Feedback & Reports

1 x barbel 9lb 6oz on legered pellet
Small chub and dace on stick float

1 Barbel, 3 Chub, 8 Other

Fantastic days fishing. Total of 15 barbel caught trotting and just 1 on the deck. Lot's of chub and some large dace also caught. Biggest barbel was somewhere around the 8lb mark with most being between 1-3lb. Really lovely fishing and for anyone wanting to catch barbel under a float I'd have to say the beat is perfect.

16 Barbel

Barbel weighed 6lb and 8lb. Chub about 3.5lbs. All 3 caught from the bottom field as light started to fade.

2 Barbel, 1 Chub

5 Chub

4 Chub

3 Barbel, 12 Chub

1 Trout

Evening first exploration of this beat in a peaceful valley beneath the Sugarloaf. Water was low and very clear with a good flow, perhaps helped by the reservoir at its head. A couple of fish rising in the deeper pools at the lower end. Couldn't manage to get close enough to put a dry fly to them in the still conditions without spooking them. Nymphed the thin pockety water further up and had just the one 6" trout on a PTN, but well worth the visit.

1 Trout

The river was low but I had a lovely few hours. Some clearing has been done and except for an occasional wall of Himalayan
balsam the access was good. However I did not see one rise and a neighbouring farmer admitted that there were not many fish in the river - I don't know, but it is a very nice place to visit.

I had intended to fish another wild stream on the 2nd day of my 3 day trip, but had left it too late to book by leaving it to the morning (NB – you can’t book wild streams after c. 7pm the evening before). Fortunately the Ithon was there to step in and offer a reasonable plan B. I’ve fished this stretch before, but never got very far upstream due to time constraints – so this time, I skipped the first 1/2mile or so and jumped in further up. This proved to be a good move, the river changes character as it moves upstream, shallowing out, speeding up, narrowing up a little and becoming easier to navigate. I spent most of the morning and afternoon fishing either a couple of nymphs on a Euronymphing setup, or the Duo. There wasn’t much rising, but the dry consistently brought up fish, and the nymphs took their fair share too. Lots of hungry salmon parr around again, mainly targeting the dry. The fishing was best where the faster riffles/pocket water offered some cover from the low water and high sun, or where the weed sheltered countless fish in hidden troughs and little runs. I switched to a couple of small dry patterns for the evening. Again, there wasn’t an awful lot of rising going on, but a #14 jingler and a #16 emerger were very successful in the last couple hours of the day. Another great day on the wild rivers of Wales.

NB – access in the lower stretches is quite tricky. The banks are steep and dense with bushes and trees, and there aren’t too many options for navigating around on the banks. The only option in quite a few places is to progress up the river, which can be hard going and slippy. Im a fairly spritely, young-ish chap and it was frustrating even for me. I would imagine someone with a bit less mobility might find it tricky.

15 Trout, 15 Other