Feedback & Reports

4 Chub

My first blank on the Wye. Conditions were hard, river was low , cold and clear. Fished maggot feeder. I don't think this beat was ideal for the conditions and one of the winter ticket members pike fishing advised I bought a ticket somewhere else.

The venue is split in two, you can't walk between the two sections, this is a bit random and wasted some time. There are also very few accessible swims with a decent flat bit at the bottom of the bank. I did find a decent swim at the top of the beat. You are also very close to the dual carriage way, and also killing the usual Wye vibe was, pollution foam coming down river, and a huge farm rubbush tip in the car park. All in all I am not sure I would come back here.

Very cold still, 4 degrees at 1100 and snow on Pen y Fan. Sunny breaks forecast but none materialised. A very small number of olives tricked off at lunch, but no decent hatch yet and no rising fish. One 14” BT on the Euronymph rig from the deepest lower pool.

1 Trout

1 Barbel

Overcast sky but reasonably bright, chilly at about 5 degrees but the wind not too bad. First visit to this beat and really enjoyed it - a great mix of runs and a lovely setting. The bottom end of the beat looked a bit more like an assault course with lots of downed trees but still plenty of fishing along this long beat.
Access pretty good, gates and paths all well maintained, although plenty of debris on the banks from the winter floods. I imagine that access would be harder in places once everything has grown back in the summer months.
Fished a team of 3 flies, 5 grayling, to about 9-10 inches.
Although no obvious hatch, there was a brief stretch around 1230-1300 when the fish started to feed at surface but short lived.

5 Grayling

River was very low and clear. Fished from 11am to 5pm, nothing seen.

I booked this at the start of the mild spell when the forecast for this weekend was better than what materialised. However with a water temp of 5.5 I was hopeful of avoiding a blank with a stretched target of 4 chub. In the end I had 4 down the bottom on the float and 2 up the top on the feeder, all between 3 and 4lb, along with a little feisty trout for a satisfying winter day on the river.

1 Trout, 6 Chub

Water was low and clear. No luck targeting the pike so switched over to trotting some maggots which produced two lovely chub of over 2lbs each.

Disappointed to learn from the bailiff that this is in fact not double bank fishing. Consensus seems to be that the pike fishing has been very tough for a number of years.

Fishing Passport Note : Middle Hill Court is a double bank fishery. Whilst access is restricted to left bank only, mentioning double bank will give anglers the information that no-one will be fishing opposite.

2 Chub

What loon goes on the very start of the season , when it's three degrees and the water is jibbering ?? I'll tell you , Me that's who !!! Had to be done on the first day ... I opted for the Edw at Hundred House , deep pools , running nicely, no untoward additional obstructions to be honest .....oh may be an old rotten tree down two hundred yards up from the bridge, but otherwise went on a mooch quite far up ... ten till half one that was way enough for me in waders too !!!! Took the secateurs clipped off just the annoying end growth from last year, the ones that ALWAYS grab your fly !!! Snipped off twigs ,had a cast here and there and in fairness looks just as good as ileft it at the end of August , minus the jungle growth.

A tawny owl kept me company whilst I trimmed up annoying willow leaders from the main stem ...making sure they're well and truly thrown well into the rough and not back in the River... willow can literally grow from a tiny cutting !!!

My only find buried in the river bed was a very old terracotta bottle, maybe Prince Llewellyn himself drank from it, who knows ..... whilst he was on his escape and evasion !!! A fun recce of an old favourite... hard to think its the same river as it is in May when brownies will be splashing at my well presented dry !! Oh well , good fun , a tab into the moors tommorrow, well above Claerwen Reservoir, recce a mountain llyn for the warmers months.... I do feel spoilt living in the Elenydd , love it!!!