Back to square one?

River levels have dropped back again so forget fishing in the river this season! I hope that you will ALL join with me and demand a Licence refund from the EA?

Rain at last?

After nearly 3 months of no fishing due to extremely low water levels it is raining! The dam has been maintaining water levels at 0 at Manorafon for that period but today at last it's up to 3 inches with more rain forecast! At last perhaps the fishing season might start in August? Fingers crossed!

Can't catch a sewin or a salmon? Go after the Bass on the fly!

Tim Wilkinson's very first bass fishing trip and look at the beauty he catches in Pembrokeshire!

At least 4lb maybe larger! I think he's hooked like me! Safely returned to fight another day of course!

Heavy rain may be on it's way?

BBC Weather Forecast forecasts strong winds and heavy rain for Sunday! I wonder?

2 nights fishing but 0!

Had 2 enjoyable nights fishing on Wednesday and Thursday but to no avail. Fish were very few and far between from what I can see. I did disturb a large fish at the bottom of Crewel Pool in broad daylight as I walked down from the hill and it shot off like a torpedo leaving a huge bow wave in it's wake across the pool! Other than that I did hear a reasonable fish (not large) jumping a number of times down the bottom of the beat but nothing else! The next few weeks should bring some fish into the system I hope? Fingers crossed!

I think the first sewin of the season is imminent?

Mr prediction!

With rising pressure I believe that the first fish of the season is very close! It will be either the 17th, 18th or 19th May so WATCH THIS SPACE!

Petition response!

My first trip of the 2018 Season?

Decided at the last moment to go down to Llangadog and try my luck last weekend.

I fished for a couple of hours on Friday night and the same on Saturday night. The river was too high really -  1.400m or so so was probably more suited to day fishing but I considered that nonviable due to the clear skies and powerful sunshine! Daytime temperatures were quite high for the time of year so on Saturday I took a trip to Tenby for the day which was most enjoyable!

Friday night went quite chilly very early on so I only fished till about 11.00pm whereas Saturday night stayed reasonably warm so I kept going till 12.00 midnight. The water height restricted where I could fish quite a bit so I tried Crewel on Friday and a couple of pools lower down on Saturday as Crewel is not really my cup of tea! I didn't see or hear any fish just the Otter which was nice! It was great to be on the river again and I can't wait till the water drops and the night time temperatures start to hold up a little! Lets hope the sewin arrive soon?

Who is going to catch the 1st sewin of 2018 I wonder?

Well the season has started and now it's up to us as to what we make of it! I wonder who will catch the 1st sewin of 2018? Let's report it here first please!

Just 1 week to go!

Spent a day on the river yesterday! It's looking in fine condition after a long hard winter with no dramatic changes to report. The level was about 1ft-6in on the guage and was clearing nicely. Saw a small shoal of fry in a backwater which was encouraging. Presumably they must have hatched very recently!

AGM 2018

A brief report of the AGM

My ladder was rejected as on Crosshands water. Eifion couldn’t be specific about working days as very weather dependant so could be cancelled on the day. Eifion still sec and Dai Watkins appointed chairman. Eifion said he’d look at alternative path through the back end of heart attack hill as I said it’s now very dangerous at night as bank eroded etc etc and only way to bottom end when high water. Dai Watkins is going to speak to the farmer about grave extraction, so we’ll wait and see. The fishing rights owner Dr Allen wasn’t interested in helping with that.

Eifion said Dr Allen said LAL would be given first opportunity to buy when he pops off, but that’s not certain of course. He could even pull the plug if not happy with our rent in which case the Club is finished. The club will propose to Dr Allen a lease for five years, but not sure where the money will come from as rent is £5k/year.

AGM News?

Does anyone have any?

AGM?

This years AGM is on the 26th January 2018. I won't be able to attend because I'm in Devon but I have sent an email to Jeff in the hope that a few of my points might be discussed? Up till now I haven't had any reply.

• The excavation of gravel down the bottom of our beat is ruining our fishery and needs to stop immediately. I suggest a senior delegation arranges to discuss this issue with the farmer concerned and that the farmer is left understanding that his actions are completely unacceptable to our club.
• I would like to see a ladder reinstalled just above Crewel to facilitate easy crossing of the river at that point.
• I would like to help with the fishery care and management of our beat by assisting on a number of working party days. I would like to be informed of the dates well in advance so that I can arrange to attend as I have quite some distance to travel. FYI I have my own litter picker!

Off to do a spot of piking?

All being well I hope to get the old fly rod out again tomorrow to try my luck with the pike! I've bought all the gear and huge flies so all I need now is a bit of luck! Watch this space!

500 signatures reached!

Great result but we need more!!!

Petition?

Is anyone else prepared to help me this this please? With 350 signatures now with some help it's possible we might be able to get up 1000?

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/give-welsh-salmon-and-sea-trout-a-chance

Petition!

Save our fishing and sign my Petition!

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/give-welsh-salmon-and-sea-trout-a-chance

End of Season Report!

What a bloody frustrating season this has been? My season started off well with a 10lb sea trout but then nose dived from there onwards! Regardless of what other anglers may say there were very few fish about throughout the season. I think the water conditions were generally good with a number of good flushes during the season but for some strange reason very few fish seemed to come in with them. I fished harder this season than any other ever yet only caught 6 fish! So what now? Well next year I'm definitely going to do more sea bass fishing down in Pembrokeshire. As far as the sea trout are concerned then the jury is out on that one I'm afraid! Have a nice Christmas everyone!

River Towy Sea Trout Catch Statistics

Interestingly it was around about 1987 that I started sea trout fishing on the Towy and from the graph it appears that catch rates were at that time about at their peak! But more interesting than that for me is that catch rates today are apparently similar to the mid seventies?

Where are the sea trout?

I haven't posted here for a month or two because frankly I haven't had anything to report! To date I have managed 6 fish, the biggest 10lb but most around the 1.5lb mark! The last 7 or so outings I haven't even seen a fish let alone catch one! I don't remember anything as bad as this in the 30 years I have fished at Llangadog and I'm not alone! Many local anglers have only had the odd fish from what I'm told. Anyway on a more positive note I'm going to try for sea bass on the fly in Pembrokeshire over the next couple of weeks if the weather will allow so I'll keep you posted!

3 nights on the river with Rod but only 1 fish between us!

Just returned from Llangadog after fishing for 3 nights with Rodney Byles! A few nice fish were showing but all I could muster was a sea trout of about 1.5lbs!

3 nights bring 2 fish and 1 lost!

Spent 3 nights on the river in perfect fishing conditions, warm and still. Lost a good size fish which buried itself in a big clump of weed leaving me with the weed! But I did manage to get a 3lb and a 1.5lb fish both of which were silver and both returned safely. That brings my tally to 4 so far! There are a few fish about now and I saw a couple of big fish jump but didn't want to know my flies. Funnily I met a fellow angler who works for the NRW and when I mentioned to him about the gravel extraction which could ultimately destroy the bottom half of our beat all he could say was 'nobody's got the stomach to do anything about it'! Great - so what does the NRW do? Fuck all it seems to me! Best thing we could all do is to refuse to buy a licence again in my view!

Where have all the fish gone?

Having fished hard for 3 nights this week I could only manage 1 small sea trout of 1.5 lb and a small brown trout! Is it that there aren't any fish around or is it that they are there but don't want to know? Even more disturbing that despite the weather being generally mild and overcast I didn't see a single fish jump or hear any surface activity in a total of 15 or more hours on the river! From my records July is the best month for sea trout by far but this season is looking very doubtful on that score. I feel that I fished very well. I threw long straight lines and fished very carefully all the way down the flats; below the hedge and in my pool but to no avail. Is this unusual? My memory is terrible but probably not! I'm just hoping and praying that fish start running very soon so that we can all enjoy a little sport on the river this season!

3 nights on the river and 2 double figure fish + a 3 lber!

Rod and I spent 3 nights fishing this week. Thursday night was lovely and warm and I kicked things off with a 10 lb sea trout and then later Rod caught a similar size fish! Friday was cold but Saturday not quite so bad and Rod got a 3 lb sea trout for his efforts!

2 nights fishing but no fish!

I spent 2 nights fishing over the weekend. Sunday night was a perfect night for fishing. It was mild, still and fairly dark. I worked very hard for about 5 hours in the hope of picking up a running fish but I didn't see any fish or hear anything that would lead me to believe that there were any running fish. Sunday morning I bumped into Lance who was fishing the Car Park Pool. He told me he had lost a double figure fish on the fly in the pool at about 10.00 am! Sandy believed that he had seen a group of large fish near the Cattle Drink a few days earlier. My theory is that these reported fish were probably salmon. It would not surprise me if we see a significant increase in salmon runs as a result of the stocking programme that ended a few years ago!

One disappointing feature of our river this season is the reduction in width of my pool and the hedge pool around the corner on the bend at the bottom of our water! The pool has reduced in width this season by a couple of yards and could be as a result of the 2nd river flow which must impact on the volume of water flowing down the main river. The 3rd river once it starts operating will destroy my and other peoples favourite pools all because of the actions of one farmer!

Hanging on to the wrong end?

How many of you have done this I wonder?

Wading up to my waist last night my reel spool seemed to get jammed for some strange reason? I removed it and inspected it with my torch on red but couldn't see anything wrong. I put it back on but still it wouldn't turn. The second time I took it off I dropped it! Shit! There was no way I could reach down in 4ft of water and I was stood in a very wide section of the river so the bank was a long way away. To retrieve it I had to painstakingly draw all the line and backing off the reel before I could get the spool to the surface! Good job no one was watching!

Water perfect but no luck on my first night of this trip!

Last night was looking hopeful especially as Sandy had told me earlier that he had seen 4 fish near the Cattle Drink and a 5lb fish jump in Crewel! I fished till 2.00am and the temperature had dropped to 6 deg. The water was clear and at a good level but I didn't get any offers or see any fish. With heavy showers this morning I'm hoping that the river remains clear for tonight!

Rise in water level?

A smallish rise in water level may get the fishing off to a start? It may be worth checking the water level regularly by using the link on the right side bar of this page!

My first trip of 2017 reinforces my passion for the sport!

It been a long long winter but now it seems summer is coming and my attention is turning to allotments and sea trout fishing! They are both hard work and frequently end in disappointment but I guess it's the challenge that spurs me on.

I've been fishing the Towy at Llangadog for over 30 years I think? I say 'I think' because following a quadruple heart by-pass 10 years ago I was left with a very poor long term memory! I can remember many of the exciting and funny experiences that I had with my pals John and Rod over the years but I can't remember the dates or times. One thing for sure though is that I will never forget the pleasure that I have had fly fishing for sea trout at night on the River Towy at Llangadog!

Having completed the required maintenance and cleaning of my fishing tackle over recent weeks I thought I was ready for my first trip. Little did I know that the felt sole on one of my wader boots was about to come free from the toe to the arch of my foot and start flapping about as I walked! It's not easy to walk through long grass with a flapping sole believe me! Having arrived on the river my attention turned to how I might remove this offending sole. I tried an elastic band first to hold it in place but that only worked for about 2 minutes! There seemed only one solution! It had to be cut off! It took some hacking off with my blunt knife ( I must remember to sharpen it) but eventually I succeeded.

The night was mild and dry and was free from the blustery wind that had plagued us for many days. I met up with Tim Wilkinson who I hadn't seen for a few seasons so it was nice to catch up with him on everything while we were tackling up and waiting for dark. I put on a floating line and a shortish leader of about 6ft. Fly choice was my usual one - Secret Weapon / flying treble style with black and peacock wing and silver body. The water was running clear and despite being quite low the fly still came round at a reasonable pace! During every cast I felt that I would get a pull. The conditions just seemed right. My fishing method is to keep moving so I will fish through a pool and then go off to another one but then keep returning to each pool in rotation. The reason I do this is because the lower beat of the Llangadog water, below Crewel Pool, in my view doesn't hold fish for any great length of time so it's best to keep moving from pool to pool in the hope of picking up a running fish.

I fished for about 3 hours - I would have stayed longer but I had to return home for a family Sunday lunch. I didn't get any pulls or see any fish but I found the trip enjoyable and worthwhile in that it was useful to see the river and the changes that have taken place over the winter. I can't wait till my next trip which will follow a flood hopefully fairly soon!

One thing that I find very annoying is the way that humans abuse their natural environment! The piece of polystyrene is lilo size and about 100mm thick! I would love to know which arshole chucked that in the river! Also and I've mentioned this many times before and so as fellow angler Rodney Byles but no one seems prepared to do anything about it, I am now convinced that we will soon loose some of the best pools on the lower beat of the Llangadog water due to the actions of one farmer! We already have 2 rivers at normal water levels but it's only a matter of time before we have 3 but neither the Club or the EA appear to want to do anything about it. Surely the Club officials could speak to the offending farmer and convince him of the error of his ways? Once we loose this section of the beat I and many other anglers will probably leave the Club leaving it in an even more precarious position! Sad!

The New Season is almost here!

I'm getting my gear ready this weekend for my first trip to the Towy! Sorting out all those flies and cleaning my lines. Also giving my reels a good clean and lubrication. New torch batteries. New wader studs. That's about it I think! If the water is down and it's mild then I'm hoping to go next week! Can't wait!