Evening beats for chub & dace
Monnow Bridge at Monmouth: bridge slack and shade
Monnow Bridge at Monmouth holds chub and dace tight to the arches; evening sessions here often light up as the town shadows lengthen. Bank access is easy along the town reach; fish the far bank under trees and the bridge shade where slack water kisses the main flow. Let a small spinner or a loafing float drift tight to that shadow line — chub live on cover and hesitation is fatal.
The Osbaston / Monnow Valley reach feels like proper “Mr Crabtree” water, with plenty of chub and packs of dace in the softer inside lines. Short trotting and controlled underarm casts win here: aim for 2–5 ft of water rather than the main push. A 3–4 m float rod matched with 2–3 lb main line and a 0.10–0.14 mm hooklength handles close-range work and the occasional perch.
Wyebank: bigger river, stronger fish
Wyebank on the lower Wye near Lydbrook is the north‑west hop worth making for evening sport; fast flow, clear seams and chub to 5–6 lb are part of the picture. Evening tickets from 5pm make it ideal for a late-session push; work the left-bank margins and seam edges with light-float rigs or tight spinner retrieves where the current eases.
Light-float rigs favour a stick float or loafing float carrying 1–3 BB shot with size 14–18 hooks and baits like bread flake or maggot. Presentation is everything: keep shot light, traces fine and fish the shadowed seams as light dies. The dace will show as silvery ticks; the chub patrol the dark edges awaiting a loose offering.
As the light drops across Monmouth and downstream to Wyebank, the soft tick of a float and the flash of a dace in the seam mark the start of proper evening sport.