Beanhill Lake
Oliver Burch fished the lake with a Jack Ketch fly and was surprised to see good carp moving. It wasn’t long before a grass carp took it. To the best of his knowledge, none of the grass carp at Beanhill have been caught over the last two seasons and they are rarely even seen during the winter. It happened in the deeps in front of the dam, on a stormy day when the trout were being very dour. There was no dramatic tussleI, but in reality it was a slow slogging match. Unusually, but fortunately, he was using the 7 weight sewin rod “to give the line a stretch” and a fairly strong leader. The carp, when finally netted, measured 26 inches and was in lovely condition, chub-like in dimensions with heavy shoulders and a brassy colouring, and that strange flat “vegetarian” mouth which puts me in mind of grey mullet.
While so many people living in the flood plain of the Severn and other western rivers are trembling as to whether the water is going to invade their kitchen again, it seems selfish to be moaning merely because the fishing is out of sorts. But the fact is that river fishing around here has been unavailable since Christmas, and some of us are starting to run out of options. Oliver had at least one day on all the local lakes offering year round fishing, and even spent a morning sat on a box offering float fished sweet corn to baby carp at one of the local ponds . While some of the Forest of Dean syndicate ponds have been quite coloured by the streams running in to them, they have been fishing surprisingly well. But importantly it seems, like Henry Ford, you can offer any colour at the moment, providing it is black. Black often does do well in coloured water, and he had one excellent session on Soudley Ponds, using nothing but black lures and flies. Alternating between two rods, one with a slow intermediate line and one with a floater, he chased a couple of shoals of rainbows moving around the centre of the lake with Black Widow lures, followed up by Black and Peacock Spiders when a few fish had been taken and released, causing the rest to get nervous and nip at the tail of the larger lure. He continued to fish the Spider . The line used and the fishing depth was probably more important than the actual pattern of fly. However, one very nice rainbow of about 4 pounds took a Jack Ketch: a fly you don’t often see these days. Originally designed by Geoffrey Bucknall and intended to imitate a water beetle, it is really a weighted variant of the BPS, with a body of back seals fur with a hint of blue and crimson over the lead wire, the usual long black hen hackle and a tag of silver tinsel.

500,000 lost sea anglers in Portugal
A few months ago I reported on the possibility of Defra/Environment Agency introducing a licence for sea anglers. The ramification of introducing a licence is well known. Although it has not been decided if one will be implemented. Once a charge or Government tax is introduced it will be difficult to remove.
Perhaps they may consider what has happened in Portugal.
The Portuguese Government has recently announced that as many as half a million sea anglers have stopped going sea fishing. The data just released shows sales of licences from January 2007 to November 2007 a total of 179,000 licences. Out of a total of 188,845 licences sold 11,731 area three year licence and 131,007 are an annual license and 46,107 a monthly licence. A survey carried out by the Tackle Trade World in 2006 had estimated that around 70 per cent of theses anglers were sea anglers amounting to 700,000 sea anglers.
The latest data available show the Portuguese market has lost a minimum of 500,000 sea anglers. The big question is, are there anglers fishing without a licence or have they decided to cease fishing altogether ? . The possibility of losing half a million sea anglers means the Portuguese Government have not only lost any revenue through the sales of licences but also the VAT element. The knock on effect includes loss of earning to the tackle trade, hotels restaurants and tourism. The British Government must seriously consider what has happened to a EU partner who decided to introduce a sea licence. Although the British argument for a licence and particularly as Defra are reducing funding the EA needs to be carefully considered, otherwise sea anglers may walk with their feet and not bother to buy a licence or worse.

Cefn Mably Lakes
Results: John Harvey, Risca 101-09-00 carp on feeder and worms from peg 4. Steve Shaw ,Cardiff 96-00-00; Bob Mitchell, Cardiff 68-9-0. Sunday Doug Hornblow ,Cardiff Nomads 81lb carp on pole and pellets from peg on house bank. Rob Wiltshire, Caerphilly 77-08-00, Shaun Wilson, Trethomas 76-04-00

Anglers who wish to continue fishing after the end of the salmon season might turn
to trout fishing on the many small to medium lakes or reservoirs.
Most of the fisheries are well stocked with rainbows and blues. All browns are
expected to be returned. You will expect to pay about £20/25 for a limit of 4 fish.
Coarse fishing which is the most popular of all the disciplines, attracts thousands of
anglers throughout the UK. There are specimen anglers who will fish for Pike or that
special breed, carp anglers.

WALES WIN GOLD IN THE FLY FISHING INTERNATIONAL IN SCOTLAND
Gwent members of the Welsh team played an important part in the success of the Gold Medal.
In the days when some of our major sporting national teams are not winning
the international and world honors. we as supporters, had hoped they would,
it is important to realise that in other sports Welsh teams are doing very
well. This accolade certainly applies to participants in the 2007angling
competitions.
Moc Morgan O.B.E and team manager of the Welsh team, was delighted with the result of the autumn International, he filed me this report. Last week the
U.K. International Fly Fishing Championship was held on the Lake of Menteith
in Scotland. It saw teams from the four home nations locked in the most
prestigious and keenly contested competition in the U.K. angling scene.

Wales went into the match with just one victory in the last thirteen matches
under its belt. In fact Wales had had more than its fair share of the
'wooden spoon' - so much so there were fears that the spoon could take root
here in Wales! Ever the optimists, the Welsh Team went into the fray with a
very positive attitude.
They traveled to the venue early and put in a lot of practice - more so
than the other teams. This paid dividends and under the guidance of coach
George Barron, Talybont and captain Paul Davies, Corwen the team shared
their expertise. There was a lot of experience sitting around the team
meeting table as the team consisted of five previous captains, others who
had represented Wales on more than one occasion and a fair percentage of new
caps - all very able and brimming with enthusiasm.

During the practice sessions the squad had learnt a lot about the wonderful
Lake of Menteith. They managed fairly quickly to get to grips with the
depth, the colours and combinations of the flies to be used and the speed of
retrieve. All information and knowledge was always readily shared.
When match day arrived it was good fishing weather with the gentle breeze
creating that favoured corduroy water which is such a boon for anglers. The
sun, generally a spoil-sport for anglers, was present but not too hot and
glaring.
The star of the Welsh team was Russell Owen from Llanidloes who took ten
fish in all - which was two better than the best from among the other
fifty-six anglers in the competition. Russell's contribution was invaluable
and how wonderful that he - a previous world champion - did so exceptionally
well.
All Welsh team members caught fish including Anthony Hoffrock and Anthony
Cartwright, both from Llandegfedd Angling Club (A.C.).; Neil Ashman,
Mountain Ash, A.C, Michael Roberts, Wentwood A.C. and the ever reliable Dean
Kibble, Islwyn A.C.
So often in U.K. championships and in world competition the luck and results
do not favour Wales but this was a great and a wholly deserved victory.
England picked up the silver medal. Theirs was a very experienced team that
brought in two fish less than Wales. Scotland on home territory was the odds
on favourites and they were in a rampant mood hoping to emulate their
footballers' feat of the previous night when they the match in France. It
was not to be, despite their star man Willie Leech being on the ball.
The Irish are slowly getting to grips with the rainbow trout as we must not
forget that their loughs are predominantly wild brown trout fisheries.
One fly that really helped the Welsh team in winning gold was the Diawl
Bach - a great Welsh fly born in Cardiff a few decades ago.
Despite our failure to come out tops in soccer and rugby - both considered
our major sports - the Welsh fishers have done really well this year.
Team members were;
Russel Owen Caersws,Aled Dixon Machynlleth, Gareth Jones Denbigh,
Craig Gimblett Cefn Park, Kieron Thomas Dinas Powys, Gareth Dixon
Machynlleth, Dean Kibble 0akdale, Michael Roberts Caerphilly, Andy Hoffrock
Magor , Paul Davies Corwen (Cpt),Anthony Cartwright Mountain Ash ,
Neil Ashman Mountain Ash, Jeff Thomas Bridgend, Chris Jones Corwen.
Warmest Congratulations to the Welsh Fly Fishing Team.

It has been a better month now the weather has cooled down.' Ah' you might ask it has been cool all summer!!, true but water temperature governs the behaviour of fish. I recently fished for Salmon and sewin in West wales where water temperature, colour and hight of water was critical to catch.
I used spinner and fly on both occasions conditions were not quite right. A number of grilse have been taken. I returned three all of which were in poor condition. Having said that there have been quite a number in excellent condition. Most are around 5/6 lb mark. At the moment on the Towy water levels are a little too low. we need a good 2 foot extra to move them upstream. The best sewin this year according to local records is 16 lb.Most of the lower beats have fished reasonably well with more griles than in previous years, so this must be a good sign.