Feedback & Reports

Despite the very coloured water fish were feeding and catchable. 3 fish caught all returned : 1 brown trout about 3/4 lb and 1 grayling about 1.5lbs both caught in fast water at the tail of the pool above the small island opposite the house. These were both caught on goldhead pheasant tail nymphs fished about 3 foot below a hare's ear klinkhammer, tied on the hook bend of the latter. The river was running very fast but takes were suprisingly gentle and it was quite difficult to keep in contact with the line and strike quickly enough to set the hook properly. I connected with several other fish which came off the hook very quickly. Any tips on hooking these - I presume they were grayling?
The other fish was a brown trout of about 3/4 lb caught in the fast turbulent water at the head of the pool below the small island on a goldhead green nymph fished down and across-a good solid take. Nothing showed any interest in a dry fly all day. There was precious little fly activity which was suprising as it was quite a warm day and evening, Access to the water on this beat was quite difficult in places primarily because the water was so coloured that it was difficult to work out where was safe to wade.
I eventually discovered that the water by the island was shallow enough to allow the river to be crossed which helped quite a lot as not all the pools can be fished from one bank. In several places the bank was completly overgrown and hid lethal barbwire about a foot off the ground. Watch your waders!

Lower Escley: 4'of clarity and a good flow through all of the pools. Fished for 4 hours and covered less than half of the beat. Plenty of fish rising, mainly in the tails of the pools and shallower runs. #14 Klink was reasonably successful to start but they realy wanted a #16 para adams. Although there were plenty of sedges in evidence.

Plenty of small fish now in evidence and some good size ones to go along with them. The best was a shade under 15" and one of the most beautifully marked fish I have seen.

Longtown beat looked perfect too and all of the upper Monnow beats, Dore included should be ideal this week and into next.

45 between us split pretty evenly trout & grayling, including some very good grayling over a pound. All returned. Deep nymphing, nothing rising at all.

Started off with nightmare catching snags and loosing terminal tackle until i got my head around where the snag was and i mean a huge snag! first chuck 8lb barbel lost my next 2 fish but managed to land 27 barbel lost 5 barbel headache but all the fish where between 2lb and 9lb caught on pellet and meat by the end of it,i was worn out but a brilliant days fishing oh and one chub!

Lost one salmon (Leaning Willow). Landed one, 8lbs (Bachawy Pool) Both Fly.

One Salmon on Fly

River still coloured after heavy rain over the weekend and the rain was falling on the surrounding hills on arrival, but never to be beaten I decided to fish on.

No fish showing all day, but took one 6 inch Brownie (returned) on a gold head Hares Ear in the bottom 100 yds of the beat. Fished with various colours of Klinkhammer with various hares ear variations during the day and the intermittent rain. Tried a variety of traditional wets and nymphs until the heavens opened at 4.50pm and I was still 600 yds short of the bridge and decided to call it a day.

When fishing this beat with any extra water running, chest wader are a must, I had to get out and back in a few times whilst wearing waist waders, other than the depth the advice was spot on, very easy wading with few boulders.

The river was fantastic and I'll be back soon when the weather promises to be kinder to me. The booking service was a delight, helpful and super efficient, thanks for all of your help.

The river was in perfect condition today with gin-clear water and the Southerly wind barely reaching the surface of this very pretty and largely hidden stretch of the Usk, which I have never fished before, but which turned out to be ideal for the dry-fly. I was quite optimistic when I observed some fairly regular hatches throughout the day. However, despite witnessing one reasonable brown trout launching itself out of the water in a vain attempt to catch a butterfly, I was amazed at how few fish I saw today. I can only assume that they were hiding in some of the deeper pools! No salmon about either today.

Water high with a tinge of colour. The Honddu was ,once again the only river in the area fishable after the monsoon.

Plenty of trout willing to rise to a #14 klinkhammer presented in the pools and pockets. As usual striking on the r of rise was too slow! 7 to hand, the best being 12" and a much better fish lost toward the the top of the beat which was good sport for the conditions.

The Honddu and the other upper beats on the Monnow, including the Dore should be good for this week.

Very good service from the Foundation but the river was still a bit too high especially for a novice such as myself