Bayleaf the Gardener

What have you done to upset the Brownies? Don't worry - I'll put in a good word with them for you

Aw, shame. I do believe there's good fish in there. Shame about the Frome, but if any of it reaches the aquifiers then it's probably best that we have it.

Saturday morning didn't start as planned. My new neighbour showed me a spot where the bass hoard up on the tidal River Afan 2 hours before high tide. There I was, but the tide had already spilled over the obstacle allowing the bass to head upriver and despite spinning for an hour, I didn't get a touch. Drove on to Treoes lake instead for some calming coarse fishing. At my favourite swim I had commons of 7lb 2, 8lb 2 and 5lb 6, a lovely 12oz roach, a bonus 1lb 14 tench and a handful of bream of around half a pound. Putting one back in the water, a pike grabbed it and almost had my fingers off! Right, I said, I'm coming back on Monday with pike gear. Monday. The forecast said no rain today, so I was a little perturbed driving most of the half-hour trip to Treoes with the wipers on double-speed under an immense shower while questioning the wisdom of forgetting to pack my umbrella. It had stopped by the time I arrived and to my surprise and relief it stayed dry, though I wore my waterproofs all day to keep out the chill of the steady and unpleasant east wind. I feared this would hamper my chances of success. Put a deadbait out to my left, and a wafter out to the right, hoping to hedge my bets. The wafters proved popular, luring commons of 11lb 13, 8lb 10, 19lb 8 (my new pb!), 8lb 2 and 4lb 12 followed by a single mirror of 4lb 4. My pike float stood steadfastly untroubled all day before with 5 minutes to go, it bobbed twice and went under. For a not great pike, it fought well, performing a full-body tail walk for me before coming home at 7lbs. Unhooking it, I looked down its throat to see that while my mackerel section might have been lost in the fight, a recently consumed roach was peering up at me through dead eyes. A better day for me than it had been for him.

Nope. And at £60 a pop it's the last time. Honestly, the 'solid' tip section is like a match. Through my tears, testing the broken off bit I was able to snap it again with the minimum of effort. I'll cut it to 14ft and put a tip ring on. I'm perpetually rubbish at trotting anyway so perhaps the river gods are trying to tell me something!

My first trip to a Welsh river, some 40 minutes from home which is far further than I'd normally travel, but I'd been getting severe withdrawal symptoms. And a nice river it looked too, perhaps most like Brimpton from my Berkshire Kennet days, with few accessible swims but lovely chubby overhangs. Total disaster. Having found the screw-piece had somehow been lost from the end of my landing net handle, I snapped off the last 4 inches of my (once) 15 ft Cadence rod. On my first trot through I snagged and lost float and all terminal tackle. I shallowed up a little, but still lost 3 more hooks. There was a reasonable flow, but not enough to drag even a 2SSG float from my centrepin, so I never felt I was presenting well. No bites. The only other swims available amongst the summer bankside growth were two narrower swims, to which I bombed cheese having first having the big black slug i found in the grass ignored. No bites. I'd disturbed a ruddy great cormorant from the water when I arrived, and scared it (or it's mate) into the sky when it floated down into my swim later. Altogether a very disheartening 3 hours. For some reason I rarely do well trotting despite pre-feeding my swims, holding the float back and varying the depth so it was no major surprise. The cormorant presence was enough to make me think the stock might be low and, in any case, wary to come out of their hides in daylight for fear of cormorants. That or I'm just a bit sh*t at river fishing.

1 - Treoes - A jog, a sea swim then a fish. Stop off at petrol station for a loaf of bread for bait - £2.89 for a loaf! No chance. Wafters and sweetcorn it is. Watch a guy pull out fish after fish on a pole a few swims down while my rods sit untouched. Finally though regular feeding brings them in and I end up with a very pleasing 3lb 1, 5lb 6 and 8lb 9 mirrors, commons of 8lb 3, 8lb 7, 5lb 14, 5lb 2 and 5lb 6 with a solitary small bream 2 - Half Round ponds - I thought you could do with a change, so made my way to Swansea conscious that the tench might be sleepy and unlike Treoes, no bream to make up the weight. It was a fair guess. I'd managed to purchase a fair price loaf, but not a sausage on it all morning. The only bites come from coots that dive to pick up my bait before at last, after 4 hours and my time ending the rod tip bent right round hard. I struck, the hook getting immediately snagged to the bottom and the line inevitably snaps. Can a snag really give such a strong bite?! My first Welsh coarse fishing blank. 3 - Treoes - an evening session in late summer sunshine. Fish the margins for commons of 9lb 4, 7lb 4, 11ln 10 and 10lbs. They all fought like mentalists.

Call me predictable, but with this mixed lake fishing so well, and no river within 30 mins drive, I stuck to what i know Monday - Took my neighbour Glyn who has introduced me to sea fishing. I'd emailed the club the night before asking if it was OK, but having had no response, and Glyn content to sit alongside me watching,assist with the netting and take the pictures, I couldn't see it would do much harm. A slow morning though, with seven bream between 8oz and 3lbs and two commons of 7lb 10 and 8lb 10. Still, as a misanthropic, anti-social solitary angler, it was nice to have someone with me. |Home o find an email from the club saying no guests under any circumstances. Oops. Sorry Glyn, no more trips. Tuesday evening - the day before Storm Agnes came to blow Wales away and with a harvest moon due to rise, I sensed the fish might be up for it. They were too and were happy to take bread all evening. Bream of 1lb 3, 12 oz, 1lb 4 Commons of 8lb 8, 6lb 2, 7lb 12, 5lb 2, 5lb 6, 5lb 7, 6lb 8. Mirror of 8lb 12. Tench of 2lb 8. Great fun. Friday - a chillier start which maybe contributed to little sign of moving fish all morning. A single carp of 5lb 6 and two lost during the fight. Four bream, one of 1lb 14 and another of 3lb. One fight with what I presumed was a decent pike scared the life out of me when, unseen and headed towards netting range, the line pinged and the water shot an 8oz bream less its throat and much of one flank which must have been grabbed by a pike on taking my bait.

A return to Bridgend to pick up my session from few days ago and 'starling-gate'. As usual, it took a while to get going, but once the fish had cottoned on there was food to be had, they started to come. Had commons of 6lb 2 & 9lb 4 plus some beautiful mirrors of 5lb 15, 4lb 5 and 12lb. The usual tench/roach did not turn up at all nor even the bream until successive casts brought slabs of 8oz, 2lb 2 and 2lb 10. The day was marked by the sighting of a buzzard - my first bird of prey since leaving Kite-filled Berkshire in July, as well as the regular appearance of the resident heron and kingfisher pairing throughout the day. The act of packing up was handicapped by the arrival of a particularly vicious shower, the only one of the day, that had my gear from dry to thoroughly soaked through in less than 10 mins.

After the soaking at yesterday's match (see last post) I repacked my still soggy stuff in the still soggy car and made the 30 minutes drive to Treoes lake, Bridgend. I'd just sat down after making my first cast when the mobile rang and saw it was Jo. My first inclination was to think 'Sh*t, I must have left my sandwiches at home,' but no - a starling had entered the house, and being terrified of the close company of birds, Jo was now in panicked self isolation in the front room and desperate for the loo, while the bird had full access to the remainder of the house. I had to pack up and make the return journey to bravely face the foe and open a window, thus saving my poor petrified wife and thus allowing her to complete her ablutions. It's too far to drive back, so maybe another session, another day. And no - I'm not counting it as a blank.

My debut at the Wharf for a match held by Glamorgan Anglers Club. Never having been to Cardiff (apart from watching Chelsea at Ninian Park in the '80s and two recent trips to Ikea) my knowledge of the area was minimal. I demonstrated this by arriving in plenty of time, but with no one else parked I phoned the organiser to discover I was in the wrong car park. Some general directional instructions were givenand a panicked race around the local roads (observing the new Welsh speed limit of 20mph, of course) and I just about arrived in time for the draw, but this was a harbinger of what was to follow. I'd kept my fishing umbrella in the car upon realising it was all concrete banking. But with 5 minutes to go of our hours preparation the rain started, proper wet Welsh rain and I knew I had to make to improvision with the brolly else it night be a very long 6 hours. I got back from the long walk to collect it having sacrificed the first 5 minutes of the match. My first cast, with umbrella pole pinched between my knees, generated a massive birds nest on the spool. Having pulled over 20 hands of line out to clear it, inevitably winding it back brought a major knot I'd been fearing, so had to be broken and the feeder retrieved slowly by hand. Having tackled up again, the rain dripping of the edge of the brolly on me with my every move, my second cast cracked-off. I finally made a cast, and winding it in to pump out more bait for the promised shoals of big, hungry bream, found the hook link had tangled with my in-line rig so I retackled for a third time, switching to a paternoster. All retied, I wound in the slack to prepare to cast to find that the main line was somehow broken and while the reel-end line got tangled around the spool, the feeder, hook, swivel and stops plopped irretrievably into the depths just 3ft from the bank. Half hour in, I'd had made one cast with a tangled rig, lost two feeders and associated terminal tackle and my maggots were now damp and climbing out of their box. I decided that the fish gods wanted me to float fish, so I float fished. With the brolly perching precariously over me, and liable to swing ungainly with the merest change in wind speed or direction, it was a little awkward to say the least, and nothing surprised me more than when I quite quickly got a bite and suddenly there was a 2oz roach in the keep net. At least I wouldn't blank. The remaining time was a case of trying to stay as unsoaked as possible while ensuring the brolly did not blow into the water yet keeping one hand free to hold the rod. In this Heath-Robinson way I managed another 9 roach (between 2 and 6 ounces) and 2 perch of a similar stamp. Plenty shook themselves off the hook (I was rueing having no micro-barbed hooks) but there was one highlight in the form of an eel, maybe about a pound, which probably made up about half of my weight, if I'd been arsed to weigh it in. I'm pretty sure I'd come last, but it was still a day's fishing and a venue I'll return too.

Another trip to my fave new lake in Bridgend with a new swim to me. Only 2.5 foot deep, the temperature has been more than warm enough to keep the fish in the shallows with plenty of lilies, overhangs and sunken pondweed to keep the oxygen level up. Despite this, it was a traditionally slow slow start and I was wondering if I should have stuck to the deeper end after all. Once I'd worked out that the fish were in the even shallower margins, I ended with 3 carp, a tench, 11 bream, 6 roach and 3 rudd for around 25lb in total, so that wasn't bad, but the highlight was 3 pigeons landing on the shores of the lake opposite me, only one came short and landed in the water. It was utterly confused for a few seconds by the physical change of the world as it has always been, and sat, wings splayed, bobbing like a beachball for some seconds working on how to address the issue before trying to flap its way out. Of course all it did was generate spray and send all my fish to other sections of the lake. While its two mates looked on without offering even a coo of support, it continued this butterfly stroke -flailing on and off for a good few minutes before good fortune and a prevailing wind blew it to shore.

Having ordered some Senko lures (cheers, Barry!) I had another go on the lugworm for the bass this sunny afternoon after the heavy rains of last night. Fished two hours with the tide rising and 1 after. It was much the same as last week with lugworm tails nibbled off the hooks most casts (I used a full half pound - ie £9-worth in those 3 hours), but I did end up with 6 of the little silver fellers, to a max of 5 oz. Tried sand eel on one hook for a couple of hours, but these were untouched. Great fun, though bite detection made difficult by a strong if warm wind which pistol-whipped me with sand.

Two short sessions either side of the heatwave. Friday morning brought a single Mirror of 6lb and 3 small but angry tench at Half Round ponds. Apart from losing something much larger in the woods, it was a session notable or two things - A 'dedicated' carp angler was thrown off the lake for not having a 'walled' unhooking mat. I didn't either, but was excused as I was float fishing. Seemed harsh to me. The other, my first rod licence check by the EA since the 1980's. Much cooler on Monday and a fun morning at Treoes where all the fish pretty much came in 2 hours. Bread was the key, but somehow I missed more bites than I hit. A great lake - a Mirror of 5lb 13, Common of 6lb, 1- bream (3 over 1lb) 3 roach, 4 rudd and a 2lb 8oz tench. Lovely.

No, I can't do it either when fishing becomes nothing more than a pike feeding session. Rainbows but no brownies? Hope you weren't too disappointed

Having blanked a few times now, I took local anglers advice and walked down to the beach with my new neighbour as the sun went down and while the tide was coming in. I'd also bought a newspaper packet of lugworms, plus a few frozen sandeels and confidence was high. After a heatwave of a day, it was beautiful on the sand at night as the lights of Swansea twinkled across the bay and the furnaces of the steelworks sent the occasional plume of flame into the sky. We had bites from the off. Most didn't connect and the lugworm was pinched, but Glyn beached six bass, beating my five, but then I had the biggest fish. How big were they, well, mine came in at 5oz, 8oz, 4oz, 5oz and 4oz. OK, tiny schoolies, but perfect minatures and it was a great fun evening, still in short sleeves as midnight approached. Two mornings later, I returned to the beach at first light in trunks, tee-shirt and a small backpack of lures and stood knee-depth in the water casting for the bass that were surely swimming all around me. Such fun! Nothing showed though, though after 90 minutes of casting, my nutsack had been breached by more than enough occasional higher waves of cold water and I admitted to myself that today wouldn't be the day. As I dripped back home, I thought that I was really living my best life.

Summer has arrived at last and even in South Wales it's going to be 25 degrees. Choose the semi-circular lake to the left of the central causeway ans though this contains the smaller fish, it will mean I have the harsh sun on my back rather than full in my face. Take my 10m pole and fish against lilies. Its steady rather than ever rapid and a few hours before the heat of midday drives me away I manage 6 tench to 1lb 4, 2 small roach and 6 small rudd. Ah well, it was fun enough and though the tench were small they are always feisty here, and do pull the elastic more than their size would suggest.

Put some lures in a back pack, tied rod to my bike and off I cycled to the river Afan where we blanked on bait tactics, but saw bass under the surface in the week. The full moon had raised the tide mark much higher than it had on Tuesday meaning most of the swims I fancied were not available. Those that were had a dredger, UKD SEALION, at. work in and out of the estuary. I didn't think any bass would relish 224 tonnes of dredger ploughing overhead so cycled inland. I lost 3 lures to snags before giving up and cycling the two miles back past home and off to the wider river Neath. Still at high tide, and with just 30 minutes of my allotted time remaining, I chucked out different types of lure from the bank without losing a single one, albeit I had to pull free of bladderwrack quite regularly. Packed up, I stopped my bike my a guy walking along the bank path with rods and a smile. Turned out he'd had five bass, mainly at dark/first light, and gave me some good tips. With a hight tide due this Tuesday evening an hour into dark, I plan to make a return and, hopefully, break my three-sea-session blank.

A fun, par day in Bridgend. Float fished Mirrors of 9lb 6 and 6lb 2, Commons of 8lb and 5lb 2, Tench of 3lb and 3lb 6 and Bream of 2lb 14, 1lb 5 and 3 half pound skimmers. All went quite for the last hour around lunch time, during which the highlight was one of the two resident kingfishers making a dive across my swim and extracting a small roach in the blink of any eye. Stunning.

My new neighbour and I took some mackerel and frozen squid and mussels to pin to the bottom of the tidal stretch of the river for my first visit. While we watched our motionless rods a passerby looked at us incredulously and said that crab was the bait to use, but that lures would be better as it was 'teeming with bass' on this stretch. Could have fooled us. But as the full moon high tide retreated we did start to see bass on the surface. A lure angler came through and though he did not catch, the number of fish we saw has given me hope for a return with the lure rod soon. That's the second sea-fishing blank out of three goes for me...but watch this space!

Another trip to my new favourite lake. Overcast with threatened showers turned out to be an hours torrential rain which kept me hidden under my brolly unable to move and unable to see my float until past my intended packing up time. In the few hours I was there I managed for Commons of 10lb 2, 8lb 4, 7lb 14, 9lb 10*, a 3lb tench, seven skimmers up to a pound and a couple of roach. * I fought this bloomin' carp for over half an hour on 6lb line without even seeing it. It wasn't having any of it and took me all over the place never seeming to tire. Finally I got it to the surface and it didn't look anything like the huge fish I'd imagined. At 9lb 10 I don't know what it had been drinking (beyond pond water) but I'd like some. All credit to it.

What chance have the rest of us got when you start catching two fish on each hook!

A nice morning at the lake. Unusually no wind and no rain. A slow star while the swim built up then a good few hours sport. Commons of 10lb, 6lb 2, & 5lb 4, mirrors of 4lb 2 and 8lb 14. Two tench in two minutes of 2lb 4 and 1lb 15 and a smattering of skimmers, with one nudging 3lb.

Two back-to-back sessions on these Swansea ponds. With Welsh wind and rain expected and received, the landscaped bowl around these lakes at least kept the wind off me if not the west stuff. Friday was the best of the two days float fishing, and though of the three tench I was after, the biggest was 6oz, mirrors of 8lb 14, 8lb 10 and a common of 7lb 8 at least put bends in the rod. Saturday brought just one more tiny tench and a mirror of 5lb 4. I nodded a hello to the other angler who turned up an hour before I left, and cast a PVA bag to an implausible 1ft from the far bank twice - each one bagging a decent carp.

My second ever go at sea fishing in our new Welsh home came on the most perfect weathered afternoon possible. With a warm westerly breeze and surf churning nicely my mentor advised that the prospects for seabass were good. Nobody told the fish that however, as our sand eels and squid remained stolidly untouched. Never mind, it was just lovely to be out on the near deserted sandy beach as the sun sank over down-the-road Swansea.

3 Gudgeon! Are they making a comeback?? I trust you've reported this to Neil at GUGGS and registered a name beginning with 'U' for any specimen over 30g?