With the improving weather conditions and the opening of the trout season, March delivered some awesome fishing for anglers of all disciplines. The rivers have been producing some fantastic fish from across Wales and the rest of the UK, despite the river levels being higher than desired at some stages. We have also started to see some of the summer species emerging such as smooth hounds!
Enjoy this months catch report below!
Fly Fishing
Ceri Thomas, who works in our fly shop and for Fishing in Wales has been out in the wild streams of the Brecon Beacons in the search of some brown trout, If you're looking for some new waters to try out, then enjoy the video below:
Luke Gater has also been out on the rivers with the target of catching some of the prettiest Brownies in the country! He chose to target some smaller streams throughout this session using a mixture of Euro Nymphing and dry fly approach.
The start of the season is also under way on a number of well established reservoirs in the Brecon Beacons, including Talybont, Beacons and Cantref, all of which can be accessed through various local angling clubs. A few of our staff are out on the water hoping for a few fish!
Take a look at this perfect specimen caught on the Airflo Superstik outfit in the 9' 6" #6/7 model, surrounded by some beautiful scenery.
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Carp & Coarse Fishing
The close season for coarse fishing on rivers across England and Wales starts from March the 14th, so lots of anglers are desperate to make the most of early march to squeeze in their last few sessions. The River Wye has produced some great barbel fishing, with stretches such as Hereford & Ross being popular areas to target them. The town strecth at Monmouth is free to fish and it can provide some fantastic fishing, not only for barbel but chub, Pike and trout also.
As we usually discover in these reports, the local carp waters around South Wales tend to fish fairly consistently throughout the year and this march has been no different.
Callum Woodward was treated to a red letter session on his Syndicate water, The Wharf Fishery. Some of the lakes bigger fish appear to be on the feed, including the magnificent 'Florence Fully' which tipped the scales 31lb 4oz.
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Rhian Bomber is a close friend of the shop and also runs Darran Park Lake, which means she is often on the bank catching fish. With some stunning carp now being stocked in the lake including a head of carp from the well known Farriers complex, Rhian has been showcasing some of the fantastic fish that can be caught at Darran Park by using a range of tactics whether it be on the float, surface fishing or using a range of boilies. If you are looking for a new water to try, It is definitely worth checking out Darran Park!
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Tench are a fantastic species to target especially during the spring and summer seasons, offering anglers a different challenge to the usual species such carp, bream and roach. A variety of baits can be used to target Tench with sweet corn and worm amongst the most affective. After 30 years of fly fishing Martyn Pitt decided to have another crack at coarse fishing, so after a visit to our Newport store to stock up pn tackle and advice he headed over to his local ponds for a few hours on the water. Amongst a hand ful of lovely fish on the feeder, this lovely tench was the highlight of the session.
Sea Fishing
We noticed that the Ray fishing improved from around mid february and has continued to improve ever since. The wind directions and cold snaps eased off which allowed lots of anglers to enjoy some good sport on the rays Take Mario Asprou for example, fish along his local coastline around South Wales he showed that most of the Ray species are around at the moment. The Knap fished well for Mario over low water which produced some cracking blondes around the mid double mark, just like the one pictured below. As a Brand ambassadeur for TronixPro, Mario is always out testing new products and trying new approaches.
With tides looking ideal for a trip to Witches Point, Mario then headed out for a catch up with a good friend with the hope of finding some spotted rays. throughout the session Mario and Ben landed 6 different species such as eels, dogfish and the target species spotted rays. The video below is packed full of useful information about rigs, tackle and much more.
There have also been some fantastic Thorn backs being caught on one of South Wales' most famous beaches, Cardiff Foreshore. For Robert Cole and John Fishlock this is their local mark which they have both fished since a young age, so if there are some fish around it's likely that they will find them. As the tides were building John and Rob headed out over high water, armed with a selection of our frozen baits. Although the fishing was slow to start, John hooked into a big female thorny (pictured right) which tip the scales at 12lb 1oz,which was closely followed by Rob's fish (pictured left) at just under 7lb. Both fish fell to a wrap of bluey and squid.
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Dai Llewellyn has been enjoying the small breaks he can get from his busy life as a rod builder, managing to sneak in some short sessions whenever he can. The tides and weather have been favourable for the popular mark that is Ogmore Deeps, so Dai headed out in search of a few bites and managed to record his session, which he has uploaded to his youtube channel full of advice on tackle, baiting up and also safety for this notorious venue.
The first reports of smooth hounds have been reported on the boats as well, seeing as the temperatures are relatively mild. Martyn Stallard has this lovely Hound on board Wayne Cook's Escape Charter, caught on our fresh Devon Peeler crab. Let's hope they appear in good numbers this summer to provide us with some great sport!
Down on the Pembrokeshire Coast it appears the fishing is also rather productive, especially as the weather starts to improve. The two Lloyds and their friend Iwan headed over to the St Davids area of the coast on Easter bank holiday Monday. Treated to a rare day of sunshine, the lads had plenty of action throughout the day using a mixture of jigs and bait techniques. Sadly the bass didn't show but the Pollock kept the Lloyds busy throughout the sessiosn. There were also some beautiful Wrasse caught, with rag worm or squid being the best choice of baits.
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There were some beautiful Wrasse caught, with rag worm or squid being the best choice of baits. The highlight of the day was definetly Iwan's Wrasse due to it's gorgeous colour and markings, which well to a rag worm bait presented just off the bottom and fished close in to a rocky feature on the flood of the tide. Those who have fished for Wrasse before will know that they are notorious for taking anglers straight into snags as soon as they take your bait, meaning you have to be on the ball when fishing for the aggressive predators. Using either circle hooks or an octopus are often a good hook choice which will provide you with good hook up rates, but will also mean that less fish are deep hooked.
We hope you enjoyed our March catch report,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.
For tips and advice, don't hesitate to get in touch and we will be more than happy to help!