River Wye

[sewin]

The first spring salmon of 2006 has been reported from the Wyesham beat (just below Monmouth) and was taken during the afternoon on opening day. It weighed 13lbs and was apparently taken on a Flying C - I thought there was a fly only rule on the Wye until May - what happened to that?

[sewin]

The latest newsletter from the Wye & Usk foundation reports 25 sea liced fish from 10lb to 24lbs in the Hereford area indicating a good movement of fish upriver.

[ar]

I walked up to the Devil's Pulpit last weekend and then drove up to Redbridge. The river was full (of water).

[acw]

Im on Bigswear this sunday any tips ,Is it a sensible place to be

[sagefly]

Let us know how you get on!!

[sewin]

acw said:

Im on Bigswear this sunday any tips ,Is it a sensible place to be

By Bigsweir I assume that you mean Gen. Hopkinson's water. Bigsweir is potentially very good provided that the river is at or close to Normal Summer level. The river is tidal to just below Bigsweir and a big tide pushes back under the bridge. If the river is carrying any water the fish will tend to go straight through Bigsweir and may not stop until they get to Cadora or Upper Bigsweir just below Redbrook.

Fishing will be very much guided by the tide times and the fishing will be best on the rising tide especially the last two hours of the flood and first hour of the ebb.

Telephone [phone] for a water height and fishing prospect update. It is quite detailed and gives heights at several points on the Wye, plus the main two tributaries the Lugg and Monnow. At three points on the Wye and for each of the tributaries it also says whether the river is rising, falling or steady.

The height you need to listen for is Redbrook towards the end of the report which is about 4 miles upstream from Bigsweir. You also need to note whether the middle river is rising, falling or steady. Rising water on the middle river impacts Bigsweir the following day (unless its a very big flood) and you might get away with it for 24 hours. Rising water on the Monnow will have a bad affect as not only will it impact on the Wye below Monmouth the same day but it will add colour as well. A rising Lugg is also bad news as it puts in a deep red colour and hits Redbrook in 12 hours or so.

[robmason]

Well Andy, how did you fare?

[acw]

In more ways than one ,arrived with the Superior driver Sagefly.at just after 9 after a stresss freee bar little rouge (chef)run from North London .
Charles the Man what Knows (beat owner /manager/???0 showed us the Rocks from the fishing Hut (a misnomer) side saw a fish show well upstreamwhilst he was doing his presentation .
so over to the far side (England) and tackle up the now elderly 15 ft loomis a SA multitip speyline with clear intemediate tip 4/5 ft of 17lb copoly and a #10 silk cut shrimp .
In the water up towards the bridge ,wooo there has,nt beena flood recently ,loads of sediment and softalgae on the rocks ,and why did,nt I bring the wading staff and why am I wearing the unstudded wading boots .
Cut to the chase a while getting the casting back together ,its been a few months since my Visit with WG on Speyside ,the tips line starts too cast and i fall into proper fishing mode cast and try to do 3 good paces down stream and down we go .
sagefly AKA Greg dissappears to look at the bottom of the beat so am fishing on my own .
down opposite the hut ,a long cast she turns over nicely and "yes" its a fish a little song from the system 2 and fun begins ,I lok up and theres 3 ish folk sitting as a critical gallery on the far bank ,moi I tighten the drag and set to a few short runs a good sploosh and the fish is heading for beaching on the flat rock table I supppose 4ft x4ft or less ,yer fish comes aboard and then leaps straight over ,so now I,m playing it in the wee shallows next the bank ,I am greatfull that it found its way back into the main river ,once again back onto the flat rock(single minded or what) amd a head lock and out with with wee silky ,of the lady went and I sat down for a much needed pipe .
Half way down my smoke I decided it was time to fish on , wade out There is my fish hard against a square rock ,I look at it ,It looks at me and sat B you and swimms strongly away .
My guess it went 14lbs no lice that I saw , a slim beautiful spring fish .
Somee thankyous now CH for bringing the Wye back to mind ,AR for PM s giving me Details ,Sewin for being there and Greg AKA sagefly for some splendid driving company and support .Oh and Lord Geoof for the permanent loan of the Multitip line >
Yes I do feel good ,3 years since I last landed a real fish !and this one was my first Welsh /English fish ever ;D ;D

[robmason]

Well done that man! Now all of us blankers have reason to be optimistic!

[acw]

Rob ,thanx for the pat on the back ,feel I can face a full 6 days of work and then go and pull a thousand trolleys from the wandle next sunday !.
"Yes Baby Bigsweir Rocks "

[robmason]

This happy tale was etched on my mind at bed time last night and when I awoke. At 9am I book some Wye fishing!

[acw]

Just got through the usual pile of S--t that monday brings and still got a Big smile !

[sagefly]

ACW did have a very pleased look about him on Sunday even managed to fish the day without his post lunch siesta. Well deserved fish.

Surprised not to have seen more fish moving and obviously shocked that I caught nothing -----I should know by now!!

Looking forward to fishing Bigsweir again.

[charlieh]

Just back from the Wye, slightly upstream of where Andy and Greg were fishing. Unfortunately I was utterly stymied by the weather.

Arriving at the hut at about 12.30 on Satuday morning, I was pleased to see that the beat's first fly-caught fish of the season had been taken the previous day. The water visibility, so often a problem on the Wye, was not bad despite the rain at the beginning of the week.

However, at about 3pm the sky darkened and we had two torrential storms of rain, with accompanying thunder and lightning. Moving up to the top beat at about 5.30pm we found the river full of mud and the colour of oxtail soup - given how quickly this had arrived it must have been local in origin, probably from Redbrook. That effectively ended all fishing for the day.

On Sunday the water was still a little bit dirty, though nowhere near as bad as the previous evening. However when we left for lunch at about 1.45 it was rising slightly and beginning to colour again. Returning to the river at about 5pm I found it up a few inches but again full of mud - this must have come from another source, probably further up the main river. Once again that put an end to fishing, although as I drove back this morning it seemed to have cleared again.

Had we not suffered those storms I'd have been surprised if the beat hadn't produced a fish or two. There were fish around; I and others saw a number showing over the two days. There seem to be a few good ones, too - Wyesham is reputed to have had one of over 30lbs. Provided there isn't too much rain this week I think the prospects are quite promising. Nice to see the first of the mayfly coming off, along with a few hawthorns and good numbers of sedges.

[sagefly]

Does anyone have any info on how the Wye will be for the weekend?

Will the rain have "bolloxed" it for a while?

[charlieh]

sagefly said:

Does anyone have any info on how the Wye will be for the weekend?

Will the rain have "bolloxed" it for a while?

I fear so, on the lower river at least. The upper beats might be OK, but I wouldn't bother with anything below Lugg's Mouth this w/e.

[sagefly]

Cheers mate, thought so.

maybe a cast at Mortlake!!

[toucan]

News from the upper river this morning was that the river was high (but not impossibly so) and falling but colour is poor making it unfishable.
More rain is forecast tonight but if it doesn't come there might be a chance on Sunday on the upper river.

Mark

[sagefly]

Thanks Toucan, seems a lost cause so far on the Wye, any other suggestions??/

ACW what do you reckon?

Meon? exe? Dart?

[acw]

I was trouting well up the Wye sunday ,there were more than a few salmon up there ,the Pub landlord reconned the beat owner had 2x 15 lbers out last week .