You've got your wish TM, mascas and I turned up at Skenfrith today to find the river at 1'6" on the gauge, red and rising. By the time we came out of the pub at 16:00 it had dropped 4" and the colour was easing but there was a lot of rain about in the Hereford area on the way home so maybe a bit more to come!

__________________
“There is no more lovely country than Monmouthshire in early spring. Nowhere do the larks sing quite so passionately, as if somehow inspired by the Welsh themselves. There is a blackbird on every thorn and a cock chaffinch, a twink as they call him there, on every bush...... It moved me profoundly. I had been spared to see another spring, and I thank God for it.”

Oliver Kite
“A Spring Day on the Usk”
A Fisherman’s Diary

Guys.... is it too early for these feelings of regret rien? I'm sort of nostalgic this evening... bought about in no small part by the presence of red wine

Reading through all your postings... all your kind messages... marvellous. What you need to realise is that you gents are the ones that make it all worthwhile: Happy fishers, sated drunkards, and... all that philanthropic gesture towards our rivers.

It's all been horribly worthwhile. Might have to do it again some time
x
D

__________________
"A homeward tramp thro' mist wrapped night,
With heart and creel in common light,
Complete content, the day has brought it,
They fished for pleasure - and they caught it"

P F Morgan
taken from the catch record book at Llanthony Hotel, Honddu Valley, Aug 1942

www.monnowlogue.com
www.monnow.org.uk

Thank you, thank you, thank you............what a weekend!! I can honestly say that I have never, I mean never, had 2 such hangovers on consecutive days - f e c k me I didn't recover 'til Wednesday.

Dave, Rob and Patrick............what a river you have there - it was my pleasure and honour to be there.

ROB (when you back off your hols).........What a fish that was

Excellent company, food, fishing and SLOWPAIN!!!!!

Hey John........why aren't you wearing your cap in the group photo? - oh I forgot......it was ripped!!!

Champagne moment for me? Fishing with 2 grumpy old men on Saturday and one called the other Roy Orbison.....heh heh heh The other champagne moment? when the Sloe Gin turned pink!!!

Think Ieuan enjoyed himself "in pub"

Happy, Happy Days


Bugsy

__________________
KEEP CZECHING 'EM

Both Bron and Ieuan says Hello to everyone and thanks for such a great they weekend. Bron especially says thanks to all for making her feel so welcome despite the fact that she came with me


Frank

Rob, Dave, Neil, Patrick and Crew Thanks for a fantastic weekend.

__________________
Frank Williams APGAI

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Hi all,

I'm a little late posting my photos, but I think I've only now recovered from the horrendous amounts of alcohol that I was 'forced' to endure

As we're only limited to twenty photos per post here, I'll just supply a link to the gallery on my blog - click here. Hope you enjoy

Report (when I'm able to put the awesome weekend into words) will follow shortly. But I must say again what a wonderful weekend it was, and even more fantastic to meet up with old friends and make new ones. Thanks again to Rob, Dave, Neil, Tim, Patrick, and Tom and his trusty kitchen staff for making it another event to remember!

P.S. - I've left out a few of the more 'embarrassing' photos...

__________________
Fly Casting Tuition, Guided Fly Fishing Trips, and High Quality Fly Tying Services

Web: Gareth Lewis Fly Fishing
Blog: Fly Fishing in South Wales

Hey Gareth... stunning photos... I loved those of the Grwynne and the Upper Honddu, but what about the embarrassing ones... post 'em up!

I am nearly there with processing the catch returns and the money raised. Will post it up over the weekend hopefully.
Best
D

__________________
"A homeward tramp thro' mist wrapped night,
With heart and creel in common light,
Complete content, the day has brought it,
They fished for pleasure - and they caught it"

P F Morgan
taken from the catch record book at Llanthony Hotel, Honddu Valley, Aug 1942

www.monnowlogue.com
www.monnow.org.uk

Nice pictures G, love the markings on that Upper Honddu trout in picture 13..

__________________
" Life isnt about waiting for the storm to pass, Its all about learning to dance in the rain"

Unfortunately, the MAIN embarrassing photos were shot in the evening while it was a little dark...that and I happened to be attempting to jump out of the way of a falling (and flaming) BBQ thanks to Morgan's valiant attempt at mounting the thing

Thanks to my ninja/cat-like reflexes I managed to escape a firey death, but was unlucky enough to catch that magical moment...however I did manage to capture the aftermath...

Nope, that's not rain...that's falling ash akin to valcanoe eruptions, nuclear winters, and now, 'humped' BBQs...


To bed thee go...for the 2nd time...


However, I believe one shot in particular was the comical highlight for many, and captures the Friday night perfectly...

TonyJ. Fisherman, Wine & Cider Extraordinaire, Legend.


I'm not too sure what to be more worried about: 1) Tony's almost seductive glance at his burger, and wondering "Why, you're a cheeky burger, what are you doing on the floor? 'Ang on, what am I doing on the floor!?", 2) The fact that WCB seems to be running towards him for a 'follow-up' kick, or 3) The rest of the weekend's participants stand happily watching with drinks in hand.

What a weekend!

__________________
Fly Casting Tuition, Guided Fly Fishing Trips, and High Quality Fly Tying Services

Web: Gareth Lewis Fly Fishing
Blog: Fly Fishing in South Wales

One of my life's regrets will be saving Morgan from the inferno. Still he was a little quieter (and drier) this year!

Another excellent weekend; thanks to all of you attendees and the usual suspects on the catering and camp set up side, who deserve all of the thanks. No real thanks are due to Dave and I but Neil, Tim, Patrick and Mark, our new recruit to the Monnow madness, must get a special mention for helping get everybody onto the right beats and providing plenty of moral (?) support.

Tim also gets an A+ plus for beer provision (it is a hard job, so he tells me!) and for one of the great ideas; to head for the Crown, post beer festival.

Thanks also to Sewinbasher, who, I hope, gets a great deal of vicarious pleasure from his generous support of the event.

A great time, which we might be persuaded to repeat!

Rob

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"The sun was so delightfully warm, and the stone, which had been sitting in it for a long time, was so warm, too, that Pooh had almost decided to go on being Pooh in the middle of the stream for the rest of the morning."

www.monnow.org

Hi All
I have just finished analyzing the catch returns for the Monnow Social. Sadly, one or two reprobates still haven't returned theirs! JamieT and TDA!!!

So... 285+ fish caught of which 216 were wild.

The wild fish averaged 11" in length but that does not really tell the whole tale...

46 fish at 14"+
inc 20 at 15" +
inc 11 at 16" +
inc 4 at 17" +
inc 2 at 18"

I would say that it represents a very healthy slice of trout!
Best
Dave

__________________
"A homeward tramp thro' mist wrapped night,
With heart and creel in common light,
Complete content, the day has brought it,
They fished for pleasure - and they caught it"

P F Morgan
taken from the catch record book at Llanthony Hotel, Honddu Valley, Aug 1942

www.monnowlogue.com
www.monnow.org.uk