Feedback & Reports

The coldest day of the winter to date, with the wind chill making it feel below zero, coupled with low water levels for the time of year made for hard fishing. Sadly no Grayling showed an interest in our trotted maggots, just two long and lean out of season trout. Nonetheless an enjoyable day on a very interesting beat, although we were very glad to warm up in a café in Pembridge when it was finished. The only piscivore seen was a Kingfisher.

2 Trout

Cold but bright day.
3 very small grayling.

3 Trout, 3 Grayling

Water Level - 1' 10" at Llanstephan.
Gin clear. Good strong flow. Perfect weather.
5 small ladies on gold/purple Czech nymph on size 14 jig hook fished under a New Zealand indicator.
Lovely beat with varied tips of water and a little bit of a stream as well.

5 Grayling

Started the fishing in a frosty morning, temperature was -4. Tried to catch pike with lures, the conditions weren't so ideal for that. Sunny day and crystal clear water, not the best. Fished from 8.30 am till 4.30 pm, tried many kind of lures but couldn't get a bite. The only action happened in the morning, a massive pike followed my lure twice, but unfortunately didn't attack it. Independently from the fishless day, I had a really great time on this stunning part of the Wye!

7 x grayling 12-16 inches, on a team of leaded wet flies fished at range. A very cold and foggy day in the valley, with the sun just peeping over the mountain about 2 in the afternoon for a short period. Air temperature 1-4 degrees. Water at mid-level and very clear now. Quite hard work, but the very occasional grayling was rising and the takes (many missed) were mostly in mid-water. Grayling Steel Blue on the top dropper got most of them.

7 Grayling

Cold hard day in truly stunning setting. Start temp was -5 and by 3pm rose to -1. Two chub and a lost barbel. Fish were hard to find

2 Chub

Arrived at sub zero temperatures. Walked the full stretch before settling on a swim in the meadow. Pike (8lbs) first cast - only fish of the day but what an atmospheric setting in the freezing mist.

1 Pike

Very hard going and that was just the wading. Nice water will be back in spring time

Very cold frost didn't really shift all day. -2 when we arrived it had been -4 during the night and maxed at +2 in the afternoon. Fished the bottom half of the beat, no bites...and unfortunately no fish.....probably due to the conditions.

A beautiful day with a mix of mist and sun with frost on the trees. 0°C with the water running clear but not too low, the conditions looked pretty good but I only managed to hook a couple of fingerlings on pink shrimp nymphs. I did have a rather wonderful encounter with 3 otters that slipped out from their den and plopped into the water directly in from of me, just as I had made my first cast. While it absolutely made my day I couldn't help but wander what effect the fairly significant resurgence of otters on the wye and usk river systems in general, has had on the fish stocks and would be very interested if the foundation has any relevant data.

2 Grayling