Feedback & Reports

River was at a good height (1ft 2" at Fownhope) and a lovely colour for the fly. Dog hole and V were just about wadeable for a tall person although I had less than an inch of freeboard in places! Only action was a tiny grilse kelt from the Island stream and a strong pull in the cleft at the tail of the Dog hole.
There were some fresh fish in the beat. In the morning I saw an angler fishing the tail of the lines, be broken on the jump by a 20+, shortly before I pointed out to him that Bulmer's no longer have the fishing! I also saw a lovely thick shouldered fish running through the neck of the same pool late in the day.

Very cold day and I blanked, but beautiful stretch of river, would like to come back when the coarse season re-opens.

An excellent days sport in low water conditions. 6 chub caught between 2 and 3.5 pounds. Had only previously fished this swim when it was much higher. Coming back later in the summer to hopefully catch the barbel that were not feeding on this occasion. One other angler on this section on the day and he may have caught one more fish but I think mine were bigger!

6 Chub

A very nice piece of water with great potential. Unfortunately nothing caught this time.

2 Trout

Fished the lower end of the beat in the morning caught 3 chub to five pounds. Moved around after lunch but no more bites the water was very cold but a nice days fishing.

3 Chub

My first try at barbel fishing. I had a fish of 9lb 8oz
fished middle of river as edges very snaggy, only 1 bite.
River conditions good but banks a bit dodgy. Boilie bait with a few free thrown in.

1 Barbel

My Nephew and I were guided by Kenny Parsons and I am pleased to say his deserved 100% record is intact. The river made us work for it but in the last knockings two immaculate upper 6lb Barbel were caught exactly where Kenny said they would be.
Tricky conditions on the river but what a beautiful day and after some great advice the fish turned up in the end. We also returned to the lower wood swim the next day, with the same feeder and pellet tactics and managed to tempt 7 more fish to 9lb 3oz.
Thank for a great weekend Kenny, WUF and the beautiful Wye.

2 Barbel, 2 Chub

My "brother of the angle",(MS from Rubery) and I made a visit to try the traditional grayling method on this the penultimate day of the season. The river was at a perfect height for trotting a maggot (Titley Mill gauge was reading 0.27m) so we set to work!
We weren't the only anglers there since we "flushed" some piscivorous birds half-way down the beat, but they didn't catch the two silvery 14" brown trout and two 12" grayling that we did.
A delightful beat which perhaps will be enjoyed even more through the winter months by those of us that enjoy trotting on a small river. Thank you WUF.

2 Trout, 2 Grayling

An originally overcast day became increasingly sunny but with recent bank erosion making access difficult in some areas and water temperature remaining very low, memories of a previous summer visit to this beat were soon fading. Nevertheless, we persevered and after a helpful discussion with Adam, we explored further options. It’s fair to say the first barbel was sliding over the net less than ten minutes after bidding Adam farewell, so thanks Adam.
Only one group of canoes all day, but debris from up-stream tree-cutting caused a degree of disruption and resulted in some losses of terminal tackle for us both.
Met Simon later in the day who timed his presence perfectly to photograph barbel no.2. Thanks for taking the perfect photo Simon.
By the end of the day, we had deceived the following into taking our baits:
CH - 2 Barbel (6lb 6oz, 5lb 8oz) and one small Brown Trout of approx. 8 inches.
BP - One solitary but memorable freshwater mussel.
All were caught on maggot, all were in excellent condition and all were duly returned in good health.
Overall, another enjoyable day in wonderful surroundings. Buzzards overhead, Pheasant and Partridge commonplace, all in the shadow of Goodrich Castle.
To both Adam and Simon, many thanks for taking time out from your clearance work to chat. It was an absolute pleasure to meet you both and to see the Foundation ‘in person’.

1 Trout, 2 Barbel