Feedback & Reports

Water pretty high and coloured but not as cold as expected 7C. Dropping and clearing slowly. One good take mid afternoon on the fly and contact for just long enough for me to be going "definitely salmo.." before it wasn't. Typical Welsh April day, blustery, hail, cold, sunny and beautiful. As ever thanks to WUF for great opportunity to fish and such a flexible service.

I came with the sole intention of reaching the end of this beat, I've tried twice before and failed.
On arrival the water was carrying a little colour with visibility at around 2'. It looked perfect for a roach or two but they're out of season so I decided to stick to the trout. I was equipped with a new rod, new waders and a new net, which is a lot of pressure on my luck, but first cast saw me bring 9" of feral anger to the net - a tiny goldhead nymph (also new) hitting the spot.
Nymphing my way upstream saw me hook a further dozen or so fish, netting half of them.
A few flies appeared in the afternoon, prompting the odd fish to rise here and there and it would have been rude not to stick a hook in them, so I did.
The weather turned out better than expected and, apart from the wind, it was a pleasant afternoon.
It was early evening by the time I saw the first yellow pepper. Then another. Finally a third capsicum sat crowning a waterfall. This was a first for me. Carrying on upstream, the scent of deep fat frying hung on the breeze and potato peelings littered the streambed - victory was close.
Sure enough, within minutes a Wye Valley brewery umbrella was sighted, across the stream a red sign nailed to a tree proclaimed "Beat End", and I'd done it.
It had taken 11 hours, but on the 21st of April 2012, at 7pm, I summited on the Escley middle beat.

Fished this beat for a good chunk of the day. No joy for me on the day but it looked about as good as it gets for the Usk. Tom also stopped down and gave me some great pointers on the ole' left hand spey. A true gentleman, as we talked rods, fish, and had a laugh. Probably worth showing up just for that. Will fish it again after the next spate.

River high and dirty. No fish caught on fly.

2 trout (both 3/4lb) and 1 grayling of the same weight(returned) all on the same fly - a Greenwells Glory fished dry. There was a brief hatch of medium olives, and a few fish rising, in a mixture of strong sun and blustery showers. Really enjoyed the day and this stretch of the river.

River at 3 feet and very dirty. No fishing according to ghillie.

We fished from 2.00pm to 8.00 pm. No fish caught. Saw very few fish rise. Couldn't take advantage, fished the duo, got a lot to learn, I will get it right and I will be back. Loved it thank you.

River had cleared nicely but the water was very cold and there was a howling downstream wind which made any thought of fishing upstream out of the question. Nevertheless, there was an appreciable olive hatch from about 1pm which continued sporadically into the afternoon. I saw 3 fish rise (in total) and I connected at least briefly with all of them on spiders and landed one, a 14" beauty (returned). I had no success at all fishing blind.

3 Fish in total. Two were believed to be sewin because they looked completely silver and were 14 an 16 inches long.
Some fish rising and a some insect life seen on the water.

Celebrating my bithday fishing on my namesake of a river, the Ithon. Unfortunatley none of nine anglers caught, the river was up slightly. Still had problems booking on line, but this gave us chance to meet the staff at Llanstephan. Met up with my uncle Ted, 83 years of age, who came from Newbridge On Wye and fished the Ithon along with my grandfather and father, back in 1952 the year I was born. Our accommodation was at the New Inn public house, the rooms and food were good, and offered good value.