I had an email recently from a fisherman who was concerned by some of the Gallery pictures, where it is obvious that fish mats have not been used. This is a fair point and hence forward I shall be actively encouraging the use of fish mats for unhooking fish and also for pictures. So please, if you have’nt already got one, add a fish mat to your tackle bag and use it always.
February 15, 2012
Best Practice
October 20, 2011
Courtfield Salmon, April 2011
This is Rudi’s Salmon from 5th April 2011. Caught from the boat pool,bottom of steel steps, on a yellow flying C. It was 38″ long and had sea lice.
Spring Salmon from the Courtfield Beat
October 20, 2011
Fish Catches Gallery Update
Over the next few days we will be posting a number of photos of fish catches from this year, this will hopefully go to start a guide to the fish that lie within the Courtfield and Wyebank beats. Where possible we will include detail of the fish and where they were caught. Anyone fishing or who has fished on our beats with photos of catches that they are willing to share please do send them in.
September 14, 2011
A Red Letter Day
Friday the 9th September, proved to be the Red Letter day for three fishermen. In the morning the river had dropped back from the 2ft 6″ of Wednesday evening to a perfect 4″ at 9.30am. I had gone down to Wyebank and saw several small grilse slashing the surface. I raced back and got my fly rod and by 11 o’clock had landed two grilse of about 6lbs and 4.5 lbs and lost another tiny fish maybe 2-3lbs. The fish rose to a cascade fished across the Wyebank run and must have been running fish. The resident cormorant turned up followed by canoes and all went quiet. It was the first time I have ever had two fish in one short session from the beat and it could have been three!
The river then started to rise again midday and was at a foot and coloured by the evening when Colin Tyler fishing number 2 swim in Legg Meadow finished up with 9 barbel to 9.5 and 4 chub to 5lb3oz and Rudi, fishing the evening finished with 6 barbel to 9.75 lbs and a huge bag of chub every cast, the best two weighing 5.75lbs and 5.25lbs. In total 100lbs or more of fish. Truly a Red Letter day for salmon, barbel and chub.
July 30, 2011
Salmon plenty in Courtfield beat
After years of scarcity we are now seeing salmon all over the place on the Wye. July has seen Courtfield absolutely full of fish. I estimate there was between 60 and 100 fish spread through the beat with good sightings of many grilse as well. I caught a 9lb small summer fish in Legg meadow on the 16th before the river rose and a fish of 10lbs was caught by a salmon rod on the 25th. A good fish leaped clear of the water above the Wyebank crib yesterday while a likely small grilse was lost the day before and very small grilse have been showing along the bottom end of the Wyebank stretch. Our catch of salmon has now risen to a respectable 7 and 1 kelt for Courtfield and Wyebank.
Its early days but I for one feel confident that we are on the cusp of a major turn around, particularly with the evidence of the super small grilse which hopefully will be followed now by grilse of increasing size more typical of the late summer Wye fish.
July 11, 2011
Perfect early July salmon conditions.
After a coloured rise to 1ft 6″ on Saturday the river at Wyebank is this evening, Monday 11th at a perfect 4″ and with slight colour. This afternoon running salmon were in evidence and numerous small fish, possibly sea trout were making splashy rises. Salmon have been seen in significant numbers throughout Courtfield beat including a possible small shoal of grilse in Legg Meadow pool, which is holding a lot of fish. All in all the river is looking fantastic. There has been quite a lot of foam however, which I assume to be related to run off.
The wharf pool on Wyebank is at perfect pace and area at 4″ for fly fishing for salmon.
It is proving to be an exceptional season in all sorts of ways – the mayfly is STILL hatching and in sufficient numbers to induce rises. In fact the odd trout now seem to have got fixed on this delicacy.
June 26, 2011
The latest fishing news from Wyebank and Courtfield
The coarse season kicked off with low and cool water, with 2 to 4 inches on the gauge through to the end of the first weekend followed by a rise and colour to 1ft 6 inches after summer solstice, which fell away by Saturday evening the 25th June to 4 inches and came up again fast Saturday night to 3ft plus and rose to 3ft 6 inches by lunchtime today, the biggest rise since last winter.
All of this made for some interesting fishing. The Courtfield has been fished lightly compared with the past four seasons and rod catches reflect this with some good bags of chub and some barbel being caught. Mark and John Evan had the following to say.
“My son booked this beat for us so that I could try and catch my first Barbel, mission accomplished the weight 6lbs, I was over the moon. It didn’t last long as my son caught one that went 8lbs 4oz. Sod’s law that your son catches one bigger than you.
The day was really good because on top of the Barbel, between us we had 24 Chub up to 4lb 12oz. Caught on pellet with feeder and straight lead and also on the waggler fishing pellet. I would say this fishery is well worth a visit considering it was our first and will be looking to come again.”
It was Wyebank however which took the cup for the best report and the catches by Mark Lane and Tim Smith were probably amongst the best from the river.
“Our second visit to Don’s beautifully presented and sensitively managed traditional mixed fishery. We knew that early season barbel can be slow on the river. Very pleased to report 26 barbel to 9lb, 16 chub 2 over 5lb over 3 days. The canoe menace reached its peak on Sunday, whilst most were polite and having a good time some were drunken yobs who did not understand the meaning of private property and it quikly became tiresome asking them to pack up there picnics and depart so we could fish. Fortunately this menace is short lived and by 4pm the river returns to normality. The fishery is absolutely stunning and it is a joy to catch scale perfect fish in such quantity using traditional methods. Thank you Don for a truely memorable few days.”
Rudi’s report from Friday also demonstrates just how well Wyebank has fished this first week. Special note should be taken of Rudi’s observations of salmon. If only the water had stayed down after Saturday we might have benefited from some salmon catches comparable with years gone by but as it stands now all fish are probably ‘flying’ upriver somewhere. Incidentally salmon were seen surfacing like dolphins today, apparently below Hay bridge.
“River up perhaps 1 foot but clear. Fished middle croy 10am to mid-day, 1 9lb plus barbel and 2 around 7/8lb on large halibut pellet.
Fished pool behind submerged bottom croy until 16.00hrs and caught 4 more barbel all over 7lbs and lost large one that went downstream to end of spool line when hook snapped at bend, (a size 8 carp hook by reputable manufacturer) All on large halibut pellet with loose fed small pellets.
An 11lb plus barbel was taken by a W&U angler from this swim on Wednesday.
Salmon seen frequently surfacing between croys, tried heavy flying c with no result.
For those who have fished here recently and been entertained by the loneley duckling, its still alone but alive and growing fast.”
June 8, 2011
Low Water Contradictions.
Yesterday I was horrified by a one foot drop of water below summer level over a period of 36 hours. Today I am resigned to the reality that we are looking at conditions similar to 75/76 and yet with a load more abstractors. Our nearest point of major abstraction is the Severn Trent pumping station which compensates flows accordingly from the Elan Valley. this means that upriver beats reap a dividend which we don’t. In practice it appears there is more water in the middle river as a result of the Lydbrook pumping station. As for the farmers, they all have permission to abstract until flows reach the appallingly low flow of around 133 million gallons per day at Redbrook, downstream from Monmouth. I can’t remember the exact figures I was given by the EA, but today there is around 197 million gallons flowing past Redbrook and so the river will have to drop by approximately 33 percent of its present flow in order for these pumps to be turned off. That in itself is a very worrying concept.
When I looked down on the wharf pool yesterday it was clearly unfishable due to the flow being cut off by the dropped river and the ranunculus, which was now all trailing on the surface. I went to bed depressed. Today I have cut the weed to reopen the pools and was astonished by what I found. The main fly channel is averaging 3ft with holes to 4ft 6″. The overhanging and trailing willows along the far bank are providing adequate cover with upto 2ft of good flowing water over gorgeous clean gravels, while the bottom pool is perfectly clear of weed and clean to a depth of over 5ft covering a flat rock slab floor in places and gravel and small rocks in others. The whole stretch of Wyebank is good clear well oxygenated water still providing a more than adequate habitat for the salmon.
My greatest surprise was to find two big salmon redds from last winter’s spawning and several smaller ones and sitting in the smaller ones I saw the biggest sea lampreys, with one as long as my leg and all of them as long as my arm. In other words they were upto their maximum given length of 90cm. In all I saw at least half a dozen sea lamprey spawning sites. I have seen the clear stones before, evidence of lamprey activity, but never have I experienced standing so close to these extraordinary creatures that I could put my foot under them and lift them up. Quite remarkable.
June 5, 2011
Nearly a double
After Anthony Sheehan’s grilse this morning (previous post) on Wyebank I have just this evening lost a fish of about 8 lbs on the fly and had a magnificent shad of about 4lbs which I thought was a grilse to start with. Anthony also had a shad between 3lb plus. Lots of beautifully conditioned shad around this year which need letting off if possible as they throw the hook pretty easily and are a protected species. It is unlawful to fish for them but impossible not to get into them whilst salmon fishing.
The water bulged about 10 – 15yds downstream of me and the next thing I knew a fish was running up past me with a loop in the line and took me down to near the backing before I got organised. When the line tightened the fish went airborne and came off.
All great fun on an old 10ft Hardy Wye.
Don Maacer-Wright
June 5, 2011
Breaking News Grilse have arrived at Wyebank
Anthony Sheehan landed a sea liced grilse around 3.5 to 4lbs this morning, Sunday 5th June, and had two 10 yard pulls which failed to hook, fishing a shrimp fly derivative on a small treble and dropper, fished on a super fast sink tip line through the Wyebank run above the crib.
This is great news because it is fantastic that grilse have arrived so early and may herald a return to the days when Wyebank at Lydbrook held significant quantities of these wonderful little salmon. This fish clearly belongs to the fish reported at Cadora as coming in on the tide yesterday morning between 10 and 2pm and shows how well they run.
Wyebank is back at summer level after its rise of a foot the other day and is looking great.
Canoes on Saturdays are a real problem.