Feedback & Reports

No salmon touched all day. Conditions were good but there was a procession of canoes for most of the period I fished (10:00 to 16:00) but the canoists were all well behaved.
It did give me an excuse to change flies while they went past me. I think I tried every style and size I had in my box. I will try this beat again next year but not at the weekend.

09.00 - 13.00 though level was low and vodka clear, I prefer vodka! There were some interesting pools and runs that may prove fruitful if you could get to them, note to self - re-stock fly box! No hatch of sorts and no fish seen apart from the suicidal 4inch Brownie that came to a Prince nymph. Erm, 5 vouchers, really?

One small WBT to a PTN. Water very low and clear.

A beautiful beat but I wasn't up to it today. Missed the only two takes I had. None caught.

Slow start apart from nice 5lb 6oz chub mid afternoon but at 5pm barbel came on the feed to pellet. 10 barbel between 5lbs and 7lbs 12oz made the afternoon a very enjoyable session. Well worth the visit despite only a few swims being accessible.

With the river at only .67m at Ross, the Barbel were going to be hard to find. The water was low and clear. Had to wait 3hrs for first Chub on the feeder. Moved slightly further down the L/H bank and fished the creases between the rapids. Bagged another 4 Chub, the best being about 5lbs. Returned to my 'dead' peg, trotted maggot and landed several Dace and Chublets with another 2 bonus 4-5lb Chub late in the day. Lovely place, good access but too shallow for Barbel when river is low. Canoeists were abundant but considerate.

A windy day making fishing quite difficult at times. There were a few Olives, Spinners and Sedges, with the odd fish rising intermittently through the day. Half a dozen notable grayling to 45cm, plus a number of very small this years’ 'fry'. 5 trout to about 3/4lb. Best flies, small PTN (18), GRHE, and size 14 jig type grayling gold heads. Access really difficult in the wooded areas of the beat in need of some TLC. Found a good pair of sunglasses, contact the Foundation for my contact details.

This was a trip to take my daughter fishing, we like this beat as it has very good bank access and I can usually find the fish quite quickly. Had not been on the beat an hour when I took a 10lb cock salmon on a green highlander, expertly netted by my daughter. She has watched me throw a line few times this summer without sucess so I was over the moon to be able to share this moment with her. Then we turned to the barbel, my daughter landing a nice fish on her own with me at the net this time, there was even someone on hand to photograph us with her fish. We ended up with half a dozen and could have kept going; fishing does not come much better than this!

I managed an undernourished Grilse of about 3lbs which should have weighed at least 4lb and not very fresh, but very welcome nontheless in avoiding being 'skunked' yet again on the Usk. I was wading opposite the huge dead floating tree/log in the Rock pool (or Chine?) when the fish took a size 10 double Usk grub variant fished with a floating line. The fish went back fine.
My pal Bob also had a take when he fished the Rock pool later in the day, alas it did not take hold properly and thrashed on the surface before getting off. Bob thought it a similar sized grilse to mine or possibly a seatrout.
We fished 'gentleman' hours from about 11am to 4pm as we'd had a long day fishing Llandegfedd reservoir the day before and had a long drive home to Berks/Hants. We stayed at the Kings Head in Usk which was excellent in all respects and with very reasonable prices - highly recommended!
It was a good day for fly fishing - clear water and mostly cloudy. We didn't see any fish (other than trout) show.
I don't think the beat has nearly enough fishing for 3 salmon fly fishermen. Fortunately there were only two of us!

As normal a delightful day. Good acccomadation at the George in St Briavels - superb breakfast.
Sadly no fish taken. Hugh moved a fish which did not come again. We saw say half a dozen fish through the day some looking fresh. Will return next season.