I paid this a visit today. This is a long beat well up towards the source of the Avon and it is not your usual manicured chalkstream. Keep tactics simple, I used a 7'6" 3 weight, a 5 foot length of 3lb stroft and a size 16 hares ear with a 2mm tungsten bead. This is a single fly only beat so the duo is out, I used the end of the fly line as an indicator.
There are three sections. The downstream bit has a nice pool at the very bottom of the beat
which produced a solitary trout, and these were a big problem throughout the day. This section is generally 6 feet wide and about 3 feet deep with plenty of overhanging trees, bankside growth etc to catch flies - expect to lose plenty!
There were grayling in there too
This one not far off a pound
but generally it was trout, trout, trout! Some stocked but plenty of wild fish too (no photos, all out of season fish go straight back).
There was the odd fish rising but very sporadic. It was hard fishing, don't even think about it unless you can roll cast, but it was utterly absorbing.
The middle bit has a different character. Still plenty of trees etc but it's wider (say 10' or so) and shallower (often no more than a foot) with some slower pools.
Once again the trout predominated. Looking at my diary I see that my visit there last November brought 31 fish of which 18 were trout. It was a lot worse today, 22 fish with only 3 of them grayling.
The top section isn't fishable. It might be with more water (though to be honest the water level was pretty good) but today it was very shallow or very narrow (2-3 feet) and with no flow. So the beat isn't as long as it looks on the beat map.
So is it worth it? It costs £47 a day, no chalkstream grayling fishing is cheap but this is at the top end price wise. I will certainly go back because I find this sort of fishing absolutely engrossing, probably in December when hopefully the grayling will predominate.
Regards
Peter
Wiltshire Avon at Manningford
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