Feedback & Reports

8 x WBT and 5 x OOS grayling all caught on a home tied size 16 gold bead hear ear nymph. Some decent sized and healthy fish. KM

8 Trout, 5 Grayling

Arriving at the river, there were only a few spits of rain in the air. Waders on, assembled the rod, and set up. Nothing felt particularly remarkable at that point. Then, as I walked down to the river, something changed. The breeze disappeared completely and an extraordinary stillness settled over the river. The sort of silence that makes you stop and take notice. Almost immediately, spinners appeared from nowhere, dancing above the pool in the calm air. Then came the flash of a fish rising at the head of the pool where the fast water poured in.

The first cast was in the wrong place. The second wasn’t much better. The third landed where it needed to. I dropped the flies (Wry fly setup) into the fast water and allowed them to drift naturally down into the pool. Wallop! The fish took decisively and tore off head down! On the 7’6” rod, every head shake and run was magnified. Despite not being a huge fish, it fought far above its weight and kept me occupied for several minutes before finally sliding into the net. A beautifully marked wild brown trout, somewhere around the one-pound mark, full of life and impossible to photograph properly as it twisted and rolled in the net. After a brief pause in the net, kept entirely in the water, she recovered strongly and swam away into the current. As if on cue, the moment she disappeared, the heavens opened!

The rain arrived in earnest and the spell was broken. I continued upstream and managed, still bewitched, and missed a couple more fish in unlikely lies, but it didn’t matter. The evening had already given me everything I could have hoped for.

Fishing often feels like a search for moments rather than fish. Most trips are enjoyable, some are productive, but every now and then everything aligns perfectly: the weather, the river, the insects, the trout and your own timing.

This was one of those evenings. A narrow window between the storm clouds and the rain, a rising fish, a perfect drift, and a wild Arrow brownie returned to the river.

The sort of memory that stays with you long after the details have faded.

1 Trout

3 Trout

Catch return is for 3 anglers. The beat fished brilliantly with most fish coming from the upper half of the beat. The pool just through the gate was fish a cast. We fished spider patterns most of the day, black bodies with a red foil rib was the fly of the day. The river was coloured and 1.05 m at the Erwood guage.

32 Trout, 1 Grayling, 1 Chub

Was very slow for the first few hours with only c. 2-3 feet visibility following the recent rain, nothing rising at all but managed to get three on nymphs with bright colours; then from late afternoon onward it started to clear, there were some sparse mayfly and midge hatches and caught four more to 14" on dries - small olive and black gnat patterns. Very beautiful, wild beat but the wading is tricky in places with large round boulders, bedrock sections and some big changes in depth - was very glad I had studded felt soles on even a few feet from the bank in many places, I would definitely recommend those and a wading staff would be a good idea too! The bankside path was also tricky along the western half - at least four trees had fallen across the old path, and part of the steep hillside has had a landslide removing one section of path entirely. I did manage to fish all of it to the end but slow and difficult going there. That section is worth it though if you can scramble - as the guide sheet said some nice nymphing water amongst the pockets and fast runs, the first three on nymph all came there. I would also recommend a through-action bamboo or fibreglass rod as in many spots you have tall trees immediately behind you - roll casts were essential in many swims, with a fast carbon rod I would never have made the distance to half the fish. Some lovely widlife around - sandpiper nesting on the far bank I think and very busy, song thrush singing above me much of the day, and lots of other bird activity including kingfisher, heron, and grey wagtails and chaffinch darting out to snap up the odd mayfly mid-air! I loved the wild nature, seclusion and challenge of this beat, thanks for a wonderful day out and I hope to return soon!

7 Trout

Caught 5 on dry fly and 4 on wet flies. All but one small healthy fish, one large one. Not much rising. One angler caught all 9 using the same methods and flies as the other. Guided session with Oliver Burch.

9 Trout

3 Trout

2 Trout

one on nymphs, one too spiders and one one dry during brief hatch in the afternoon

3 Trout

very wet morning water high .caught and released 2 small brown trout. caught on copper spinner

2 Trout