Feedback & Reports

I fished The Dukes Water and Coleman' s beats; 0530 to 1945hrs with a break for a good lunch at the Redbrook Bell Inn. I saw about a dozen fish on the Colemans morning beat but none showed on the Dukes after 1300hrs.

High tide at Chepstow was 0847 and 2104hrs and folklore says the fresh fish arrive between 1 and 2 hours before the high tides, but this may be a rumour started by Offa. However some research undertaken in Scotland (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Uploads/Documents/No%2015.pdf) shows that often fish do move into a river about 2.5hrs before HT and swim up at between 2 and 5km/h. The speed of the river's flow will affect progress, so your arithmetic is as good as mine (or Offa's).

The water was low and clear, the weather hot, overcast and muggy. My small stoat and brighter red and orange offerings were not appreciated by any salmon, but three brilliantly coloured Kingfishers spotted in one day was a memorable first for me.

11 barbel caught from the bottom swim, between 6:45am and 4:45pm. All smallish fish between 1.5 and 4.5lbs to pellet/corn cocktails, fished behind a cage feeder three-quarters across into the main flow. 4 further fish lost to hook pulls in the mid-river weed, plus one lost due to a hooklink cut off by a rock. River very low and clear, maximum depth no more than 3 feet, bright sunshine and lots of canoes most of the day. To be honest dreadful conditons for barbel, so I was happy to catch at all - I could easily have done a lot worse elsewhere. Very nice to see so many young, healthy barbel. A good stretch of river for anyone needing a confidence booster, although I suspect it needs a bit of colour for the bigger fish to put in an appearance. Well done WUF and Don.

Clear and very low water with not much fly activity. Managed only 4 WBT around 10” mark, 5 small grayling and a couple of salmon parr. All came to dry Sedge #18. Poor catch comparing to my previous visits. Cock salmon spotted by the Stone which is always a bonus.

Arrived at 5pm to the sound of large fish splashes. Most activity seen around Cadora pool until later in the evening where the cockpit showed promise. Despite all efforts with fly and spinner no fish were taken. First time to this beat and would return though the advice about wading Cadora pool was somewhat inaccurate, far too deep to wade and ultimately reach the fish. Thank you WUF again though for a great service!

16 small Brown Trout to 9ins.

No fish, terrible! There are no fish of a catchable size in this stretch. Five vouchers!!!

The last day of our trip to the Wye and I was at last able to get on this beat. Access is superb, being able to drive all along the bank and the croys provide a number of swims. The stretch is a mix of glides and deeper slower sections, with the bottom section being much faster. This bottom section looked superb, but as this beat is on a footpath, it seems to become a haven for picnics, people swimming etc. I would not reccommend fishing this beat on a weekend.

The fishing was very difficult due to drifting weed, which made keeping a line in the water almost impossible. 1 barbel of 9lb caught at last knockings, so well worth the wait.

Thanks WUF for a great three days on the Wye. Even if the fishing is tough, the surroundings more than make up for it.

Nil return. Ray very helpful.

Hot and very bright day, water also quite low. No salmon caught, 14 salmon seen.

Arrived to find the Wye very low and clear and badly in need of a drop of water. Unsurprisingly the fishing was a bit of a struggle, exacerbated by the bright sunlight, but between us, my brother and I managed 7 Barbel and I also had two eels. Biggest fish around the 6lb mark - all were in magnificent condition, long, lean, very bronze and a couple of them had the most vivid red anal fins I've ever seen, almost Rudd like. All caught on halibut pellet.

Just a quick note for anyone visiting the stretch - the guidance supplied suggests that there are two car parking areas - the choice of which one is used is dependant on where the resident herd of cows are. On the WUF map there is a suggestion that the track down to the river diverges; on Saturday it didn't and we therefore had no option but to park to the right of the hut. In conversation later with the farmer he didn't seem to mind at all and moved the herd into the top field.