Ebro catfish.

Eager Angler Senior with a nice Ebro catfish. The fish weighed about 130lb! Not a massive fish by Ebro standards but still a nice beast.

Canol Fisheries - Wild Welsh water.

I visited Canol Fisheries which is situated in Felindre, Swansea. It is a beautiful location encompassed by the valley and wild Welsh countryside. 

The lake has been left in a fairly wild state itself with an abundance of weed (broad-leaved pondweed) allowing only a handful of spots to be fished. There is a healthy habitat here for the local wildlife, being surrounded by natural springs and copses of trees. There were a mixture of damsel and dragonflies, a recent spawn of toads and the obligatory red kite. 

Small Toad!

Spot the kite.

There is low angling pressure at this venue which may be due to its isolated location and non-commercial status, leaving the fish in good condition and full fighting fetter. The hardcore carp anglers would most likely be put off by the fairly clear water, I believe this adds to the challenge if targeting the common, mirror and grass carp. There are resident tench however, that are known to flourish in the clear water, Canol also hosts a head of bream.

On arriving at Canol I parked up and surveyed the venue. I was initially concerned by the cover of weed which covered three quarters of the lake making only certain areas fishable, I wondered how an excess of vegetation would effect the fish. I walked the perimeter and saw little sign of fish, non whatsoever in fact, even with the clear water. 

Ascended perspective.

Excess weed?

I chose a spot that was opposite a clear stretch of water flanked by weeds either side. 

Spot of choice.

I set up a running hair rig baited with normal sweet corn adjoined to a false rubber grain, I cast this in front of me into about 5ft of water. 

Simple rig.

I set up my other rod with a crystal float set at a foot short of the lake bed next to the weeds to my right, this baited again with corn. My plan was to scope out the abundance and species of fish in this swim. I had no bread or maggots which in hindsight was a mistake, I believe a few red maggots are a very good candidate to lure most freshwater species.

The float had some tentative bites then went under, I struck and found myself connected to a tench of approximately a pound, it fought fairly hard for its size but I managed to lose it in the pond weed. I continued with the float laying down a light mix of halibut ground bait, hemp seed and a spattering of chilli sweet corn. 

All went quiet with no action on either rod, only small line bites on the hair rig, with the float dead. I decided to change tactic slightly and changed the float for a hair rig baited with floating sweet corn. This seemed to work as time passed with increasing movement on both rod tips (one a carp broom handle, the other a quiver tip). Again all went quiet and I started to despair. I literally put my head in my hands and as I did this I had a screaming run on the carp rod, I struck and connected to what felt like a very powerful fish. I had to bully it which I don’t like doing as it was heading straight for the cover of the pond weed. The fish was bending the rod in two, I wasn’t worried as the rod was equipped with 8lb Korda Subline connected to braid hook link and a  strong Gardner hook. However pride comes before a fall, something gave and I lost the fish. The braid had given way, of all things I would not have expected this. I believe there was a weakness in its length somewhere, the hook was gone with the fish. It wasn’t the knots as I tie five turn grinner knots which have never failed me, yet (touchwood). 

Feeling rather deflated I mused on the ‘one that got away’ as you do in these circumstances. I genuinely believe it felt above the 15lb mark, which would have made my week. To rub salt in my wounds another fisherman turned up and caught a 12lb common within ten minutes. Still eager to sniff out one of these pristine fish I continued with the same methods up to dusk, I saw a few fish rising on the surface but the dark shapes ignored all my free offerings. 


About an hour before dark I had another screaming run on the carp rod which, I let it go a few seconds then struck. I felt instant opposition on the reel which felt all wrong-the line had wrapped round the spool! I struggled to unravel it to little effect as the fish was lost, another one! I had no idea of the size as it fled before I could connect.

I finished the session without getting my net wet but having learnt two important lessons: 

•  always check the integrity of the line and knots
•  always check the reel and line lay

The owner mentioned that he has started on another lake nearby, he has stocked it with small carp and trout at present. I left a report in the car park drop box detailing my struggling session. The other fisherman had two decent carp and a nice tench, which he was fishing for.

I am going to visit the venue again very soon, to finish what I had started, I want a rematch with ‘the BIG one that got away’.

Camelot Lake - Wortwell, Suffolk.

I visited this venue a few weeks ago with my friend Tobias. We fished a twin peg called ‘The Bench’-it has a massive bench next to it which has to be seen to be believed. There were a couple of guys fishing next to the car park who said they had caught very little, which did not bode well. They were also surprised that we had chosen to fish the twin swim as it was very shallow.

We established camp with confidence however due to Tobias’ previous visit where he had a successful session from the ‘shallow’ swim using dummy rubber sweet corn. The swim has lily pads directly to its front where Tobias had unfortunately lost a fish during his previous session. We decided to fish either side of the pads with Tobias to the right and myself to the left. Having four rods in the water we put one tight to the lilies and one toward the margins each, Tobias in shallow water under a tree and myself in much deeper water along a slightly overhanging hedge. We both employed the same tactics that were successful from the last session, basically sweet corn on a standard lightweight running hair rig. I opted for a mix of single dummy sweet corn combined with two grains of real corn. We chucked out a sparing bed of hemp and corn over our chosen locations.

All was quiet in the evening and the night fell, the rats came out to sniff about our bivvy and bait, they weren’t perturbed by our presence at all. We retired to our bivvy at 1am and got our heads down for some sleep. I was awoken by my left hand bite alarm wailing and discovered a fairly hefty feeling fish on the end, after a fairly uneventful fight I landed it with the aid of a groggy Tobias. The fish was a nice 13lb common.

 Dreadful picture but it was very early!

The shallow area to the right (Tobias) was constantly groomed by ducks which eventually led to a false screaming run at 5am much to Tobias’ frustration. There were no more fish to be had within our 24 hour session; apparently the guys fishing across from us had pulled out a fish similar to mine but nothing exceptional.

I decided to change tactics in the morning and using boilies in place of sweet corn, but the rats had nibbled away at the base of Tobias’ mesh net gaining ingress to the air dried boilies within (note to self; hang boilies out of reach of rats!).

All in all I was happy with the one fish, the rats were an interesting experience but the location is nice but a tad too near to the A143 traffic, however we did see a kingfisher flitting about on the far bank. This lake is said to have some nice big fish and I look forward to having another session here in the near future.

Welsh trout flies.

I have been informed by my girlfriends Grandfather that these flies will work well on the local waters, I will put them to the test soon!

Valley Farm Fisheries - Hidden treasure.

I have only recently discovered and fished Valley Farm Fisheries over the past six months; it has somehow eluded me until the present time. The lake is tucked away in Walpole, Suffolk, in a very peaceful location, there are a number of nice features with deep pit areas, overhanging trees and islands.

The lake is stocked with a very nice mix of fish species including roach, rudd, bream, perch and carp (predominantly common and mirror). The owner told me that he had also stocked it with a few small Barbel but has not seen them at all. There is an otter fence erected along the lake perimeter which is reassuring and the whole venue is immaculately maintained. Landing nets and unhooking mats are provided with the use of ones own forbidden for disease control. There are signs up reminding fisherman not only of the rules and regulations but notes on fish welfare too which is refreshing to see. The owner/bailiff is full of advice and has been there every time I have fished, very useful if you need advice or tips.

The fishing has a lot to offer, I have had a great evening fishing for carp on the surface along one of the margins using bread and a surface controller where I caught ten plus fish above 6lb with the biggest being 13lb. Here are some samples from that session.

There are nice tench to be found lurking under the trees along with good perch, interestingly I caught a tench using a small tutti frutti boilie combined with a cage feeder and a hemp and sweet corn mix cast straight under a tree in only a few feet of water, I wasn’t targeting them but was happy with it nonetheless.

There are bream to be had as well all of which I have caught with red maggots, which is also the preferred bait of the resident perch. That is the most interesting thing about the lake in question there is such a well balanced mix of fish that they are all up to offer, I am quite sure red maggots would produce anything in the water with boilies targeting the carp, treacle soaked sweet corn also worked well.

Overall I recommend Valley Farm Fisheries for those of us who aren’t crazy on commercial carp fisheries and for people that truly appreciate catching good specimen fish of all species. £7.50 for an adult day ticket.

Fly fishing Usk Reservoir.

During Easter 2011 I ventured to Usk reservoir to try my hand at some fly fishing for trout, I used a golden hares ear which had been battered and bruised but seems to be the only fly I can produce fish with on the reservoirs (Cray included). I found a nice quiet spot on the northern edge about 400m past the dam wall.

I used the single hares ear to great effect catching five rainbow trout with a fairly slow sinking retrieve. I tried again a few days later using the same tactic and blanked completely, the weather was more unsettled however. I even walked past the conservation area and fished the other side which is reserved for fly fishing only, the wind was blowing into me which made it difficult to get distance on the cast, there were no signs of fish that I could see. I am sure if I employed a team of flies on this large water I would have produced more fish, I will be better prepared next time!

Tickets are purchased from a machine on the right hand side just after you pass the north side of the dam, it is about £16 (I think) and that has to be paid in pound coins! Yes very odd payment system and a real pain in the backside!

Whilst I was fishing I was being watched by a Red Kite, here is my only attempted snap:(

Usk Reservoir is owned by Welsh Water and the surrounding countryside is managed by the Forestry Commission. Brecon Beacons website has a few more details and links: here

Cheap acupuncture.

 

Be warned when using hard baits such as dog biscuits use a drill rather than a baiting needle as you could skewer yourself as did my friend a while back; ugh :(

This resulted in a trip to A&E where the nurse decided the best course of action would be to rip it out! Nasty.

Well equipped and hidden away tackle shop in Clydach, Swansea.

In need of some hemp and pop-up boilies I undertook a quick Google search for the nearest tackle shop to Ystradgynlais, the closest return was a JonesH R & Co.
I wasn’t expecting much as it looked somewhat small and my hopes were diminished further when it was also advertised as an ironmonger.

I went in and had a quick scope about and couldn’t see any fishing gear, I was approached by a member of staff who asked what I was looking for and I told him, he directed me upstairs to what I can only describe as an Aladdin’s Cave of fishing.
The shop turns out to be well equipped with everything for all disciplines of fishing from carp to fly. The guys in there were very helpful and friendly as well.
I picked up 'frenzied’ hemp seed, marine halibut method mix and some mussel and oyster pop ups for my venture to Canol Fisheries.

All in all a gem of a shop which I am very happy to have found, I will be coming back here time and again.

Jones H R & Co Ltd 68 High Street, Clydach, Swansea, West Glamorgan, SA6 5LN 01792 842202.

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