February 2025 Catch Report

Another month of gloomy weather was refelcted in a relatively slow month of catch reports for February 2025. But as always, we received some fantastic reports from a list of different anglers, with both salt water and fresh water anglers contributing. As we write this, the sunshine has started to appear and the temperatures are on the rise, summer is just around the corner!

Sea Fishing

The fishing does appear to be improving on the Charter Boats, with lots of species being caught on a load of different boats. Spur dogs in particular have been keeping anglers entertained, a species that can only be targeted for a short period during the winter and early spring. White Water Charters skippered by Andrew Alsop is one of the many boats that have been getting their customers amongst the fish. On their monthly boat Trip, Robert Cole and the SWSA lads had an aqwesome day out with non-stop rod bending action from the first to the last cast. This is was Rob had to say about the trip.

"Well where do I start an absolute pearler of a day fish on the first drop right until the end, I think there's going to be a few saw arms in the morning.

Huss , big spurs congers rays dogs made up the bags for the lads today. Well done to some boys on there PBS cheers Andrew from White Water Charters for putting us on the fish. At some points there were 4 and 5 hook ups all at the same time .

My self having over 30 fish in the doubles plus dogs is an example of how many fish each of the 8 lads had . Cracking banter as always lovely hot food and soup keeping the lads pumping away at the fish all day. Here's are just a few pictures of the fish caught, in the end the boys were tea barring fish of at the side of the boat.

Cheers for the book Terry Theobald and well done for winning the boat pool.

Out with Shane Boxall Luke Boxall Gareth Swensson David Phillips Anthony Cole Liam Davies

It's been promising to see some fish being caught in competitions as well, which is always tricky to do during the early months of the year. Newport & District club held a match at Llantwit Major on Sunday 16th, with plenty of small fish being weighed, with rockling, pouting and eels being the main targets, here's what the club had to report post match:

“Stevie Roberts 1.08 kg 1conger 2rockling

2nd Roy Tapper 0.80 kg 5 rockling

3rd Daniel Bridle 0.62kg 1 pouting 2rockling

Good turnout of members for this popular match venue and thanks to Ryan Lee Davis for sorting the match out.

Well done Mr nice guy himself Stevie Roberts on winning a hat trick of matches. So on to the next. T.H.”

Scratching was also the best to get amongst the points during the SWSA's Barry Rover, on sunday 9th of February. Small baits on small hooks proved to be the best way of picking out the different species thatw ere on the feed such as pouting, eels and rockling. Lee Jones, pictured below was one of the anglers who managed to pick out a few of these fish to get himself amongst the points. 

They have been few and far between since the start of 2025, but it's been nice to see a big conger being caught from the shore every now and then, just like the one pictured below.

Drae caught this lump of an eel whilst fishing with his friends on popular South Wales rock mark. The fish, which was well into double figures, took a squid and anchovy wrap fished at a elatively close distance. During the same session, Drae and his friend also landed a nice bull huss and a thornback ray using a selection of our frozen baits.

The various ray species that inhabit the South Wales Coast line have also started to appear in small numbers. Amongst the dogfish festation, Andrew Davies had this lovely little spotted from one of his favourite low water marks. Unwashed quid and Anchovy is Andrews favourite bait at the moment for the rays, although our new Large B grade Sandeels have been doing the business as well.

Carp & Coarse Fishing

The Glamorgan anglers lakes may not be as productive right now as they are during the warmer months, but there are still a few fish coming out. Small method feeders are proving to be an affective way to find the carp. Harrison

Linear Fisheries, the popular Oxford based Carp complex has been producing some decent fish in recent weeks, despite the unfavourable conditions. For our regular customer James Honey, his trip to Linears BI Lake was session to remember, fishing next to the legendary Tom Maker.

"Well linear at this time of year was never going to be easy..jumped on a slow and very quiet b1 after seeing alot of birds sat up the top end in the deep water had me thinking the carp are there also... I weren't wrong with them sat in numbers 1 peg up from me which when Mr maker turned up he also found and felt them sat in numbers at range so very confident few bites was there to have the rods went out.. Tom had 2 not long after the rods went out which pushed them around a little which resulted in me having a slow and plodding take early morning... not every day you get to do a 24hr beside Tom maker so having this opportunity was session in a life time."
 

Another venue over the Bridge that has been fishing well is Coking Farm, which we have featured in a selection of our previous reports. The complex, which consists of 10 well stocked lakes has cemented itself as one of the best carp fisheries in the South West of England, holding carp over th mighty 40lb mark.

Whenever there is a chance to help the angling community in any way then we are always happy to get behind it, so when we heard about our customer Kurt Jennings new ‘Hook & Learn’ inniatitve,  we were more than happy to give his page a helping hand to start up. Kurt will be providing personal fishing tutorials for beginners, here's what it's all about:

"I have started Hook&Learn to share my love for fishing and make it easier for beginners to get started. Fishing can seem intimidating at first, but with the right guidance, it’s a fun and rewarding experience. My goal is to teach beginners the basics of fishing, from techniques to understanding the gear, while helping them build confidence and enjoy the process. To make it even easier, I provide all of the equipment needed, so all you have to do is show up ready to learn. Hook&Learn is all about creating a welcoming environment where anyone can learn, connect with nature, and discover the joy of fishing.

If this is something you are interested in the please contact me via instagram at Hook_and_learn."

Tuitons are already underway, with Kurt's first client finding some success straight away.

"It was great to have Sam join myself today for his first experience at Hook&Learn.

Although Sam had little fishing experience, He was eager to try float fishing for the first time. With quick reactions, he struck as soon as the float went under, successfully landing his first roach.

Well done, Sam – cracking effort! "

The Grayling fishing on the Rivers around South Wales has continued in fantastic form, with Rivers like the Taff producing more fantastic sport on the stick float for our anglers.

Usually when we get a report from Max & Benny Worsey it involves rays, hounds and other sea fishing species, but with the sea fishing relatively quiet they decided to change it up a little!

After a swift visit to our Cardiff shop to brush up on their tackle & tactics, The dynamic duo headed down to the Taff to target the Grayling. 

After a short demo from Benny, Max took over and landed 7 grayling and discovered his Waders are very good at collecting water!

Great angling Max, you’ve earnt a new pair of waders for sure.

We have been thrilled to see numerous Pike reports coming in throughout February. Not only have we been encouraged by the amount of reports, but we have enjoyed reading about a long list of venues that have been producing some quality predators, particualrly on dead baits. 

Up there with some of the prettiest Pike we have seen have come from St Y Nyll Pond, one of the Glamorgan Anglers still waters. It's not just the pike, but other species in St Y Nyll are often really dark with stunning markings, thanks to the surroundings of their wild habitat. As it was their first session on this water, Dave and Rhian (Pictured below) took some time to work this new location, but it didn't take them long to get a fish each on the bank. Whilst Dave chopped and changed with different baits to find his first fish, Rhian kept vedry active by moving swims every hour or so to try and land on the fish. 

It's fair to say both tactics worked, with Rhian landing her first fish on her third peg. Dave on the other hand, The fish pictured below (right) fell for a drifted sardine head, using circle hooks just off the bottom.

For Luke Gater, it was Croc O'clock the whole way through February, as he got amongst plenty of quality pike during numerous sessions. As it is his last chance to catch them before the start of the river fly season, Luke went out with a bang! Despite plenty of still water sessions, it was the rivers that produced some of his best fish to date, just like the one photo's below.

With a break in the weather and the conditions looking good, Luke headed down to a lcoal river and christened his new Westin W2 spinning rod with this River Monster, which couldn't resist the Rapala X-Rap Otus!

The Somerset Levels have also been fishing quiet well, with Luke capturing some awesome footage from there in recent sessions.

"A fun day out with some cool footage searching the the Somerset levels lure fishing for pike its a vast area of marshland, and wetlands full of wildlife. The Somerset Levels are primarily drained by the rivers Axe, Brue, Huntspill, Parrett, Tone, and Yeo, alongside the significant artificial channel known as the King's Sedgemoor Drain, making a total of seven main drainage outlets flowing through the Levels area and they are all stuffed with pike!!!!"

We hope you enjoyed our February report for 2025, to be featured in next months catch report, feel free to send in your catch reports with a brief description to our email or in the comments section for this blog. Make sure to keep yourself up to date on our social media platforms for daily content on Facebook and Instagram.

For tips, advice and tackle information, don't hesitate to get in touch and we will be more than happy to help!