Monday 28th July 2008

The big news this week has been the opening of Waycock, the top trout lake, to coarse anglers with spectacular results. The biggest fish caught so far has been a common of just under 27lb with scores of fish in the 10-20lb class, and we are sure there are bigger fish to come. As an experiment, we are allowing ten anglers a day to fish two rods on the lake for £10. There is no booking so its first come first served, and we'll keep the lake open for a few weeks and then review the position. The fishing has been astounding, with surface baits working best, particularly bread. Sweetcorn has also proved successful. These fish have never been caught before and are in immaculate condition.     The other coarse lakes are fishing well with the reliable Reservoir turning in great bags of carp and tench. With the warmer weather, surface tactics are paying off and it shouldn't be too long before we see a big grass carp on the bank.     Ring the Fishery on 20595929 for more information.  

Monday 21st July 2008

Coarse fishing is dominating the activity at Dyffryn at the moment with all lakes fishing well and some excellent bags reported from both the Reservoir and Match Lakes. Jamie Evans from Cardiff fished floating crust alongside the rushes in the small match lake and caught 23 carp from 3 to 10lb. Newport angler Rob Walker fished corn and meat on the match lakes and landed over 100lb of carp and silver fish. On the Reservoir, Terry Fleming of Cardiff took a 20lb common on a dog biscuit and Dave Cushman of Rhondda had seven carp ton 20lb on bread. Trout fishing is challenging although feeding fish are in evidence particularly on Goldsland towards the end of the day. Best fish this week was a 7lb rainbow from Waycock which fell to Caerphilly angler Jim Rees' black buzzer. 

Monday 14th July 2008

With some appalling weather over the last week angler numbers have been down but the coarse lakes have continued to fish well with the Reservoir as usual coming out on top. Steve Jones of Cardiff had a brace of almost identical commons weighing around 18lb fishing sweetcorn and Toby Norris of Newport used the same bait to land tench to 6lb near the pump. John Jones of Edwardsville included some fine ide to around 3.5lb in his mixed bag taken with float fished maggot, and on the match lakes Dave and Darren Nolan of Cardiff landed around 80lb of carp and silver fish between them.        Trout fishing has been frustrating with loads of fish feeding in the early evenings, but not many falling to the fly. Charlie Thomas had a brace to around 5lb fishing small dries to rising fish on Goldsland, and on Waycock the best fish of the week was Ian Evans' of Cwmbran 6lb rainbow taken on a viva.            The Salmon and Trout Association are holding a River Fly Fishing Day for youngsters on the Usk this Saturday, and there are a few places left. For details contact Mat Holloway on 07740 869620.

Monday 7th July 2008

Some good trout have been taken this week and there has been plenty of surface activity although surprisingly few anglers are trying dry patterns. Tony Walker of Cardiff landed a rainbow of 5.2lb from Waycock on an orange nymph, and Steve James of Pembrokeshire took one of just under 5lb on a fritz. On Goldsland, Neil Smith from Cardiff took five to 6lb in his catch and release session, all on drifted buzzers. There have been good buzzer hatches during the day. Coarse fishing is excellent. On the Reservoir, Phil Harcourt of Pontypridd landed commons to 25lb and a nice mirror of around 18lb, and plenty more in the 8-12lb range. John Noble of Newport concentrated on the perch and was rewarded with a fish of 3.1 lb fishing lobworm near the lilies.

Monday 30th June 2008

Once again coarse fishing dominates the headlines with most anglers reporting excellent bags, particularly from the Reservoir. Fish of the week was probably a roach of 2.4lb caught by Steve Walker from Cardiff on float fished maggot. Bill Newbold from Cardiff included bream to just under 7lb and ide and roach to around 2lb in his bag, and Mick Jones from Newport took a 23lb common from the surface on bread. Bread often works as well if not better than many of the expensive proprietary baits. On the match lakes, Gary Phillips of Cwmbran included carp to 13lb in his 120lb bag and Dave Thomas of Cardiff had 63lb of mixed silvers on maggot and hemp.

Trout fishing has been steady with Thaw fishing particularly well and anglers fishing small imitative patterns doing best on the other lakes. 

Monday 23rd June 2008

Another great week for the coarse boys with some exceptional bags from all three lakes. Some good tench have been showing in the Reservoir with a few around the 6lb mark. Mike Rogers of Newport had one just under 6lb on sweetcorn by the Island and Steve Martin of Cardiff had a fish of 5.9lb on worm from a peg near the pump. Ian Jones of Cardiff landed a 26lb mirror after a 25 minute fight. The fish took floating crust near the island on one of the rare sunny days we have had this week. On the match lakes Mr McMullen put together a 40lb bag on meat and bread, and 15 year old Darren Ellis from Caerphilly included carp to 15lb in his 120lb bag. Trout fishing is not easy but Joe Thomas from Cardiff landed five to 6lb in his catch and release session, but needed to fish size 16 and below to entice the fish. Thaw has produced fish to bait, spinner and fly.

Monday 16th June 2008

Coarse fishing is dominating at the moment with some terrific bags being taken on both Reservoir and Match Lakes. John Dawson from Cardiff took three carp averaging around 19lb when he fished bread on the surface of the Reservoir on a very hot day, whilst Mike Andrews of Bridgend landed one of nearly 25lb on dog biscuit. The grass carp are very visible but not easy to tempt, although Tony West from Newport had one on for around 20 minutes before his hook bent out. Tench fishing is excellent, with Joe Owen of Cowbridge landing fish to 6lb when he float-fished corn by the lily pads. On the match lakes, good double figure bags are being put together very easily and some nice carp are showing up; Steve Jones of Cardiff landed a 12lb common which took a single maggot on a size 18.     Plenty of trout are showing and small imitative patterns are working best. Charlie Parish of Cardiff fished size 20 klinkhammers to land and return eight rainbows to 7lb in his catch and release session, and Mike Ellis took a 9lb rainbow from Waycock on an epoxy buzzer.

Monday  2nd June 2008

Coarse fishing is terrific at the moment with the carp feeding well and some really excellent bags reported. Tony Walker from Cardiff fished bread on the surface of the Reservoir during a sunny spell and landed eight carp to around 25lb, and lost what he believed was a very big grass carp. Steve Webster from Newport caught tench to 6.5lb and bream to around 5lb, and Dave Jones from Cardiff float fished worm to land four perch averaging around 3lb each. On the match lakes, father and son Nigel and Tony Rees of Cardiff and Newport put together a 120lb bag of F1 carp and silver fish when they baited with corn and meat over a carpet of hemp.            Trout fishing is good with fish feeding well in the evenings. Joe Owen of Cardiff landed a brace of five pounders form Waycock and Colin Smith of Merthyr returned seven including an 8lb brownie when he fished a hare's ear on Goldsland.

View Photos