Friday 25th July 2008

John has reported back on his visit!

He said that he fished the lower beat first without seeing or hearing a thing. Then road bridge and again nothing! Very disappointing!

The river appears to have gone very quiet! Maybe its because of the recent rise in water level which encouraged a lot of fish to move up stream. Hopefully new shoals of sewin will be moving into the system over the next week or two!

Tight lines!

Latest report from Tim Wilkinson - Thursday 24th July 2008

I fished down at the cattle drink last night. Saw a few smaller fish jumping and one or two bigger ones. They seemed to be moving at dusk, before it got dark. After dark I didn't see or hear anything. The wind got up about 12.30 am and fishing became difficult.

The good news is that I managed to winkle out a sholie of about 1.5lb in the run in to the cattle drink. This was early in the night at around 22.45 pm. Had one or two nips after that but nothing at all after the wind got up.

Cheers

Tim

Wednesday 23rd July 2008!

Popped down to the river in the hope that there might be some sport!

It was a lovely warm night, half moon though with a scattering of clouds! Not too bad! Had one decent pull and a few knocks but that was all. Saw one fish of about 3 lb jump early on, well before dark, opposite the bush, jumped clean out of the water about 1.5m at least! Fished from 10.15 pm to 2.30 am in my shirt sleeves! Fantastic night to be out doors but a distinct absence of any fish in numbers! Disappointing for July!

Tight lines!

kingfisher

Friday 18th July 2008

Well I have to say that this was a very disappointing night for all three of us, that is John, Chris and I! Conditions were pretty good! Warm, cloudy and fairly dark and the water was crystal. One thing that did hinder us though was a stiff breeze!

We all fished hard from 10.30 pm to 4.00 am! I blanked completely without any decent pulls; Chris lost a good fish early on; John had a few pulls and finished up with a lovely silver 2 lb sewin!

Worming in Crewel pool was also a complete let down! Not a fish to be seen or heard! I caught a small sewin of 1 lb and that was that!

Positive thoughts: Otters were around? Saw 2 kingfishers!
Negative thoughts: Bullocks and, dare I say a BULL!!!!!! F..k..g hell!!! The things that we fishermen put ourselves through! We must be MENTAL!

Monday 14th July 2008

Went down to the river last night hoping that the conditions would be favourable! Unfortunately they weren't!

The river was far too high for my liking, in fact, whilst crossing back over the river at 2.30 am the water was above my waist by a few inches! There was too much flow in most of the pools although the water seemed reasonably clear. The night was dark but breezy at times. I didn't see any fish at all. Fished with Dave from Swansea and Tim Wilkinson but no one got any pulls. I will try again nearer the weekend if the rain stays away.

Disappointing!

Latest Report - Friday 11th July 2008

Report courtesy of Rodney Byles

Cerith had another fresh hen sewin yesterday evening just where he caught his other monster last year.

It took nearly 30 min's to land in the fast high water and was 29ins long. It was definitely bigger than the 10 pounder he caught earlier in the season and he reckons it could have been well over 11lb! It took 15 min's to revive and release.

He tried spinning by the tin hut first early evening but with no joy so he changed to his favourite method of angling, the worm!He's a lucky sod or should I say a bloody good wormer! I might have to take it up if I'm going to catch anything this year!!!

Thank you Rod for this post and all the others that have sent me! You make a valuable and informative contribution to my blog even if sometimes a little controversial! Thanks!

New link to Towy Water Levels and more....!

Good news!

All visitors who want to know about up to date river levels and 5 day weather forecast can now click on the links provided!

All part of the service!

Tight lines

Kingfisher

Big sewin caught Sunday 6th July 2008!

18lb 2 oz - a fish of a life time?

This is what Rodney Byles has to say about the capture of this fish!

Andy

I have been reading bits and pieces about the 18lb sewin on the forum and decide to add my two pennerth and sent the following comment. You may wish to use it somehow on your blog.Murray’s fish is indeed a fish of a lifetime and suspect if he ever catches a similar one he will probably return it or donate to the hatchery. The various comments on the forum about its egg quality and their survival interested me and thought that I would add some food for thought. I have always believed the larger the fish the greater the number and better quality of eggs. But I have no scientific basis for that opinion.However, I am reliably informed that a hen sewin will produce an average of 600 eggs/pound of fish weight so the larger fish will produce far more than the smaller fish. In Murray’s case that fish probably had nearly 11,000 eggs. Also it has probably returned to the river three of four times before reaching that incredible size so it had probably developed survival skills that could have been passed onto its offspring. It could be said that alevins from these big multi-wintered fish could have greater survival rates than those from smaller and younger less experienced fish. Who knows!I can only pass on information I have about one big Towy sewin caught last season at Bethlehem weighing 15lb 4ozs. This hen fish was donated to the hatchery and produced over 9,000 eggs. The alevins or fry are now 2 inches long and will be put into the Towy sometime in October. If the fish has been persuaded to feed in captivity there is a possibility she could be stripped again this year prior to being released in the estuary later in the year.I was fortunate a few seasons back to catch a 14lb hen sewin at Llangadog and had I known then what I know now I would have taken a photo and either returned it or tethered it for donation to the hatchery as brood stock. So those of you anglers who are successful in catching a big hen sewin and wish to donate it to the hatchery, make sure you have a tether with you and most important of all keep handling to an absolute minimum as fish can be easily damaged and will have far less chance of survival. If you put the tether through the mouth and out through gills and secure to a tree or whatever in slack or quiet water the fish will just rest until collected for the hatchery, or so I’m told.Will be interesting to see response if any!!

What's your view on this?

Kingfisher

Latest report from the 'crack' team!

Cerith and Rod are fishing all week and they are kindly reporting back to me conditions and catches so watch this space!

Monday night 30th June

Conditions were good, warm and dry but despite this neither of them caught any fish on the fly! Tim Wilkinson, a new member, appears to be having a lucky streak by catching a small sewin of about 1.5 lb. Cerith caught a couple of sewin up to 2lb on a worm at dawn in Crewel Pool!

Come on lads! This one was caught last night! What are you playing at? It weighed 15lb - 12oz!!!!!! Fish of a life time!

Tuesday night 1st July

Rod fished all night until 4.0 am with no success! Cerith didn't fish but went down to Crewel early Wednesday morning and caught 2 sewin, 1 of 2.5lb and 1 of 3lb.

Wednesday night 2nd July

Rod blanked again despite fishing hard till 4.00 am! Tim Wilkinson, despite being a new member and not knowing the LAL water at all caught a lovely 6 lb 14 oz sewin on a mouse! Well done Tim! I am glad that you are showing Rod how it's done! A picture would be welcome!

Thursday night 3rd July

Well, I could see that Rod and Cerith were struggling, to say the least, so John and I decided to go down and show them how its done! Only one fish was caught and neither Rod, Cerith or John caught it! Yes, Andy came to the rescue again! As a result of a kind invitation from Rod to fish down the pool that he was about to fish but didn't know quite where to wade or what length of line he needed! I agreed to show him! Halfway down the pool I caught a 4 lb sewin that fought like one twice the size! Thanks Rod!

Friday night 4th July

No fish were caught!

IMPORTANT NOTICE

A new marker has been installed just below Crewel Pool.

I have been asked by LAL to remind all anglers that fishing is FLY ONLY below Crewel when the marker is showing. Failure to comply with this rule may result in membership being rescinded!