my river

abborra said:

for many years i dream/t of being able to own a stretch of water,,,and to be able to go when i wanted and to know i would have it all to myself  not to worry about getting a peg or finding another angler in my favourite swim and when it happened i was over the moon......the little river Monnow came out from the Black Mountains in Wales and formed the border between England and Wales for most of its length finishing up joining the Wye in Monmouth town centre,,,,i had been fishing it for years over most of its entire course,,,,i first discovered it in the 60s infact the Birmingham Anglers rented a stretch in a village called Skenfrith about 2 miles in all,,,,it was a river very much like the river Teme and the river Lugg full of gravell runs deep holes and more sedate flowing sections with depths of 6 to 8 feet of water....i suppose you could compare it to the southern chalk streams like the Itchen and Test or the Oxfordshire rivers the Windrush and Evenlode both exellent waters on their day,,,i got very friendly during my frequent visits to the Monnow with Bernard Smith the local Wye authority bailiff a smashing chap in his early 60s but belive me he wasn/t to be messed about with as many people found out,,,,i would imagine a bit like Greg what he said he meant.....he rang me one evening and told me about a short stretch of water the if i was interested,,,he could arrange a lease for me,,,i pinched a day off work and travelled to Monmouth to meet him.....the water was brilliant and had never been fished as far has he could remember just below the Village of Skenfrith,,,,the bank was completly  untouched and stood amongst thick woodland on both banks fast gravell runs eddies and slower stretches,,,,,what a result,,,,i bit his hand off my own water for 5years with an option at £50 a year and the man wasnt bothered how i paid the money,,,,£50 was a lot to me in those days but the deal was done and i had my river......more to follow

There is a 850 metre beat of this water available just upstream of SKENFRIETH and also a double bank beat of 1 mile down stream of the Bell inn both beats are fly only tenner a day

Re: MY RIVER

its all changed since my day Greg the upstream section above Skenfrith was BAA WATER up as far as Garway Mill    i used to fish above Monmouth both banks wonderfull fishing,,,,the town water in Monmouth at the back of the bus station and cattle market down to the confluence with the Wye was brilliant in the 60s thats where i first encountered the Shad Aliss or Twaite i dont know they came up the Monnow instead of keeping to the Wye but they could only travel a few hundred yds because of the weir which was insumountable in those days....we also used to catch em in Builth Wells in late spring early summer a long way from Monmouth but i belive they have dissapeared from the river now like most other things

the town water at Monmouth fished its head off when the Wye was carrying extra water i filled three keepnets one day with chub one a throw all day talking about the Bell at Skenfrith spent many hours in there with Brenda and Doug the owners in those long gone days she thats Brenda was a cracker poor old Doug was bad on his legs through injury during the war so he told me

Re: MY RIVER

tthe local kids in Builth Wells used to spin for em and used to feed em to the cats,,,,,did they  die after spawning??? i dont know perhaps google will know....all i know is not many anglers have ever seen one let alone caught one.....you and i must have special powers eh Greg, the first one i caught i thought it was a record dace,,,,nice fighting fish though mate

Re: MY RIVER

the next visit to my river was on the following Saturday morning again a nice early start around 3 am..the river was still above its normal level with a slight colour,,,,i sat on my basket for what seemed hours  taking in the wildlife,,,couldn/t belive this was my water for at least 5years so i didn/t need to hurry,,,just take it in...i walked the bank for easily a couple of hours,,,,i had almost 700yds to go at plenty for me,,,,there were no pegs as such just an overgrown bank but some very inviting swims a mixture of fast shallow runs deep holes and steady glides with plenty of fish topping....mainly trout i would imagine,,,it was not a river that you could expect massive bags of fish from but a river that needed a roaming attack although i did notice 1 swim where the river formed into a large bay on my bank,,,obviously the extra water over the years had  cut into the bank,,,,i hadnt noticed this the previous week if i had i would have given it a go,,,,a pool of almost still water an ideal retreat for the fish out of the main stream a perfect bagging peg i thought,,,,my first day wasn/t breaking any records,,,,i had some nice dace a couple of chub,,,,but the trout proved to be a pain and kept disrupting my chosen swim,,,but i might add smashing fish brownies of course and in first class condition and all returned to the water ,,,but we will see what next week brings when i had promised to take my dad

Re: MY RIVER

I'm enjoying this, abborra. A good read. Thank you.