"Misty, beautiful early mornings, lots of wildlife
and a joy to the soul."
The Usk - A European Special Area of Conservation and possibly the best brown trout river in England & Wales
A Revitalised River
In 2000 all salmon nets were removed from the Usk estuary and a European funded programme has re-vitalised the salmon and brown trout spawning tributaries of the Usk.
This has been achieved by extensive coppicing of the banks, unblocking of tributaries and the fencing out of livestock. These simple but highly effective measures has meant that spawning has been far more widespread and as a consequence fish numbers (both salmon and trout) have increased in some areas dramatically - this benefits the main stem of the Usk where Gliffaes has its fishing.
The estimated salmon catch for 2007 for fish caught by rod and line is around 1700, making the Usk Wales's premier game fishing river.
Fishing Seasons
Both the trout and salmon season begins on March 3rd. The trout seasons end on the 30th September while the salmon season closes on the 17th October.
Fishing the Usk at Gliffaes
Early fishing for our wild brownies starts in March with olives, dark and medium. Rises usually start mid morning and never last mor than an hour or two. As the month progresses grannom and march brown are on the menu, though the latter are not as prolific as they used to be. Flies are covered elsewhere but the rise tends to move later and last longer until mid May when all day fishing is the norm leading to the start of the cream and the most magical part of the day when the long evenings produce something special until 11.00pm or later.
Good catches in the hot bright summer months are possible if anglers adapt their tactics - it is often not until after sunset that the bigger fish begin to move.
Salmon fishing
Usk salm0n run in the spring, the largest and the ones we are most keen to preserve, a summer run and finally an autumn run, including grilse some of which run during the summer. The Usk is the most prolific salmon river in Wales and has reached its Environment Agency measure of self sustainability over each of the past ten years. We are hoping the the work completed on our tributaries of unblocking, coppicing and fencing out livestock on over 40kms will deliver an abundance that will produce enviable sport.
So fishing for salmon, as on virtually all rivers, is dependent on runs coinciding with plenty of water!
An important note please;
The River Usk has a mandatory Catch & Release period for salmon from 3rd March to 15th June. We would also ask that any coloured fish caught outside this period are released as well.
Read more on the United Usk Fishermen's web pages.
Gliffaes Country House Hotel, Crickhowell, Powys NP8 1RH +44(0)1874 730 371