Feedback & Reports

Just wanted to let you know what we caught on our trip to Wales at the weekend.

Both spots were lovely - myself and a mate had a wild carp each at pant-y-lyn, the best around 4lb. We were also surprised by a trio of decent chub, all between 1-2lbs, on sweetcorn. We tried a few spots, moving when nothing was happening and all the action happened 6pm onwards.

At Upper Winforton on Sunday we tried for barbel, but it was slow going. Did catch a chub though- a nice 3lb fish, very healthy, chunky looking fish. Lovely place too. My highlight was watching a gang of 20 or so swallows diving for flies on the rivers surface in the evening.

Many thanks again- we'll be back!

One take missed. Heavy rain forced us off the water by midday. Would like to try again in better conditions.

We fished from 10am to about 6pm (not the best time i know!). However neither of us could get a bite! A lot of weed was coming down the river making bite detection difficult, along with being a bright sunny day and very clear water. Maybe that was the problem? Lovely stretch of water though.

The weather was more autumnal than late summer, but unfortunately the grayling didn't seem to like it either way, even though the river appeared to be a good height with some colour, but clear. No visible hatch of any insects observed throughout six hours of fishing. All fish taken on deep-fished nymphs, with only a couple of (missed) takes on dries. Total for the day was 4 grayling (largest 14 inches, smallest 4 inches!!) and 3 trout, none bigger than 6-7 inches.

2 trout and 6 grayling to 14 inches. Goldhead hares ear.

6 barbel between 6lb 1oz and 9lb 5oz caught from the upstream pegs c. 100m downstream of boundary. All caught on halibut pellet with hemp/pellet powder in a feeder. 2 fish before 10am and then nothing until the canoe traffic died down after 5pm. Some wonderful barbel swims at the top end with clearly a lot of fish.

Very pleasant surroundings and obliging fish made for a great day out. In all, I caught about half a dozen Chub (mostly small) and four Barbel, from 4lbs to 7 1/2lbs, all fantastic fighters. All fish were caught on Halibut pellet below a feeder. Not bad for my first ever Barbel fishing trip!

Thank you for what I believe to be a great scheme. I'm now looking forward to my next trip.

This is an early season river by all accounts and by the evidence today I would strongly concour. A blank day with hardly a fish in sight.

River perfect 4x barbel to 5.4, 3x chub to 2.5 all on meat with ground bait hallicrush feeder tactics.

River was very low, weather warm. Fishing during daylight was very poor, no sign of activity, and not a bite at all.
Only the deeper water by the trees showed any productivity.

From around 7pm signs of fish activity began, large trout or salmon rising and jumping. Bait fish scattering. In two evening sessions we caught 7 barbel and 1 chub all on glugged halibut pellets (2 rods). Two barbel were in low double figures. One barbel had a growth on its cheek the size of a small tomato. The rest were in very good condition.

The chub was a fair size, over 4lb, but it had been attacked quite recently we assume by a large pike. It had scale and flesh damage about the size of a small hand on one flank.

Although we had booked the beats for three days we decided to return home on the third rather than wait until the evening to fish, due to the 3 hour drive home. The screaming jets, combine harvesters and constant stream of canoeists made the tranquil setting a little less secluded than we anticipated.

Overall a very satisfying trip, great fighting barbel, but a long patient wait required.