Coarse Fishing
Whilst the Usk has some good stocks of coarse fish from
Abergavenny downstream, it to the Wye that we turn for really special coarse
fishing.
The Wye vies with Hampshire Avon as the best river coarse fishery in the UK. It is blessed with an array of species - perch, dace and roach are all commonplace but chub, barbel and pike are the main quarries. Chub can be found throughout the system, except for the very smallest streams. In recent years the average size of these has increased markedly and 4lbers are now run of the mill with every pool seeming to have 5 or even 6 or 7lbers present. We are confident that the next British record chub could be lurking somewhere on the Wye between Builth and Hay.
Barbel are an ever increasing presence in the Wye. Up to fairly recently they were only found in the lower river and in small pockets upstream of Hay but in the last few years good fish have been caught further upstream, including tributaries such as the Irfon. These are exciting times for those interested in trying for these fast powerful fish and, like chub, they can be stalked and caught on the fly, making them available to anglers on some of the fly only main river beats.
The Wye is probably the best pike fishery on main land Britain,
Buller's 'Doomsday Book of Giant Pike' testifies to that. Those of you who
think that pike don't fight try catching one of these freshwater Barracuda
in the autumn. The record pike, a fish of just under 40lbs, came from the
river at Hay-on-Wye. The most consistent piking is to found from Llyswen
downstream and in Langorse lake at the top of the Llynfi system although
some of the beats further upstream, such as The Rocks, also hold some large
specimens.
Coarse fishing follows the national season dates although many of the Wye beats only allow coarse fishing out of the salmon and trout seasons. Unfortunately no night fishing or camping is permitted on any WUF coarse fishing water. Click here for details of WUF coarse fishing regulations and a summary of relevent byelaws. Please note, however, that this is a summary only and anglers need to familiarise themselves with the full EA byelaws before fishing, a link to which is provided in the left hand menu.
Coarse Fishing Beats:
