River Monnow

[NeilH]

I'm very conscious of the fact I vowed to post more on this forum, but also that fishing opportunities have been limited recently due to the weather so I thought I'd rip off one of my posts on a UK forum from last year.

I was fortunate enough to secure a day on a private beat of the River Monnow near the Wales-England Border. I set off from Birmingham (that's Birmingham, England ;) ) cursing the fact that I had to chose the one day when the weather was "wet and windy". The 'windy' bit turned out to be pretty accurate, but mostly the rain held off - there was even a brief period just after lunch when the sun shone. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Prior to the event, I'd discussed tactics with a friend and devotee of the Monnow and he'd emphasised just how important the right pork pie (British delicacy) was to the success of the day and on his recommendation I stopped off at Mailes Butchers in a sleepy little Welsh village called Ewyas Harold. And, to paraphrase Agent Cooper (obscure reference to Twin Peaks), a 'damn fine pie' it was too. On t the fishing - most of the morning was taken with exploring the beat and casting into likely looking pools, with not a lot of success. I fished the duo and took one beautiful little wild brown trout on a small bead head nymph and one larger fish on a stimulator but it was pretty tough going, particularly in some of the more exposed parts of the beat. Around about lunchtime the sun came out briefly which was definitely a sign that lunch should be taken. Whilst sat by the river eating my lunch I noticed a few mayfly starting to come off and a few fish starting to rise, so I switched to dries (Grey Wulff and Cul de Canon) and had a pretty successful time of it, taking fish throughout the afternoon until about 6pm when the wind strengthened and it got noticeably cooler. After another couple of fish and 50+ Himalayan Balsam (evil invasive weed) pulled, I called it quits at around 8pm. All-in-all a great day - the Monnow is a fantastic river and a testament to the work put in by the Monnow Fisheries Association (http://www.monnow.org) to restore this river to it's former glory as a perfect wildlife habitat. I'm looking forward to returning there this year.

[Mostyn]

Nice Photos Neil, especially the "Pork Pie" there's some lovely beats on the Monnow association waters! Here's some more photos of the area.











The Honddu Stream; A place to fish and capture your dreams!

Mostyn

[palewatery]

Great post, I've heard so many good things about the Monnow and surrounding rivers I'm choking to visit.

And Pork Pies... high on the list for ideal fishing foods. :D

Jim

[springwell]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh No

Not another Monnow thread .

You can't escape from them :D

Bill :)

[Mostyn]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh No

Not another Monnow thread .

You can't escape from them :D

Bill :)

C'mon Bill, you love it there! See you soon; I hope.

Mostyn

[garethl]

Great post Neil, and great photos from both yourself and Mostyn :) I love that system. The Honddu and the Dore....I'm fishing them lots more this year! :D

[NeilH]

Cheers Gareth. A less successful day on Thursday - but great to be out and I could almost imagine Spring was on it's way.




another in the 'Pie by the Monnow' series :D

[Chalkstream]

Great stuff - nice pies too ;)

[Mostyn]

Them is Large Pies, suitable for "Small Streams" Yum-yum!