Feedback & Reports

Made a very early start and was on the river by 5.30. Lost a fish in the Vanstone at 6.30 and missed a good take in the Maddox a bit later. 1st canoes through at 8.15 but didn't start in earnest till gone 10 and were mainly through by 3. Mostly happy to stick to far bank.
Caught a 3lb chub in the Maddox but despite trying everything couldn't get any more offers in the Maddox, Vanstone or Cornertree. Broke for lunch and in the early evening tried to suss out the upstream pools. Still hard to figure out what is what but there is some nice water and some new access points have been cut.
First run through what I think is the Island pool and I caught a 10/11lb cock fish on a size 12 cascade that had probably been in a week or 2. Very strong fish that gave me real battle. Fished on until 9 in hope of another with quite a few fish showing, but wasn't to be. Well worth the early start though.
River was still carrying a bit of colour and was the running at around a foot. The information on the web beat description would seem to be incorrect as it describes the stones in the Maddox as being exposed at 1 ft 7, however yesterday they were submerged.

I thoroughly reccomend this beat.

3 barbel & 2 chub. River at normal height. A number of Salmon showing.

River low but coloured due to recent rain.
Caught three very small graying on PTN.

Hard to know what to say... a stunning Beat, Easy wading, clear water for the best part of the day. Some small WBT seen rising but not a fish caught between 4 rods, which was a little dissappointing. But then that is why it's called fishing and not catching!! Sure to Return!

Had another great day's sport on the Holme Lacy beat. Over the course of around 8 hours fishing I caught 6 Barbel to 7.5lb and 19 chub to 4.5lb....

Fished the Wyebank beat with friend, conditions were clear water and back to normal levels. Enjoyed a good day - caught 9 barbel but also lost about nine as well, had hook pulls, weeded fish and cut off on an annoying big rock that had to fish past to get to them. We also had 5 chub. All fish caught on halibut pellets with mesh pva bags and feeding more at regular intervals. Fished the last swim at bottom of the beat mid river in a deeper pool, morning best but got regular bites after 2pm through the afternoon.

River low and clear, surprising considering the amount of rain thats been about recently. Caught two small trout and lost two slightly larger ones. All fish returned.

14lb hen fish from Red Lion beat on a Blue Charm.

Arrived at 7am full of anticipation as always wanted to fish this beat. Fished Legge Meadow roughly half way down. Baited my fancied swim & went for a wander, river looked superb & it really is a great stretch to be on.
Started fishing at 9-00 & hooked my first barbel at 9.20,a superb specimen at 8lb 3oz which fought like hell. 15 mins later landed a lovely chub which weighed 3lb 10oz.
Caught on & off until 2.45 when the river switched off. I ended up with 4 barbel (8lb 3oz,8lb, 6lb, 10oz, 5lb 6oz)plus 3 chub.
Stayed on till 7 pm without a bite after 3 pm
On the plus side,great service again from Wuf,superb beat,unbeatable scenery.
Now i,m sorry to say the down side,the bloody canoes.
As a fisherman i respect the rights of everyone to enjoy the glorious Wye but the canoe traffic was really heavy with waves & waves of muppets coming down the river,shouting,splashing with no regard for others.
At one point 6 canoeists (Polish or Lithuanian )paddled right up to me to ask for a light as they had lost their lighter,off they went discarding 3 beer cans into the river...unbelievable !!.

5 x trout 7-8 inches on small Klinkhammer. A close, drowsy August afternoon with occasional showers. Nothing much rising, so I fished the water to bring a few up, but managed to miss more than I hooked. I also lost quite a good fish which might have been 12 or 13 inches. Just two late mayfly seen wandering on different parts of the beat, both looking slightly lost and bemused as if realising they had missed their chances for procreation - probably I should have introduced them to each other? Another curiosity today were several adult yellow eels about 18 inches long, lying out of cover and in plain view. One was so dozy I scooped it up in the net without trouble for a closer look. I suppose their migration time is close.
Longtown under the Black Mountains is always a good bet for brook fishing when you have an hour or two to spare. There are four beats here (and others not far away), so you can always find something free. And it's classic small river border fishing. Working up these streams, Monnow, Escley and Olchon, I like to think of Canon Eagles, whose home patch it was over a century ago. He apparently fished not dry, but with two or even three wet flies on a short leader, banging them down on the fish's head with a plop to provoke a take. I can't think how he managed it. Interested in many things beyond fishing, he seems to have been a much more attractive character than the rather selfish dry fly fishermen Edward Powell, the clergyman who came after him.