Feedback & Reports

Chub and 2 good Barbel. Lovely days fishing. Thanks.

Two small trout, both to Copper Johns fished in the fast water. The rest had fled. And I found out why. This is usually an excellent beat. I've been fishing it for years and have always enjoyed it. However the campsite which once only partially encroached on the beat has gradually spread to the other bank and now (alas!) adjacent fields downriver. My fishing was punctuated by children on rope swings, dogs swimming, holidaymakers skimming stones and a family having a bbq. My favorite moment, though, was the young couple who had sneaked away for some privacy only to be disappointed and embarrassed to find me lurking in the undergrowth tying a fly on.
Time to find a new beat...

1 x 32 inch hen salmon taken on a size 8 Bann Shrimp. This one was sea-liced and a very nice, fresh fish. A cloudy, wet morning, but with the water level falling and clearing.

23lbs colouring fish from Dolmeudwy on a #10 Boyo. Another fish contacted in Orchard and several others seen including a big Sea Trout.

The river looked in great nick but no fish to report. Rose a fish in Bridge Pool which swirled at the fly without taking it and had a couple of good pulls which did not stick. Many thanks to WT for his help with my casting it really helped.

Was ask to go back again so thought it cannot be worse than last time. It was not, I had 8 fish. 2 of us fishing, fish were still on the small size so we put back 5 of them. I am still concerned about the size of the fish being stocked.

My third visit in what looked like promising conditions; river 1ft up and clearing. Fished hard from dawn, rain at 7am was a bit worrying but did'nt ruin it, bright sunshine in the afternoon for a snooze in great scenery, pleasant evening but nothing moved all day.
Really hammered the place with spinners, rapalas, floating/ intermidate lines with cone heads, size 8 + 10 cascades, shrimps etc. Fished through the whole beat twice during the day and the top end pool three times. Did not see anything except a few trout 6-10 inches, and the regular poacher frantically spinning and getting snagged up. At least he moved off when I was in sight!
Thank you WUF for arranging access and in general for all your excellent hard work but please can something be done to sort out some underlying problems in what looks an really interesting beat?
Its all a bit over grown but notably the Himalayan which has gone mad above the Cafn pool and upstream so access is now bad/ dodgey past the river to the top end pool. Its seems a shame at this top end (which I feel is the best of the beat) that you have to get into the pool tail and wade upstream to then fish it back down, even after flicking a spinner over it. The bushes have now fallen in on the opposite side (on the true left bank) of this top end pool making it impossible to land a fly tight to the far bank near the metal fencing (which seems a good spot).
I still can't decide if the huge pretty fly run which is the lower part of the beat is not a migratory motorway upstream or not? Its a shame it always seems to have a poacher on it but least it suggests fish are sometimes there.
Despite three blanks on this beat in good water and still not seeing a thing, its looks a great spot and I would go back. However to do the fishery justice and for a £35 day ticket, it would be great and hugely improved if things could be tweeked a little.

A lovely day out on a beautiful length of river. Middle section very overgrown but more than enough swims to choose from. Banks are very slippery so take care, managed quite a few fish to around 8lbs. Great day out.

Brown water yielding a 5lb barbel hooked in the dorsal (neatly and harmlessly) on a Mepps after a strange and powerful struggle. Otherwise, my co-fisher (actually after barbel) had a few takes but several lost rigs in the rocks. Many thanks to Don for advice over the ether from N Wales!And to Seth and Allyson.

Arrived just before sunrise and decided to fish the meadow. The river looked spot on with a nice bit of colour and after a cup of tea and a bacon roll on the stove we settled into our pegs, several biteless hours later we were beginning to wonder what we were doing wrong as nothing we tried seemed to work. We decided to move and opted for the steps pegs where we were met with the same biteless responce. After being relieved of a few feeders and hook lenths we decided to go back to the meadow and take our chances into the evening. The sun was high in the sky at this point and our hopes of catching were diving but after a bit of casting around a fish was finally on the bank of around 6lb another two hours past before the next bite and a barbel of around 3lb started a run of fish which included a fish of 10 lb 1oz as well as two 9s. All in all 8 fish landed and two lost. 12mm pellets acounting for all.
On a final note although all the fish seemed fit and healthy some were showing signs of mouth damage, one in particular which was still carrying a complete braided hooklength was a bit of a mess which was a bit sad to see. Not a fan of low diameter braided hooklengths myself, its as good as cheese wire. Looking forward to a trip later in the year.