Feedback & Reports

Well it was tough. All barbel were tiny. We nearly got stuck in the field on the way to the second parking and had to jam logs under the tyres to get out. We fished really hard and very mobile but just couldn't find anything better.
The track back up the hill was hairy back up in the wet. One of us had to get to the top of the hill and open the gate so the driver didn't need to stop on the hill or we wouldn't have got out again.

5 Barbel, 8 Chub

2 Trout

A great stretch but not that many places where an old guy with bad knees can access the river. River was fairly low but I did well with freelined meat close in to my bank.

7 Barbel

My friend and i fished at Wyastone Leys on the 20 th of Oct, despite being an attractive venue we didn't have a bite between us.
There was a lack of water in the river so it needs a good wash through , there were two other anglers who had arrived just before us but they were gone when we left ( 14.45) so presumably they didn't have any luck either.

both large fish on a quite day with a low river

2 Barbel

4 Barbel, 2 Chub

Great days fishing topped off with a PB barbel of 11lb what a fish.

9 Barbel, 12 Chub

2 Barbel, 2 Chub

A tough but quite productive day on this beautiful beat. The fish seemed to be concentrated in the deep fast pools, not surprising given the low and clear conditions. A tricky morning where I took 4 fish using 4 different method, french nymph took the first and then I noticed regularly rising fish and switched to dry fly which produced another. Still rising but no more so switched to an emerger, immediate success, cracked it i thought. Nope no more, fish still rising so tried a spider, once again immediate success but no more. Very frustrating as I could clearly see fish rising from deep to small olives but I couldn't seem to crack the code. Eventually the rises petered out and I moved on to the downstream beat.
I found the rest of the fish here but again concentrated in a single pool, where there was otter spraint on the bank, however none of the fish I took were in any way damaged, which leads me to believe they can exist side by side. All the grayling here were taken on a beaded nymph apart from the OOS Brownie which hammered a greenwells spider on the dropper. Finished fishing about 5 when the much needed rain seemed to have set in. The beat looked splendid in its Autumnal colours, but will definitely benefit from a good flood and flush through.

1 Trout, 13 Grayling

Weather forecast kept changing so we deferred a decision until the last possible moment. We got as far as Rita’s bacon butty van outside Crickhowell where it was raining before deciding to press on regardless as this was likely to be our last outing this year.

Proved a good decision – the rain stopped as we pulled in to the car parking area and the day culminated in a glorious autumn afternoon. Got in to the river just above the bottom salmon boards and second cast my fly disappeared in to a gentle rise which turned out to be a lovely 17” trout – out of season but still in very good nick. Thought that might auger well but there wasn’t much activity … however any fish that did rise seemed more than willing to come to an artificial. We finished with 6 grayling to 15” and 3 OOS trout, and said farewell to the Wye for another season.

We have had a good year, 18 days on the rivers. Thanks to all involved for facilitating some very special fishing. Back next year, heres hoping the river is less stressed with low levels.

3 Trout, 6 Grayling