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.
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.”
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.
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
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.
I had a lovely salmon this morning off the wood crib of the Courtfield beat which took me a good 15 minutes to land. I had put on a new mepps fying c silver spoon with black lettering salmon red and unfortunately did’nt have my pliers to remove the barbs and one of the hooks. So I had to land the fish and was lucky to get the hooks out without causing any bleeding but it took a while. After the event it is’nt very good to say this but it brought it home to me how important it is for the fish not to have the barbs on and also that third hook.
I measured this fish against my rod but and it was just over 32 inches. I told Katie on the phone that I thought it was 12 to 13 lbs a bit bigger than the last one caught Wyebank. She pointed out that that one was 15lbs. As I was able to release that fish without removing it I think I probably over estimated its size. Today’s fish was in good fresh condition, no sea lice and I reckon the conversion to about 13lbs is good.
By 12.30 the water was colouring up badly with bloom. The Wyebank is keeping reasonably clear and I fished it yesterday evening with no success with a cascade. Today I fished the spinner slower and deeper as the rocks are now so covered in blanket weed that the spinner is less at risk of getting stuck in them as it catches the soft blanket weed first.
Yesterday’s rise of 4-5 inches is disappearing already but it should have brought some new fish up from the lower beats.
Invertebrate Fly life along the Wye at Courtfield and Wyebank has been fantastic this Spring. The mayfly hatch has diminished today to a trickle and I suspect it will be over by the weekend after a month of pretty well continuous daily hatches from early morning till dusk. During the peak there were some fantastic afternoon hatches about 2.30 with green drakes pouring off the water. It should of course just be getting into the hatch at this time of the month. There was lots of spinner along Legg Meadow this afternoon with warm sunny spells to bring the mating mayflies out of the trees and bushes after the last few days of cooler weather.
The sedge flies are hatching in profusion, too many too identify without a net and a guide book and even then its pretty uncertain with a lot of species. The Alder fly is also once more making its friendly self apparent in a way unseen for many years
Yesterday evening there was a large swarm of Sherry Spinner (Blue winged olive) through the wood beat of the Courtfield on a par with the River Kennet, but extraordinarily early. Also large swarms of medium olive red spinner which I have’nt seen here in such numbers for years.
Bleak? in their multitude have been surface feeding along with dace, the occasional salmon parr, some large chub and the odd trout. Trout fishing has not been too good and most fish would seem to be feeding on nymphs and sub surface food. But then the water along Wyebank is now so low that the trout have had to abandon their bankside haunts and move into the faster mid stream flow. Also there has been virtually no fishing effort at all. Rather disappointing in that regard. Shad have been scarce so far and only the odd tiny twaite have been taken accidentally on fly whilst trout fishing.
Also exciting is the re appearance of spotted flycatchers after some years of absence.
So all in all it has been a prolific Spring at the waterside on the river Wye at Lydbrook.
Well judging by Ray Morris’ comments at Wyesham “just like the old days” the river Wye is on the upturn. It is proving to be a great season for 3 sea winter fish with fish in the high teens and high twenties and a 30 pounder. Talking of which I lost a huge fish rather quickly yesterday, Sunday morning, on the Courtfield beat off the end of Legg Meadow crib which I reckon must have been in the high twenties if not bigger. Canoeists saw significant numbers of salmon this weekend between Kerne Bridge and Lydbrook. At £35 a day the Courtfield and Wyebank beats now give a fantastic chance of catching salmon at a snip of a price. Book with the WUF and get fishing!
Just broken my duck this morning at 9 o’clock. Caught a 15lb lovely fresh salmon in superb condition in the Wharf pool of the Wyebank beat. Went down with fly rod and spinning rod to find the water 6″ up and back to Summer Level (0″ on the gauge at the steps). Stretched for time so decided to spin with a well worn salmon red flying C and copper spoon. I get the feeling there are more fish about. The water is in absolutely perfect condition and even the Mayfly were already hatching this morning at 8.30am.
On a slightly different note to the salmon fishing, the Mayfly has been hatching well now for nearly two weeks, still time to get out and get an illusive large trout!
After another week of dry hot sunny days and dropping levels the river Wye at Lydbrook is some 8″ or more below summer level. Despite the heavy algal bloom, which diminished a little by the end of the week, and possibly the lowest levels at the end of April for decades, fly hatches have been increasing all week.
Mayfly hatches have been excellent. The green drake has been most prevalent early to late afternoon. Mid week saw a hatch along Legg Meadow of the Courtfield beat, which would have matched the Kennet at Hungerford in the 1970s. The hatch has been accompanied by some heavy falls of spent gnat. Blue winged olive was hatching well today along Wyebank amongst large swarms of silverhorn sedges. At 3pm today the Wyebank stretch was alive with fly life including sedge, mayfly, olives and yellow may dun.
For the record the mayfly hatch is normally expected towards the end of May running into early June and the BWO mid June to July. As with the grannom all species have been hatching remarkably early.
Looking down to wharf pool Wyebank
Rudi Lighert had a 10 lb kelt on Tuesday 3rd below the island at the top end of the Wyebank and Nicholas Briant fishing Wyebank for 2hrs in the evening on Thursday 5th hooked and lost a strong fish of around double figures in the wharf pool of the Wyebank beat. Salmon fishing is definitely still on along Wyebank which is still perfect for fly fishing.
Wharf pool Wyebank fishery still holding fish as at Friday 5th May.
