March 2025 Catch Report

At long last we have started to see an improvement in the weather and as a result, the fishing has started to pick up across all disciplines. Sea anglers across the UK have seen a massive improvement during march with the usual spring species making an appearance. Rays, spur dogs,eels and of course the plague of dogfish have all started to come on the feed, with plenty of fantastic reports from our local South Wales coastline. We have also had some rare and spectacular catches this month! The reports from coarse and carp anglers have been equally as promising with catches coming from across the UK. Finally, the Fly season is underway with plenty of keen anglers getting out on the rivers and of course, not forgetting the many still waters that are producing some quality rainbows. Enjoy our latest round up below:

Sea Fishing

Before we get into the usual species we have a rather special report, particularlarly from the South Wales Coast. Whilst fishing a local venue, Wayne James landed what is certainly the fish of a lifetime, this stunning 18lb 8oz blue skate. This is just the second report we have had

As it is alwayas the case, the sea fishing in general has improved dramatically with a rise in the temperature giving us a helping hand.

Our good friend Kaden Kopp has been getting amongst rays on some of his favourite marks around South Wales.

“Stunning days fishing today over low water! That beach is something else the views the scenery just everything about it. which i think a lot of us take for granted personally i think we have one of the nicest coastlines in the UK. Great days fishing with Josh Clark beat the blank will let Josh do his own post for his catch. Despite the fishing is still quite slow in the channel but today even if we both blanked was worth getting out for some of this beautiful scenery we have here in south wales! Also detoxed the mind and had a great days filming.”

Keep an eye out for some more sea fishing adventures from around South Wales on Kaden's Youtube channel!

https://www.youtube.com/@KadensFishingAdventures

As the weather improved, so did Kaden's sessions as he headed back down to one of his favourite beaches in search of some more rays:

“Few hours out over low water today for a chilled session without the camera back down monknash resulted in these two beautiful Small Eyed Rays with one of them beating my PB and going 9.4lb few dogfish thrown in the mix was nice to get a few bites and catch a few fish! & also clear the mind. Good to catch up with the lads as always and my dad! Hope everyone has a wicked weekend."

The ray fishing on the English side of the channel has also been on the up recently. Marks such Brean Sands have been throwing up plenty of Thornbacks. Check out this quality thorny caught by Dai Llewellyn, who made the trip over to Brean from South Wales.

After a succesful trip over the bridge, Dai returned to home turf in the hunt for some bites and it's fair to say, he did just that! Dai headed for one of Wales more convenient marks, Penarth beach in search of a big fish or two, despite the squiet reports at the time. With this ebing said,  If anyone is going to pull something special out from the South Wales Coast, Dai is your man. Click the link below to see what he caught, we are pretty sure you can guess.

The Spur dogs are still around, with boat anglers finding big packs of them up and down the Welsh and English coast. WHite Water Charter, skippered by Andrew Alsop is one of the boats that have been finding plenty of spurs, amongst a list of other species in the Bristol Channel.

"SWSA BOAT TRIP 23RD OF MARCH ON WHITEWATER CHARTERS .

The lads had another cracking trip down channel onboard White water charter skippered by Andrew Alsop , two cracking trips in a row now for the lads. Unfortunately I missed the trip due to being ill all that night before ,only the second trip I've missed in 20 years . But spurs ,hounds, congers, blonde rays, small eyed rays and dogs made up the bags.

The boat pool for a15 lb spur went to Shane Boxall well done mate . Huge thanks to Andrew who for donating two places to our open last October and taking the winners of that prize Nicholas fender and his Father out on a trip they will remember for a while . As Always the lads had some great banter ,plenty of fish and slept well that night."

SWSA also hosted their monthly shore competition on Saturday 29th and it was great to hear of some fish being caught, making for an interesting match. This month the SWSA Gang headed for marks between Marcross and the Ogmore River Mouth, with Gareth Swensson reporting the following:

"SWSA's club comp today with 15 members and 3 non members fishing from marcross to ogmore river. Cracking day with light winds and sun came out to play..

Plenty of fish caught from dogs, spotted & smalleye rays, Congers, pouting, rockling.

1st was non members gareth jones with a good mixed bag of dogs & conger for 25 points and 6.46cm.

2nd was Roy Tapper with a good mixed bag of Congers, dogs, spotted ray for 21 points and 384cm given him 20 SWSA points.

3rd was Lee Williams with a good mixed bag of dogs, smalleye rays for 20 points and 310cm given him 15 SWSA points.

4th was Lee Jones with a good mixed bag of Congers, dogs, smalleye rays for 17 points and 304cm. Given him 10 SWSA points.

Gareth Bryne also picked up 4th in the SWSA points with a mixed of dogs and Rockling given him 5 SWSA points..

The side pool of the day was a spotted ray and was also won by Roy tapper with a 33cm. (w_w)

Also With a Cracking smalleye of the day from Christopher Butcher 60cm (w-w)

Next club comp is high water ogmore 19th April more details to follow .

Thanks to all that attended,

Welcome new members and non members."

Nice to see our Garry Evans X Tronixpro bobble hats being put to good use as well!

At the tail end of March it was promising to see the first few smooth hounds being  caught from the shore! Every year, the first reports are often from around the Swansea area from marks such as The West Pier and Knab Rock, but some of our regulars have been picking up the odd hound further up the channel.

Andrew Davies had his first hound of the year from a mark just no further down than the Porthcawl, using our devon peeler crab on a short dongle rig. Whilst they hounds are few and far between, its definately worth putting one rod out on a crab bait, just in case one or two are passing bye.

Carp & Coarse Fishing

We are blessed to have some top quality anglers shopping with us at Garry Evans and it is always great to see them show casing their skills over the Bridge, on some of Englands top carp waters. James Dixon is definately one of these anglers, catching some stunning specimens this winter and in his latest session, he surpassed all of his expectations with ‘The Original Common’ at 43lb 10oz.

“A real relic of a creature and one of the last few old guard still about in the pit. With my shift patter time off coinciding with the run up to the full moon and the warmer spell of weather slowly coming to an end, I made the gruelling drive up! Everything fell into this trip with this being the best of 3 fish. I'm a firm believer that effort equals reward and with results like this of late it makes all those miles on the road worth while.”

March proved to be another great month for reports from the new generation of anglers, which certainly aren't afraid to risk the cold weather. Oakley and Noah, regular customers in our Newport shop are always coming into to stock up and tackle and show off their catch reports. tHEIR Enthusiastic reports often come from venues on the Newport angling ticket, including Morgan & Woodstock ponds. 

Take a look at these cracking photos from their most recent session, fishing spinner rigs and Mainline Pink ISO Fish. Some fantastic markings and colours on these carp!

The Syndicate waters around South Wales also appear to have switched on, with some awesome sessions being reported. The Wharf Fishery, one of Cardiff's premium carp waters has been fishing better than it has in months. 

Andy Neal, a well known figure in the coarse fishing world, put on a 3 round league on Cardiff East Dock (The Wharf). It is no secret that the fishing on the East Dock can prove to be extremely diffuclt during the colder months, but every angler that fishes this venue is fully aware of it's full potential. After a close opening match, the 2nd and 3rd legs both took place in March, with the title well up for grabs! Andy Neal put together some reports from Both legs:

“Round 2 of the epic East Dock league!

After the terrible weather of the week before it was lovely to see the sun finally.. unfortunately I had a sneaky suspicion this wasn’t going to be conducive to hours of arm aching action! Was conducive for plenty of runners though

Captain Tony Birt set the standard with an early 8oz skimmer!

An odd liner (probably from passing carps) kept hopes alive…

With ten minutes to go knowing everyone is still in the race is strangely reassuring then it happened…. Nothing! Nothing happened for anyone!

Well done captain who took the entire pools! That’s one valuable skimmer!

Saw roach pimp and cormorants eat a couple… yet nobody could catch a fish

A big fat NIL POIS for me

One round left… will we catch? Will someone shake the league and have a late charge for glory??

Stay tuned… and on the edge of your seats!!”

"Final round of the Cardiff East Dock league…

With so little caught it really was anyone’s game going into today.

I dearly hoped spring had sprung and if nothing else the longer day light hours would fire some life into the place… that said, frosts all week was sapping any enthusiasm.

Another shocking day and with 20’minutes left everyone, yes! Everyone! Was blanking!

A certain Mr Phil Bendall was nestled nicely up in C section and was the man I had tipped to get us a bite… Phil was always going to fish it hard and right up to the whistle. Just deserves were realised when with 15 minutes to go he had a pull to land a lovely 6lb fish… just incase that wasn’t enough he then slipped the net under another before the whistle to take full honours with 10lb 3oz. Very well done indeed as it’s hard to stay focused when it’s hard like that!

This of course catapulted him into the frame placings of the league.

1st Earl of Ebbw Vale 5pts 18lb

2nd Phil Bendall 5pts 10-3lb

3rd Tony Birt 5pts 8oz

My thanks to everyone for coming! It’s certainly been a tough few matches.

Please, can we now have some warmer weather… pretty please…"

Whilst juggling the East Dock series and work on one hand, Andy Neal has also found some down time to enjoy some fishing as well. One of Andy's favourite venues is the spectacular Llandegfedd.

Commercial waters around the UK have come to life recently, with Red hill fishery being one of those. Located close to Monmouth and the A40, Red hill is home to 4 well stocked coarse lakes where you can target a range of different species. One of our customers Jason sent in a report from his own personal experience at Redhill, just a few weeks ago:

“Been nagged all week by Seb to take him to Red Hill Fisheries near Monmouth. So we headed down there after a quick pit stop to into Garry Evans Tackle Newport for some tackle and well needed advice. The Boys both caught carp first cast on maggots on the float. I tried the method and eventually caught one. 21 fish between us. Biggest was my 4lb 6oz carp. “

The Pike season may have come to an end, but predator anglers have still been targeting big perch, with great success it would seem! Baits such as worm, prawn or small dead baits are often the go to baits for targeting Perch. When targeting the bigger perch, it is worth noting that they often sit closer to the bottom than small perch, so make sure you are presenting your chosen bait as deep as possible to avoid the wasps hammering your baits. 

Luke Gater, who you may recognise from our Fly or lure section in these reports, has been enjoying a spot of perch fishing himself. This old warrior fell for a small dead bait fished under an E-sox Bob float.

The Glamorgan Anglers club still waters also have a reputation for throwing up big Perch, with Treoes being the most popular venue. Our staff members here, such as Lloyd and Ryan have landed perch well over 3lb from this lake on both Lob worm and bits of prawn, both fished under a float. Brandon, a keen coarse angler has been enjoying his river fishing over the last 6-9 months, but with the close season now in full swing he has turned his attention to the Perch. 

It took Brandon a few sessions to get to grips with what he was doing, as it is expected when targeting a new species or trying a new water. With this being said, Brandons hard work paid off, after landing this beauty just as the light was starting to fade.

Fly Fishing

The 2025 river fly fishing season is finally here! Our local trout rivers opened on 3rd of March, and have been hard going at the start of the month due to cold nights and sunny days. That said fishing has picked up as we head to the end of the month. If we had a flush of rain then things would reeally kick into gear! 

Ceri Thomas of our fly shop has been out on the Taff recently, on Glamorgan Angling Club water, where a nice brown trout of 50cm obliged, by taking a dry March Brown pattern. The fish was in great condition for the time of year, weighing 2lb 13oz in the L Mcleans weigh net. 

Ceri has also been on the river Usk a couple of times, where some good fish have again fallen to dry flies or streamers when the going has been slow. A long leader has been essentail in the gin clear and low waters. 



Finally, the Beacons Reservoir on the A470 is now open, this has fished well for wild brown trout, despite the water levels being very low for the time of year. The venue holds plenty of eager fish in the 8oz to 1lb size, great fun pulling our selection of ‘flies for the lakes of Wales’ patterns through the gentle ripple.

With all the excitiement of the river season, it's easy to forget about some of Wales' fantastic stocked still waters. Andy Smith is one of the many anglers that has been enjoying some great sport on Ynys Y Fro. Visiting the lakes in mid March, Andy had plenty of success on a team of Diawl Bachs fished on a washing line. 

Using his new Vision Stillmaniac and Rio Grand WF7 floating line, Andy had some cracking rainbows with his biggest going 6lb. Ynys Y Fro has some fantastic fly fishing available on its 10 acre and 16 acre lakes, which you can fish on either day or season tickets. Regurlary stocked with trout, Ynys Y Fro is definetely worth adding to your list of venues if you haven't already tried it!

The Glamorgan anglers waters are surprisingly good for targeting Carp on the fly all year round, despite certain opinions that it only works during the summer.

Lure fishing

Is it time to start stocking up your lure gear for the season? Absolutely!

Down on the Pembrokeshire coast, things look to be on the up as the first solid reports of pollock, wrasse and the occassional bass have started to appear. Joe Shaw from Catch & Cook has kick started his 2025 campaign, putting his client on the fish during his first guided session of the year.

Andrew Hawkesely, our Newport store manager has sent us over some awesome snaps from his trip to the Seychelles, a location that he regularly takes customers to catch bucket fish species, mainly on the lure.On this trip, Andy had the pleasure of taking Sakura/sunset rep Nick Galloway with him, which of coure meant that there were plenty of lures, rods and other bits of tackle to be tested! Over the 12 days of fishing, the guys managed to land a list of impressive species from the shore, with the occassional boat trip thrown in. To target the bigger predators, Andy & co mainly used heavy metal jigs fished with strong assist hooks, providing maximum distance when casting, but also meaning that the lures sink through the water quickly, covering as much water as possible to try and find the fish. Species such as dog tooth tuna and Grouper (pictured below) certainly took a liking to the metal jigs, making for some fantastic sport on lure gear.

Llangorse lake has been showcasing it's potential, with the SWKA club recording plenty of fish during their opening competition of the season. 

"Well the 2025 Kayak Fishing Competition season has official started!

Celebrating our 13th year of competition at Llangorse Lake we saw 43 entrants registered and 37 on the water. LLangorse is a special place, not just for the fishing - its an amazing social event for our kayak fishing community. We started the day a little overcast and gusting, by just after lunchtime the wind had dropped to almost nothing and the sun made an appearance - a great day to be out on the water.

A huge congratulations to Mark Radcliffe for filling his card, he was able to upgrade his pike multiple times to win by an impressive 50cm - well done Mark!

1st - Mark Radcliffe

2nd - Nathan Evans

3rd - Jude Evans

4th - Martin Collison

A total of 68 Pike were recorded, although 110+ were caught, and 9 Perch were recorded. Largest being caught by Tiberiu Nica at 109cm - a lovely looking fish. Nathan Evans caught the largest Perch of the day at 46cm, a butter ball of a fish. A special mention to David Jacobs for regsietring his 3 Pike all over 90cms - 97, 91 and 91."

We hope you enjoyed our March 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!