Post by toucan on Dec 12, 2006 16:52:44 GMT
I think Roger Stokes still lets some water on the Wye, including a couple of the prime beats below Monmouth. If you look on the WUF "Other Fishing" page his contact details are there for the Lower Wyesham and Dukes Water. Harris and Stokes, as it was, doesn't exist any more.
The Upper River can fish well in the spring - I hooked and lost my first ever salmon on January 31st on the Middle Llanstephan beat just below Erwood. Thankfully, I managed to redeem myself three days later, but that was nearly 25 years ago when the river still opened on January 26th.
In recent years early fish have been very few and far between, but good water will get a few fish up by mid-April. The peak time these days for spring fish is May but you do need water.
This year Pwll-y-Faeda had a brief purple patch with half a dozen or so caught in a long weekend at the end of May. Quite a few fish were caught on the upper river then but as soon as the May rains stopped, the hot weather arrived and that was that until September. In fact for much of the Wye these days the season seems to come down to about ten days of fishing split between May and October. Still, get it right and it can be good and there are some big fish amongst the springers.
The benefits of the Upper Wye in May include excellent trout fishing, the chance to catch a shad (particularly towards the end of the month), beautiful scenery, real quality fly water, relatively few canoes and, for me, many happy memories. There's also the chance of seeing an otter and an osprey, plus the usual buzzards, kites etc.
Others can sing the praises of their own favourite stretches
Mark
The Upper River can fish well in the spring - I hooked and lost my first ever salmon on January 31st on the Middle Llanstephan beat just below Erwood. Thankfully, I managed to redeem myself three days later, but that was nearly 25 years ago when the river still opened on January 26th.
In recent years early fish have been very few and far between, but good water will get a few fish up by mid-April. The peak time these days for spring fish is May but you do need water.
This year Pwll-y-Faeda had a brief purple patch with half a dozen or so caught in a long weekend at the end of May. Quite a few fish were caught on the upper river then but as soon as the May rains stopped, the hot weather arrived and that was that until September. In fact for much of the Wye these days the season seems to come down to about ten days of fishing split between May and October. Still, get it right and it can be good and there are some big fish amongst the springers.
The benefits of the Upper Wye in May include excellent trout fishing, the chance to catch a shad (particularly towards the end of the month), beautiful scenery, real quality fly water, relatively few canoes and, for me, many happy memories. There's also the chance of seeing an otter and an osprey, plus the usual buzzards, kites etc.
Others can sing the praises of their own favourite stretches
Mark
