May is an excellent month to go fly fishing.Rain and sunshine usually mean a good combination for insect hatching. You may be lucky enough to have a May Fly hatch where you fish.They seem to dance on the surface after hatching with fish rising to the fly. 'Match the hatch with a fly and you will catch',this can be very true with trout fishing, when they will only take a pattern resembling the actual live or dead fly on the water.
Fishing has generally improved over my last report. Bank holidays often mean a break from the norm,an ideal opportunity to go fishing. Take your choice, Game although the rivers are very low at the time of this report, trout fishing, coarse and sea all will give you an enjoyable challenge.
Wentwood Reservoir 01291 425158
Thanks to a dramatic improvement in the water conditions over the past few days the association will hold the spring competition on Saturday 26th May.

Anglers are reporting that fish are moving all around the reservoir which has resulted in some very good fishing especially for those fishing from the boats. Catches from the boats included Ben Martin 5 fish-14lb including a fine 4lb 4oz Rainbow the heaviest of the season, David Wells 5 fish-9lb 12oz, Roger Barnes 4 fish-9lb 4oz including one at 3lb, George Phillips 5 fish-10lb, Jack Wells 4 fish-8lb 12oz,Tony Heming 5 fish-10lb 10oz and Ann Heming 5 fish-10lb 5oz. Visitors R.Price and R.Leppard netted 2 fish each for an average weight of 2lb per fish. Martin Pritchard fished from the bank and landed 3 fish-7lb 4oz during a morning session. Altogether there were 12 limit bags and hopefully the fishing prospects will continue to improve. Most catches were taken with floating lines and small black flies and nymphs although a couple of anglers did catch on “daddies”. The hot spots were the tump and north bank. Please note the water will be closed on Saturday 26 th May due to the spring competition.

Cwm Hedd Trout Fishery 07980562876
It has been an excellent week at the fishery with most anglers catching.
Trout are continuing their selective feeding patterns.Good buzzer hatches and terrestrials blown onto the water mean some great surface action,particularly on the east bank. Various nymphs, damsels, hares ear and pheasant tail have also been productive. Some close in bank action on lures, especially along the west bank and off the Island, shows that trout continue to fry bash.
Roy Davies took one and returned 6 on damsels and cats whisker.Phil Cooper three taken on buzzers and PTN, Nathan and Connor Bull seven on lures and finally Gordon Newman a nice four pounder and a further six returned on hares ear and mayfly.
Don’t forget that Wednesdays are senior discount days and evening tickets are available after five o’clock on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Ravensnest Trout Fishery 01291 689564
Doubles are still being caught despite the hot weather. Newport angler G. Carvell 14 lb 6 oz rainbow, Bob Davies, Cardiff 13 lb 2 oz r/bow, Ian Holloway, Caerleon 8 lb 12 oz r/bow and 7 lb 6 oz brown all on a daddy.
Dale Williams, Cardiff 4 fish bag for 14 lb 2 oz bf 5 lb r/bow. Colin Jones, Newport 2 browns best fish 7 lb 7 lb 6 oz on a grey duster. Paul Smith, Cardiff 2 browns bf 6½ lb. Returned fish; Dave Strong 20 on dries, Steve Cullen 20, Ian Hollins 20and Paul Edwards 20. Still good hatches of olives, and mayflies.
Big Well Trout Fishery 01600 772904
Plenty of fish being taken last week. A family enjoyed their day at the fishery with, Roy Ashman 2 fish 5 lb, Gordon Ashman 7 - 17 lb and Keiran Ashman 2½ lb all from Croyseciliog. Jim Mac Lachlan of Oxford 2 - 5½ lb (first timer). Dale Harvey age 13 came first in the Race Angler match with 2 fish 5 lb.
Ray Haward, Newport 2 - 6 lb, Tony Barret from London returned 10 fish, as did;
Dever Chapple 13 years old 4, Dave Raymond and Bill FOD 4 and Gavin Phillips, Cwmbran 11.Egg flies, dries, buzzers and small lures on a floating line.
Shimano Trout Fishery Velindre 01792 796584
Another good week with plenty of good fish and limit bags, but some have struggled because they are not prepared to fish small flies. This week 80% of fish taken have fallen to buzzer & nymph, and a few nice fish have also been taken of dry flies.
There is a wealth of natural food in the lake at this time of year and its important to fish files that closely resemble the food that fish are feeding on.
Taking a fish on buzzer or nymphs is very exciting; once you have found the depth of the feeding fish a limit can be taken quickly. Recommended patterns are ;- Black. Olive. Red. Buzzers size 12, 14 & 16. Damsel. P T N. and May file nymphs.
Dries. Hoppers. Daddies. Sedge up-wing olives.
Catches as recorded;
Adrian Shaw landed the best bag of the week 39lb with a best fish of 14lb.
Robert Moor fished a black & silver buzzer to take four excellent fish for 32lb with a best fish of 11lb. Richard Allison also had a very good day fish a buzzer, taking four fish for 28lb 7oz with a best fish of 10lb. Local angler Mike Sugget had a great day landing five fish for 34lb 6oz with a best fish of 11lb 4oz.
Dean Roberts had a good bag of fish for 27lb 8oz. all fish were taken on a size 12 damsel. Please note the following closure dates :-
Saturday 12th of May for Club booking. Saturday 26 th of May for Club booking. On Sunday the 27th of May the lake will be closed at 4pm so there will be no evening tickets.
Bristol Waters Tel 01275 332339,
It's raining! After several dry weeks we have some overcast weather and a drop of rain. Much needed for the gardens and the lakes. The change in the conditions has made the fishing a little harder and this may last for a couple of days. In the long term the weather change will do the lakes the world of good and with many different areas now fishable we can expect the catches to improve and hopefully we'll see lots more of those big resident fish coming out. There have been fantastic fly hatches here and on some evenings some very good rises 'though the fish are not easy to tempt with dries. But morning and evening will often be the best time to fish especially if the days are bright so start early and stay late. Boat bookings for weekends are now very heavy but there are still mid-week boats available most days. Sunny days with the NE wind continued until the weekend when the wind turned to SW and freshened. Cloudy conditions then with a little light rain.
Water quality; Chew & Blagdon levels continue to fall. All lakes very clear except lower Litton which has some algae.. The water temperature at the surface is now 12°C.
A heavy stocking at all the lakes has brought excellent results for boat and bank. The change in conditions has altered the fishable areas and has put the larger, resident fish off the feed. But just a few days of this weather and these bigger fish will settle and start feeding again.
Chew lake. Two days of Competition dominate this weeks fishing at Chew Valley. Teams from the South-West, South Wales and Northern Ireland fished in heats of the Lexus European Competition on Friday and Sunday. Day one saw four teams of six competing. The NE wind and sunshine continued and anglers went after the recent stocking rather than chase the larger, resident fish. And they found them in large numbers. 24 anglers took 224 fish during the day with Team Tightlines winning closely followed by Blagdon FF Team Bristol Water. Both teams qualify for the national final to be held at Chew in August. Jerry Clarke (Blagdon FF) was top rod. Day two saw a complete reversal of wind direction and overcast skies. As the day progressed the wind increased making fishing more difficult. Eight teams fished for four national places on this day and local teams did well with Carbotec Kingfishers winning, BRFFA Orvis second, Team Snowbee third and BRFFA Park Retail fourth. Individual winner on then day was Keith Gallop (Snowbee). Most fish were taken by fishing nymphs and buzzers very slowly on floating lines. The North Shore, Wick Green, Herons and Villice were the most productive areas. Bank anglers have done well from the Picnic Areas, Wick Green, Nunnery and Woodford fishing with similar flies and methods. On the better evenings some good rises have taken place though the fish are not easy to tempt on dries.
Blagdon .I improved catches on last week have continued especially from the boats. Butcombe, North Bank and Rugmoor all did well early in the week but the change of wind direction will make the Dam Basin and South Shore more favourable.
Barrows Good reports continue at Barrow 3 and anglers have found plenty of fish at the treatment works end now the wind has turned SW. Small gold-heads and nymphs fished sub-surface have been the best flies with buzzers early and late.
Litton Great fishing this week at Litton from both lakes with most anglers taking full limit bags. Although the lower lake is coloured it is still fishing very well. Small nymphs have been best fished sub-surface but there have been good evening rises and emergers are well worth trying.

This Weeks Catch:
Chew Valley: 1101 fish to 321 rods, an average of 3.4 per rod.
Blagdon 629 fish to 195 rods, an average of 3.2 per rod.
Barrows: 202 fish to 77 rods, an average of 2.6 per rod.
Litton 104 fish to 12 rods, an average of 8.7 per rod.
Total fish taken from all waters: 19790 fish to 4820 rods, average 4.1 per rod.
On the rivers
Wye & Usk Federation as of May 1st 2007
Report as on 1 May, 2007
Despite both rivers reaching levels usually associated with a summer drought, there has been some excellent trout fishing in recent days on main river beats. The smaller streams have been more challenging but a stealthy approach with a small rod has given some excellent rewards.

Good numbers of Hawthorn flies have been reported and, with a bit of wind to help put them on the water, the trout are taking the artificial readily. Along with a scattering of various olives, the Hawthorns have encouraged decent rises from about 10am onwards. Small nymphs have also accounted for plenty of fish, as have spider patterns. Perhaps as a response to the incredibly warm and dry April, there have also been several reports of small mayfly hatches - a full month early! The fish are not yet taking them but as numbers continue to build, there will be some excellent sport on those rivers blessed with a hatch, including the Llynfi Dulas, Edw, Lugg & Arrow, main Usk and Wye etc.

Although both catchments are in desperate need of some fresh water, trout fishing prospects still look very good. Salmon fishing, on the other hand, will be limited to the very lowest beats until rain arrives.

May and June is generally the busiest time for many Wye and Usk fisheries. The trout fishing is at its peak and the shad usually start turning up in the second or third week of May. If you are thinking about a day or two on one of our Booking Office beats it would be advisable to plan in advance, call on 01982 551 520.
At this time of year it is quite common for trout anglers to catch salmon smolts, especially on small dry flies and nymphs. If you do happen to catch one, please be aware that they are extremely delicate at this stage of their lives. It is best to try to remove the hook without touching them at all but if you do have to handle one, ensure you wet your hands first. If you start to catch a few from one spot, it is requested that you try another part of your beat.
On Tuesday May 29th the foundation are running, in conjunction with the Guardian Hay Festival, a river walk where it is hoped to show progress with the restoration work and see some of the problems. The trip also coincides with the spawning of the sea lamprey and the run of shad. Visitors will be looking at the spawning sites for the lamprey and hopefully seeing a shad caught. Anyone interested should contact the Hay Festival team on 0870 990 1299 or see their website - http://www.hayfestival.com