Written By: Dr Stephen Marsh Smith
On Date: 13/2/2018
The start of the new salmon and trout season is a little over four weeks away. Despite February being a shorter month, it sometimes feels the longest! However, this is probably the case for everyone, not just those of us waiting to make our first cast of the year.
When 3rd March finally arrives, we have some exciting new water for trout anglers to try in the Fishing Passport. Four beats of the river Tawe and Twrch that are owned by Tawe & Tributaries Angling Association are now open for day tickets. The Tawe has been rejuvenated since the end of its industrial past and is now a fantastic trout river with some good runs of salmon and sewin too.
Season Rods
There are also some great season rod opportunities still available for 2018. If you prefer to have a fixed set day per week for your fishing, the renowned Llanover Fishery on the middle Usk has availability on Mondays, Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Further upstream on the Usk, the Breconshire Fishery also has availability, as does Merthyr Tydfil AA and Crickhowell and District AA, both of whom have spaces for new members (if you are interested in becoming a member of either, please contact the clubs directly).
Meanwhile, on the Wye there are season rod opportunities at several fisheries. On the upper river, Gromain/Llanstephan/Rectory still has a couple of places while Ty-Newydd, the beat immediately upstream, is also starting up a season rod on a similar basis in 2018. Further upstream, Cefnllysgwynne on the Irfon has both salmon & trout and winter grayling options. On the lower Wye, Wyebank & Courtfield is again running a spring salmon season rod and lastly, the famous Wyesham fishery has a few vacancies for both half and full rods.
Apart from Wyesham, all the Wye fisheries operate on a flexible basis meaning that season rods fish any day of the week. For more details on these season rods, please see here or contact us on 01874 712 074.
Charles Farlow Trophy
Congratulations to Terry Ward, who won the Charles Farlow Trophy for the largest fly caught fish in England and Wales in 2017. His fish of 46", estimated at well over 35lb, came from The Cow Pond on 16th March. Terry was presented with his trophy at Sportfish yesterday, along with a hefty but beautifully engraved bottle of sloe gin. Anyone catching a large salmon in 2018 can see here for entry details. The Wye in spring could offer you your best opportunity to win!
February....
Forecasters are telling us that February will be a cold one, which is music to the ears of Wye pike anglers who have less than perfect conditions recently. This winter has been a wet one with grayling anglers also struggling in the high levels. A cold, dry spell will be just what's required to round off the coarse fishing season before the close on March 14th.
Fishing the Twrch, a tributary of the Tawe. Day tickets on two beats on this river and two on two beats of the Tawe are now available.
Stephen Marsh-Smith OBE awards Terry Ward the Charles Farlow Trophy (along with a huge bottle of sloe gin) for the biggest fly-caught salmon in England and Wales in 2017.
The second avian predator count on the Wye will take place this Saturday, 3rd February.
In the meantime, there will be another avian predator count on the Wye this Saturday (3th Feb). It is important that as much of the river is covered as possible so that an accurate assessment is made. For more information, including the recording forms, please see here.
Finally, this year our Fishing Passport brochure will be a digital publication, which we hope to have ready by mid-February. We're sorry that the hard copy won't be landing on doormats anymore but technology and postage charges have caught up with us!
All the best from WUF.
Details of our Projects can be found here.
Click here for anglers' reports and here for monthly fishing reports.
For details of WUF's Consultations, Click here.
EA Emergency Hotline: 0800 80 70 60 NRW Emergency Hotline: 0300 065 3000
Dwr Cymru/Welsh Water Emergency Sewage Line: 0800 085 3968
Rainfall at Llanstephan 2018 to date: 5.5" ('17: 34" '16 : 35" '15: 28", '14: 54", '13: 39", '12: 47", '11: 29")
Bookings and availability Tel: 01874 712 074
New Fishing Passport Beats, Season Rods and FEBs Thursday 1st February, 201