pool where a good stream jinks down past the island. Deciding to fish the inviting pool above the Highwell bedrock, this time I was taken downstream on the shrimp point fly by an explosive fish which later made a pound and a half and looked suspiciously like one of the sparse run of sewin that are sometimes mentioned in Brecon area catches. Who knows?
Sticking with the nymph rod brought a further fish of 1.25 pounds - a stock fish I soon realised, though quite a tidy one - and another perhaps decent fish on and off. Both of these came from the bottom reaches where fish were visible in gullies in the bedrock as I passed. Later the anticipated evening on the head of the beat was a disappointment with only two tiddlers to PTNs and two rises to dry - neither even touched on the strike - in the dreamy final pool, Long Gutter. All the same, a lovely day in the Fenni Fach wilderness, albeit a relatively underwarding one. I survived those boulders and bedrock in lowish flow but isn't it time WUF commissioned a medal for everyone who takes on Fenni Fach and finishes the day without a wetting?!

5 Trout

5 trout to 1lb landed 4 lost. Haresear nymph, Adams dry. Thousands of flies, very few fish rising. Beautiful stretch of river, fly fishing as it should be.

5 Trout

Arrived at the river at around 2pm to find prodigious hatches of olives and midges, along with the occasional mayfly. A few fish were rising but I decided to explore the faster water first, from where the best trout of the day (2 1/4lb) took my copper john nymph. Things really got going after about 4pm when a decent rise began to build. Finished at 7pm with a further 11 trout, all caught on CDC emergers and most between 1 and 2lb (all released).
I heard someone comment last week about the good quality of Usk trout this year. All the fish from Fennifach were in outstanding condition and fought like trout more than twice their size.
A wonderful few hours fishing on what is always a stunning stretch of river.

12 Trout