Feedback & Reports

Fished after lunch through to evening, decent mayfly hatches and the fish were rising - caught 14 all off the top, mostly on small mayfly patterns but also one on sedge. All smallish trout for the Usk, biggest 13" and did not see anything bigger all day despite a lot of activity, which seemed very strange until the evening when I saw...

POACHERS. They were under the road bridge at the top of the big pool, spinning/legering. It was getting quite dark by that time, I had only been there an hour before so they must have sneaked in late when they didn't see a car and thought nobody would be there. When I first saw them I wondered if it was a couple of kids from the town - no poaching is good, but at least if it was kids it would be somewhat understandable and you could have a chat about where they could fish/get into fly-fishing with a club. But no they were two young guys and they did a runner back up the road when I got closer, carrying a white plastic bag with an ominous bulge at the bottom. They obviously knew their way around - got through the scrub up to the road bridge very quickly too. I see others have reported the same at this beat (and I have heard another account just yesterday through the grapevine, from this same beat), it was very sad to see. Large trout take many years to mature - the big ones are rare and can even be 20 years old or more. Many are female and very important for the brood stock, as they produce so many eggs. So poachers hammering them with worms or leger tackle are going to take a serious toll, not surprising that cohort seemed to be missing. I hate to think what they are doing to the salmon population too, that hardly bears thinking about with the current state of the salmon population. It was a sad and aggravating way to end the session. One other point if I may while we are on the topic of fish stock management as poaching is not the only factor here and we should look at outselves too - I've never understood why some beats have a rule such as 'you can take 2 fish if they are over 1lb'... 'over 12"' or whatever. The bigger fish are the really important stock, and a limited resource which will take a long time to replace. Years in fact, just for the sake of one dinner? The final say is up to the beat owners of course who own the beats, and although most fly-fishers these day release most or all of their fish anyway I would certainly not begrudge an angler the odd fish. But why not give the limit as say 'take up to two fish but they must be UNDER 2lb', or similar? That would seem far more sensible, given how sensitive the larger fish are to overfishing, and the long time lag until the population can replace them? A bit like the many bass anglers who will return not only fish under 42cm (which is law), but also have a voluntary code of returning the big ones of say 5lb plus? Anyway - that is just my two cents.

For all that, it is a beautiful beat (surprisingly so with the sewage treatment works so close!), with a good head of fish and nice easy casting - unlike many Usk beats an excellent one for beginners or those new to river fishing I'd say. Really sad about the poaching though, that needs to be sorted out. If anyone else sees poachers - I would recommend just phoning them in straight away if you get the drop on them, before they see you. And fish to dusk if you can so they can be caught and arrested next time.

14 Trout

4 Trout

Mainly fished dry fly and a duo setup. Netted one small brownie caught on the point fly, a small copper John.
River fairly low comparatively although higher than previous weeks. River provided flats, riffles and pocket water to keep us interested. Fish seen rising above and below the small rapid section in the middle. A lovely spot.

1 Trout

1 Trout

2 x 13 Inch to the net and safely released. One on Dry and one on nymph in the faster water

3 Trout

Much better day today, there was a decent hatch of yellow duns during the day and I manged to catch lots on a narrower faster stretch. Nothing of any great size, 1lb that best, but great fun.

13 Trout

Tough day, very low water levels, the slower sections are very slow and covered in clumps of bind weed. Winkled one out though.

1 Trout

1 Trout

2 Trout

River is in poor condition, full of algae and sewage waste. Shame for what seems a lovely stretch of river.