Feedback & Reports

River at 0.69 dropping on the Byton gauge. Pushing through at a fair pace, and carrying a bit of colour.
Trotting maggot resulted in 7 grayling between 8 and 12 inches, and a lovely conditioned o.o.s. trout at 12 inches.
Lost a few that threw the barbless hook in the fast water and also a very large trout that went airborne on being hooked.
Certainly seems to be a good head of fish here.

1 Trout, 7 Grayling

Fished most of the accessible swims along the beat with a combination of all sorts of bait and the one that caught all 4 fish was luncheon meat. The river looked perfect for some barbel with the water temperature rising over the last week and the height at 1.65m. This is a lovely stretch of water.

4 Chub

Our second trip to the Wye was a bit harder going on the same beat in very different conditions. The river was up and pushing through and the banks were pretty treacherous despite a dry day.

We fished below the woods with very few swims fishable but we both caught in the end with a nice Barbel dead on 8lb and a Chub over 4lb both caught on Elipse Dumbbells.

The trek over the hill was made a lot easier by taking the road past the sewage works and entering the gate to the left to the corner of the wood rather than walking up from the top section which we didn't fish this time.

Next time I will be taking a Rope!

1 Barbel, 1 Chub

River still high but dropping. With the warm temperatures we thought the Barbel might make an appearance but it wasn’t to be. 3 nice Chub and despite the water colour a low double Pike couldn’t resist a float fished smelt tight to the inside. Lovely day to be on the river

3 Chub, 1 Pike

Good weather, mild and v light breeze. Good water level and clarity. Peaceful, quiet. No noisy dogs.
A couple of bumps in five hours fishing the beat top to bottom with tungsten and gold head nymphs, ptn's and red tags. If there was a shoal of grayling on the Skenfrith stretch, they kept themselves very well concealed.
Maybe the four wild swimmers I chatted to in the car park before fishing had spooked them.

I hoped that the rise in water temperature might bring the barbel on to the feed, but they were not in evidence. To add to my disappointment the chub were laughing at me, with numerous snatches and rattles on the rod tip but only a half-dozen decent bites, two of which I missed, three hooked fish managed to escape, leaving me with a solitary chub of about a pound and a half. Not my best day on the Wye, but good to be out, just the same.

1 Chub

The unseasonally mild weather tempted me into another 'last' trip to MHC. I woke to a 10 degree temperature reading in the car and arrived to find the river at 2.25m and dropping with nice colour to it. Despite the time of year and a number of recent frosts I felt optimistic (a condition I do suffer with).
This had drained out of me after the second swim at the top of the fishery without a bite. A move to the bottom produced a chub pushing 4lb. No further bites but a blank avoided at least.
I moved back up the top to a swim I'd not fished before and had the worm bitten off on the first cast. 2 casts later a proper bite and after hard but short fight a pristine 4lb barbel was on the mat. Not the munter of my dreams but great reward for having a go.

1 Barbel, 1 Chub

First time on this beat. Following the weekend's rain the river hadn't fallen back as mutch as I had anticipated when I booked - it was still at 0.73 on the Byton guage. I explored the whole stretch, but It was a struggle to find any decent swims for trotting where the river wasn't pushing through. Nothing caught, but it's a nice spot and I'll come back when conditions are more favourable.

Tough days fishing. We managed 2 x nice size Chub in the deeper section.

2 Chub

nothing caught