Feedback & Reports

Had the beat booked for three days with SE but really only fished for the first two. Had run out of steam by Wednesday as the fishing was not easy. So was fairly pleased with 11 barbel including 2 over 8lb and one just over 9lb in what were not ideal conditions, low water, very weedy and mostly sunny. Hence most fish came out in the evenings.

A lovely beat, particularly the bottom half. Sadly only managed two 6" trout. A good fly hatch and would probably fared betterif we'd been able to stay till the end of the evening.

River very low and water 67F. A few fish jumping. Caught a 5lb pike on a small cascade fly.

What a fantastic bit of water. Like the previous day, the level was low and it was very bright for most of the day. Fished had from 7am until about 3pm, but remained fish-less. Still, I can't think of a better place to blank, with salmon jumping and kingfishers darting all around. I'd rather blank 100 days on the trot here, fishing for wild fish in amazing scenery, than fish a muddy pool stuffed with carp. Thanks WUF - will be back!

Another beautiful day on the Wye. Caught 9 barbel to 9-4 and 5 chub between three of us. Heavy heavy canoe traffic until 5.00pm. Chub caught throughout the day with the barbel showing later in the session. All caught on boilies and pellets. Plenty of sewin and a couple of salmon jumping!

Fished the lower end of the beat and whilst the going was still tough we managed 8 barbel & a few small chub to 3 rods with the 4th rod (me!) blanking.

Not for the first time on this beat we were joined by a further 2 anglers later in the day. We had no major problem with this as we were established in the areas we wanted to fish and the 2 anglers didn't particularly interfere with our fishing. However, if we'd arrived at the beat to find the 2 angers already fishing this would have restricted our choices and potentially could have been a problem.

I have raised this matter previously relating to this beat and there is a definite principle issue here. The beat write up clearly states "...there should be no more than 4 rods at any one time" and we had booked those 4 rods!

To be fair to the anglers booking this beat there needs to be some clarity please. Either a party of 4 should be guaranteed exclusivity or it should be clearly stated that this cannot be guaranteed, anglers can then make an informed decision as to whether or not the beat is right for them.

From our perspective if exclusivity could not be guaranteed for 4 anglers we would have to think very carefully before booking due to the restricted number of sensibly accessible swims in the more productive areas.

WUF NOTE - we have now updated the web page and beat documents.

A handful of chub and a brace of barbel. Struggled to find barbel willing to come out to play in the low clear conditions. One out of the blue mid afternoon but otherwise no sense of barbel activity until sunset. I suspect the other angler fishing the "hot" swim fared rather better. He did kindly invite me to fish close by, but I thought the shoal in that swim gets enough of a pasting as it is, and tried a few other swims which had produced for me in the past. Always a pleasure to be out on the river in such glorious surroundings.

First time on this beat. Three of us fished together; two experienced Wye barbel anglers and an eel enthusiast. The upper section in the wood was very hard work - both getting there and the fishing. Just two small chub on the float for one of my friends. By late afternoon we’d all settled into the slightly deeper water in the bottom field occupied by the enormous bull! The eel expert showed his prowess taking one of about a pound on his first cast using pellet. He followed that up by taking a smallish barbel and then all three of us struggled for bites of any sort. Two of us packed up at about 9 pm leaving the eel man to have a final cast. In the event he actually had four casts in the next thirty minutes taking three barbel and a decent chub! That’s fishing for you - never predictable. We all agreed this is a stretch that will probably fish best when the river is carrying a bit of extra water.

Thanks as always to the WUF.

Fished 2 days, 5 Barbel, 4 Chub.

14 x trout 6-8 inches, small Klinkhammer.