Feedback & Reports

4 x Barbel 5-7lb on halibut pellets

Wet and extremely windy. River coloured though not as high as it had apparently been, but started rising again late afternoon.
Fishing hard going, impossible to fish the top half of the fishery safely because of rain, steep banks and water levels.
We managed 8 barbel between two of us from bottom section. Fish averaged 5-6 lbs with one larger at 9lbs, plus a handful of small chub on pellet & boilie combinations.
A tough but enjoyable start to our first visit to the Wye - Lower Ballingham tomorrow.

Catch return - Nil. Unfortunatly the river was very high & coloured unsuitable for the fly.
Stayed at the Inn on the Wye at Kerne bridge it was very good, also they allow dogs.

A good but not spectacular day on a stretch that we have done well on in the past - 7 Barbel and 1 Chub to mainly pellet.

Water still high and very coloured and going through very fast. Eel 1st cast on meat, 1 and 1/2lb, then found it quite hard to hit bites as the line kept getting debris on, but we got a few small chub before lunch. Then decided to glue some swivels on heavy stones and use them as weights to fish in the fast flow in search of the bigger fish. Got 5 chub up to 2 and 1/2lb and a barbel of 3lb. Hooked a couple of larger barbel, but one straightened my hook and I couldn't get the other past the rocks hidden below the flow. Caught a dace before the wind got up and then we stopped getting bites. Saw 3 good sized salmon rising all day, one very big. Along with the kingfishers and birds of prey it's a great area to fish, we enjoyed the challenge and we will be back. Successful baits were meat, cheese, and corn for chub - frankfurter pellets for the barbel. Thanks again to WUF

Although the river had dropped probably 3 feet from the tide-line left in previous days, it was still chocolate, hammering through and carrying quite a bit of general detritus which, in particular made the tiny swim below Boy's Rocks virtually unfishable. The next two open swims in the woods were fine and in the hour or so we tried them John took one babrel at 7 lb+ and lost one, both on pellets. Moving down to the first field (the middle part of the beat) where there's one obvious swim but a number of areas you could fish as the balsam and nettles were nowhere near as impenetrable as they have been on other beats, again a decent fish was lost. Not being familiar with the stretch, the turbulent heavily coloured water made feature spotting a challenge and we resorted to feeding marginal glides under or around bushes and trees.
For the last part of the day we moved to the bottom field, switched to meat and paste baits and, again, concentrating on the margins using flora as features, we had two barbel around 6lbs from a swim at the end of the tree line that leads back to the lay-by stile, and a final 7 lb-er from the very last swim where the small stream enters.
All in all a very fair result from a rather straight beat where we couldn't scan features to fish to. Notably there were no snag issues on the bottom two sections so the bottom must be gravelly and quite benign, although the bump and grind progress of feeders and leads suggested loads of streamer weed, confirming what we'd seen on the satellite photos.

Thanks WUF

Lovely place to fish if a bit expensive with regard to lost tackle. One rod had to redo the lot at least 5 times and I managed to avoid losing too much replace one hook because it opened on a rock, barbel lost on the bankside rock and two other hooklengths lost.
Very nice to be able to sit in the car out of the rain.
One rod caught 4 barbel and lost one the other had 2 barbel and lost one.
Very hard fighting fish, excellent fun to catch.
Did not fish the Vanstone pool because I thought it had a nasty snag in it then found out the snag is on another beat, doh!

River pretty high @2.5ft and still a tiny bit dirty. Although the flow was pretty rapid and difficult (for me) to get the fly speed down, caught a grilse @ c.5lb - returned. I really can't quite believe it. 2010 must be my lucky year as I've had 2 salmon and a decent sea trout in, I think, 4 WUF visits. This equals what has taken me 15 years in Scotland, Ireland and elsewhere in Wales! Thankyou again and again, words are not enough - keep up the great work.

River rose 2m overnight from yesterdays successes at Middle Hill with large branches, sheds and stray boats bombing past. Consequently fishing was nigh on impossible even if you could find a swim with some slack. Should have brought a beachcaster and some grippa leads! Nothing caught except a baitrunner reel which has cleaned up nicely, shame because one of our party caught a 10lb 13oz barbel here late the previous evening as the water was beginning to rise. Other fishermen and bailiff all very approachable and helpful which was nice and all too rare these days.

Arrived to find, as expected, the river very high and chocolate coloured, but dropping. I had no previous experience of fishing the beat in this condition, but suspected the deeper section at the top end of the beat would be the place to head for. I chose a swim between two overhanging trees, where there was a steady flow close in, with the river racing through further out. The fishing was fairly slow to take off, but gradually picked up with regular feed going in to build up the swim. I took the helpful advice from the angler fishing above me and tucked my bait under the upstream tree and using a fairly short hooklength. There were no hectic periods of action, but a steady stream of fish throughout the day to give a final tally of 21 barbel landed to 8lb 6oz. All were caught on the usual pellet with feeder tactics. This was one of my most enjoyable days fishing to date on the Wye, with my best catch of barbel, stunning surroundings and a warm sunny day. The other three anglers on the beat were friendly and we shared information.