Challenger leaves challengers trailing in his wake on Wye
THE South Wales Sea Anglers holiday competition attracted 54 anglers to brave the weather at Cardiff foreshore and Dan Paskell comfortably beat them all when he beached a 10lb thornback ray and added a cod.
His catch was rewarded with a Sonik SK4 rod, donated by Garry Evans Fishing Tackle and £80 pool money.
The Bob Redman Headlamp kit and £60 second pool payout went to Justin Bird, who caught one cod and it was also a single cod for Steve Roberts who collected a Sonik lure rod and £50 and also for Roy Tapper in fourth place and stepping up for a travel rod and £40.
Cardiff angler Justin Bird was runner up for the second time when he took part in the Gwent and District SAC competition at Aberthaw. This time he reeled in a ray, a cod and a dogfish to turn the scales to 3.16kg.
Two conger eels and a pouting put Ivor Smith, from Rogerstone, in second place with 2.14kg while one conger of 1.20kg was caught by third man Craig Maddox.
The year started badly for Penarth SAC when the 2oz rockling that Albert Smith caught from the pier was the only fish weighed in at the well attended first competition.
FIGURES released covering the 2017 salmon season on the River Wye and River Usk reveal that the annual catches were around 1,000 and 800 fish, with a high proportion caught towards the end of the season.
Merthyr Tydfil AA has also been checking out the salmon figures from the club’s three beats of the River Usk.
All fish were returned and 18 were caught on the Kemys beat; 11 on the Ysybytty beat and 10 from the Mardy water.
NATIONAL Fishing Month has proved a great way to introduce people of all ages to the sport since it was launched a few years ago, with free coaching sessions throughout the UK covering coarse, trout, salmon and sea fishing.
The month-long activities put the sport right in the public eye and now there are plans to unite anglers throughout the world and further raise the sport’s profile with a World Fishing Day half way through the year.
The Angling Trades Association and the Angling Trust plan to collaborate with Fishing TV on the project that will see the company partnering production companies across the world to broadcast 24 hours of live fishing.
The broadcast will follow the sun and angling action around the world and be anchored from a London based studio with a host of angling experts and celebrity guests presenting throughout the 24 hours.
A network of free fishing events will also take place globally on the same day with the dual objectives of encouraging people to get out fishing and introducing new people to the sport. THE flood-hit River Wye was still 6ft above normal level for the final Hereford Open of the season and the best pegs under those conditions were the ones immediately upstream of the road bridge.
Martin Challenger, from Cwmbran, pulled one of them – peg 91– out of the draw bag and turned it into a winner by catching 26lb 10oz of dace and small chub on stick float and maggots.
Blackwood angler Tony Birt was even closer to the bridge on peg 92 and he caught most of his second best 20lb 8oz of dace and chub on feeder tackle.
Clive Branson, from Cardiff, was the other South Wales angler collecting prize money after winning his section with 11lb 1oz.
A freezing north wind really hit the catches when the second match in the Newport Winter Series took place on School Pool and just 8lb 5oz was enough to win.
The angler with that catch was Chris Murphy, from Bargoed, who used pole tackle at peg 61 in the back bay.
Risca anglers Jeff Parfitt and Darrell Barnes filled the next two places with a feeder caught 8lb and 7lb 4oz on pole and pellets.
The third match in the series is from 10am to 3pm at School Pool on Sunday and moves to Woodstock Pond on Sunday, January 28.
Bob Giles, from Cefn Fforest, started the year with a win when he fished the Sunday open at Redhill Fishery. The cold wind was so strong that handling long carbon poles was almost impossible and he relied on leger tackle to catch 83lb of carp from peg 15 on Molly’s Pond.
Pontllanfraith tackle dealer Howard Green also quickly switched to leger tackle at his peg on Sophie’s Pond and that brought him 51lb of carp for second place and it was also the same float less approach that was responsible for the 42lb that gave third prize to Adam Jones.
Tredegar anglers picked up the first three prizes in the Wednesday open at Redhill Fishery.
Arron Williams turned peg 6 on Sophie’s Pond into a winner by catching 72lb 12oz of carp; second placed Dave Evans weighed in 69lb and Mike Yandle was third with 40lb.
Alan Godrich started 2018 where he left off last year by winning the mid week open on The Pit Lake at White Springs. His 55lb 10oz of carp was too good for Merthyr competitors Paddy Payne and Paul Davies who filled the next two places with 38lb and 25lb 12oz.
Godrich was in the money again in the Saturday open on the Match Lake; but this time he was third with 35lb 8oz of carp and bream.
Andy Rogers was runner up with 48lb 4oz and first prize went to Dick Brunton who had a mixture of carp and bream that weighed 52lb 15oz.
Ron Gibbs, from Caerphilly, did best on a bitterly cold day at Cefn Mably Lakes when he caught 63lb of carp in the Sunday open match. Cwmbran competitor Gareth Gronow finished second with 47lb and Cardiff’s Lee Pesticcio third with 41lb.
Barry husband and wife Martyn and Clare Giddy were the top two for the second week at Treoes Pond when Glamorgan AC kicked off the winter series.
This time it was Martyn who won with 31lb 9oz of bream to 2lb caught on a method feeder. Clare was two pegs away and fished the same way for 19lb 11oz while Jim Palmer, from Rhiwbina, used a small swimfeeder to finish in third place with 11lb 8oz.
It was a bitterly cold day when Rhymney AS held a match at Port Talbot Docks but everybody caught fish and Andrew Jones, from Fochriw, netted a 3lb bream and added smaller fish to build up the winning weight of 11lb 6oz.
That catch came to feeder tackle but runner up Brian Rees used a whip with
maggots on the hook to come second with 7lb 14oz of roach and small bream ahead of David Jones with another small fish catch that weighed 6lb 4oz.
Carp weighing well into double figures made up some respectable top weights in the chilly open match on the motorway lake at Mathern Mill.
Sean Wilson, from Trethomas, legered maggots for his winning 108lb 13oz and that was also the way that Cwmbran angler Rob Skellett made it to second place with 59lb 13oz and Craig Challingsworth caught the third best weight of 56lb 10oz.
Fish other than carp were in short supply and Ryan Morgan collected the silver fish pool money with a few roach weighing 3lb 6oz.
Ebbw Vale match angler Ian Swanson has paid another profitable visit to the Midlands commercial fisheries; this time to Manor Farm near Evesham where his 41lb 10oz of carp sent him back home with the third prize money in his pocket.
Chepstow angling coach Martyn Cattermole showed he knows his stuff during the recent pike fishing days on Chew Reservoir when he used a mackerel dead bait to catch a monster pike that weighed 36.5lb.
Ely anglers Johnathon Huxtable and brothers Nick and Sean Murray found the carp on a cold day at Warren Mill and banked fish to 13lb.
Joe Rosser, from Rhoose, used pop up boilies to catch four carp to 16.5lb while after losing half a dozen fish when they slipped the hook Nathan Davies managed to steer a 13.5lb carp into the landing net.
Adam Spear, from Barry, caught four carp to 13lb and four bream to 4.5lb when he baited with sweetcorn and Paul Grist used boilies to catch six carp between 10lb and 15.5lb on one visit and then eight carp to 13.5lb when he came back later in the week.
Float fished maggots did the trick for Ponthir angler Paul Lockman when he tried Wagtail Pool at Lower Pen y Clawd Farm and caught 60lb of small carp.
Gareth Gronow, from Cwmbran, took a break from match fishing to visit Trefaldu Fishery and catch nearly 40lb of small carp and bream from Willow Lake.
Steve Thomas went for the roach with float fished maggots and ended with 18lb in his keepnet.