THE EUROPEAN BANK FLY FISHING CHAMPIONSHIP
The European Bank Championship which is in it’s 20 th year proved to attract competitors from as far as Scotland. Over a two day period 150 anglers fished, including Juniors and ladies. Gwent was represented by father & son, Dave and Owain Bennett from Rogerstone. Competing in their first International
competition. Dad, Dave found conditions not ideal Saturday was extremely hot but his son Owain relished the challenge and came a very credible second in the Junior section on Saturday with 4 rainbows for 8 lb 8¾ and third on Sunday with rainbow of 2 lb 4¾ he won vouchers.
The winner was Welsh International Gareth Dixon making it two in a row,he also won it last year. Gareth won the £500 first prize as European Champion with 47 lb 8¾. Runner up was Adrian Thomas of Llandovery with 39 lb 7 oz.

At this time of year some smaller trout fisheries do suffer the ‘no fish syndrome’. The fish are there but not easy to catch. Bright sunshine will put the fish down. So the choice is ‘fish or not to fish’ or perhaps try a different venue. We are fortunate in Gwent that we have larger fisheries within an hours drive. Llanfegfedd reservoir, Wentwood Reservoir, across the bridge to Blagdon or Chew. All these fisheries are reporting good catches particularly from the boats. Sinking lines with buoyant patterns seem to catch when other tactics fail. An example of this was Ron Gray of Bristol who fished in extremely hot conditions near the cages on Chew. He hooked into a fish of a lifetime a fully finned rainbow of 10 lb 1 oz.

The Gwent Angling Society will be holding a two day angling academy for Juniors at the Cwm Hedd Fishery. The event which will be sponsored by Hardy Greys.
The courses will be held over two days, six hours per day it is intend to run three courses over the the following dates:- July 23rd and 24th, August 2nd and 3rd and finally August 22nd and 23rd.
The courses will accommodate 25 participants aged between ten and sixteen years and places will be awarded on a first come-first served basis.
All the coaching will be under the supervision of qualified and licensed angling coaches.
Each course will be run from 10 am to 4pm and will involve instruction on entomology, fly tying, wildlife and fauna recognition, the playing and landing of fish, fly casting, care of the fish and finally the cleaning, cooking and eating the catch.
All tackle will be provided courtesy of Gwent Angling Society and Hardy Greys.
The event is open to any junior wanting to learn about fly fishing and its related subjects.
The courses are to be run free of charge and anyone who wishes to book a place or simply find out more must contact the secretary, Mark Roberts via www.gwentanglingsociety.org.
Cefn Mably lakes 01633 681101
Neil Gallear of Newport used a bloodworm for 4 fish f 15 lb 10oz,
Paul Hughes, Cardiff took 3 fish for 13lb 1oz on a black buzzer. Andrew Evans, Cardiff used a hares ear for 3 fish for 12 lb 10 oz. Robert Davies, Newport used a daddy on the surface for 3 fish 12 lb 2 oz.

Llandegfedd Reservoir 01291 673722
There have been mixed reports received this week regarding the fishing at the reservoir. The emergence of pin fry has continued as water temperatures have risen with the return of warmer weather. Temperatures recorded on the fish cages are now averaging 16 degrees C at a depth of 18 feet.
Increasing numbers of fry usually means that fish become preoccupied with the shoals of minute fish and ignore anything and everything thrown at them. This has certainly been the case for several anglers who despite trying everything in their fly boxes have been unable to hook a fish despite several follows and half-hearted takes.
Other anglers on the other hand have found fish freely rising and willing to snap up any dry, emerger or mini lure that is put in front of them.
Bill Smith’s bay seems to be a favoured spot once again with fish rising and taking a variety of flies throughout the day. East bank and North shore seem to have been affected to some degree by the pin fry, but reasonable numbers of fish are still being taken on both boat and bank.
Temperatures are forecast to rise again throughout this week with a return to warm and settled weather conditions. Light north and north-easterly winds will encourage fish to feed close to the surface as insects move to the top of the water. Llandegfedd normally experiences a modest snail migration during early June, usually identified by large numbers of fish seemingly moving the length of the reservoir and taking food off the surface. This can be a frustrating time for the boat angler as almost all flies are ignored or followed very briefly before fish past either side of the boat continuing to feed unabated. A switch to a small floating snail imitation, black and peacock or coch-y-bondhu can sometimes produce startling results, but certainly not guaranteed.
Water conditions have remained clear and there is currently no indication of any discolouration from algae, although wind blown shores and points will colour up if there is a reasonable breeze blowing. Fish can be found along the edge of the dirty water, as can the pin fry.
During the next week or so as fry start to grow, it could be worth fishing near buoys, east bank gabions, pontoons and the dam wall as these will be areas that hold good numbers of pin fry. Try a range of sparsely tied mini lures, silver invicta, Sinfoil’s fry or small sparklers until the fry are large enough to imitate. Larger sparklers, blobs, floating fry and muddlers should then provide some exciting sport.
Up to date info is always available from ranger staff on 01291 673722.
Closing times for the coming weeks are:
Bank 9.45pm, Boat 9.30pm up to and including 1st July.

Bristol Waters
At last some warm and reasonable fishing weather. Not before time!
You can always expect a few big fish around the end of May/early June and this year is no exception. A really good fish from Chew this week for Ron Gray, and a couple of 7's from Blagdon, with a report of an 8 pounder from the bank over the weekend. These along with 33 other fish over 4lbs this week.
Also this week some very good rises at Chew. If you stay on until dusk you often find the wind drops and the fish begin to move.
On hot days, when you want to finish early why not have a break from fishing and come back later as often the bigger fish move into the margins.
Even if you don't take a fish it's great fun casting to them and anticipating that take!
There are plenty of boats available at both lakes on weekdays but pretty busy on weekends now.



This week’s main story is a magnificent rainbow caught by local expert Ron Grey from Bristol. Ron went afloat on Saturday in bright, sunny conditions and found the fish difficult to tempt. But a switch to a sinking line and orange blob, fished near the cages in Villice Bay produced the biggest rainbow of the season and broke his personal best by several pounds. The fish fought well and stayed deep and at first Ron suspected that he’d hooked a large pike. But then the fish erupted from the water trying hard to shake the hook and Ron knew he had the fish of a lifetime. After a long fight Ron netted the prime, over-wintered fish and headed straight back to the Lodge to weigh and report his catch. Ron was still shaking when a picture was taken with his fish, and was unable to continue to fish due to his excitement. Well done Ron!

Chew lake The varying weather conditions have affected sport again this week, but the warmer air temperatures have produced more fly hatches and plenty of moving fish which are very willing to take dries. Although there are still plenty of recent stockies at the Dam, Wick and Nunnery try fishing across the middle of the lake where some superb fish have been seen and taken. Also stay out late as there is often a good evening rise during the last hour of fishing.

Blagdon Some really good fish reported this week from bank and boat including two fish of 7lbs. Mervyn Williams from North Wales took one form the boat while D.O’ Neil captured another while bank fishing from the North Shore. Most of the deeper water banks are fishing well at Blagdon and small buzzers and stick flies have accounted for some good bags.

Barrows Although recently stocked Barrows remain hard with few fish coming close enough in for anglers to reach. Some rising fish late on in places.

Litton A much better week here with both lakes producing at times. The lower lake is still a little coloured but has been fishing well, often better that the gin-clear upper lake. The best fish of the year so far was taken this week, a fish of 6.04 caught by P. TAYLOR.

Winners of this months biggest fish prizes are:
Chew Valley 5.11 rainbow – KEITH GOLLOP
Blagdon 7 lb rainbow MERVYN WILLIAMS
Both receive £50.00 vouchers. Remember report any big fish captured for a chance to win.
This Weeks Catch:
Chew Valley: 578fish to 232 rods, an average of 2.5 per rod.
Blagdon 554 fish to 195 rods, an average of 2.8 per rod.
Barrows: 80 fish to 60 rods, an average of 1.3 per rod.
Litton 54 fish to 11 rods, an average of 4.9 per rod.
Total fish taken from all waters: 25,837 fish to 7,271 rods, average 3.6 per rod.

Cwm Hedd Trout Fishery 07980562876
Fishing was again hard last week-plenty of surface activity. The trout were very selective taking Diawl Bach, black hoppers and PTN worked best although fish were also taken on lures fished deep and slow.
Sunday June 17th is the final day of the season- re-open in September.

Ravensnest Trout Fishery 01291 689564
The fishery has fished well with good fish taken on the fly. Paul Brooks 14 lb r/bow, Ian James, Newport 13 lb 6oz r/bow, John Era, Langstone 13 lb 4 oz r/bow and a 6 lb 4 oz blue. Mr. Cassidy, Bristol 3 blues 21 lb 8 oz and a brown of 7 lb 6 oz all fish returned. B. Clark, Langstone 6 lb 4 oz blue returned. Steve Cullen, Cardiff 7 lb blue, 6 lb brown, 4 lb golden plus he then went on to catch & release with 20 fish returned. Ian Giles, Newport 6 lb 8 oz blue and a 7 lb 12 oz r/bow. Terry Wheeler 20 and K. Edwards 20. The fishery are now stocking with blues to 8 lb.

Big Well Trout Fishery 01600 772904
Buzzers, small wets damsels and cats whisker worked best on floating lines. Carl major, Nelson 2 fish 4 lb 12 oz, mark Walker, Cardiff 7 - 15 lb 8 oz, James Phelps 4 - 10 lb, Dave Jones, Merthyr 3 - 7 lb Elwyn Thomas 5 - 12 lb , Keith Radnor, Monmouth 6 - 12 lb 8 oz, Connor Bull age 12 2 - 4 lb 9 oz, Nathern Bull age 15 2 - 4 lb 7 oz. Released fish; Simon Chapple 6, Ross Millard, Woolaston, Dan Brown FOD 5 and A. Davies 5.
Beanhill Trout Fishery
Since the weather warmed up and the rain stopped, Beanhill Lake has been experiencing some classic evening buzzer hatches, with literally clouds of the tiny creatures whirling around anglers' heads like smoke, while rainbows are all over the surface mopping up the emerging pupae as the light fades. Most of the action has been over the centre of the lake and the shallows at the head, where, if there is no ripple, an oily surface resulting from the feathers of water fowl tends to trap the insects in the film. People have been catching on a variety of buzzer pattterns and fishing one below an indicator set shallow certainly works, if you don't find that boring. Otherwise, a Shuttlecock dry, Grizzle Emerger or similar, or maybe a Diawl Bach fished on light nylon or co-polymer just below the surface will get results. In general visitors tend to fish over-size, so think small, particularly if the buzzers you can see in the air are small ones, or you are getting obvious close passes or short takes to the fly.
The sedge are hatching early this season, normally it would be in July for sedge action.

Wentwood Reservoir 01291425158
Again the weather had a detrimental effect on the fishing prospects during the week. Catches were taken by boat and bank anglers and the average weight per fish caught was near 2lb 8oz. Fish were mainly feeding just below the surface and again shoals of fish were reported moving along the east bank. Visitors A.Brinkworth 5 fish-11lb 4oz and boat partner M.Brinkworth 1 fish-2lb 4oz. R. Hole 3 fish-6lb 12oz, Andrew Pugh was back in action taking 3 fish-9lb 2oz that included weights of 3lb 10oz and 3lb 8oz. and a later visit during the week a further 5 fish-12lb 4oz were caught. Roger Barnes took 5 fish-12lb 6oz best of which was 3lb 4oz. Bank fishing was successful for most anglers and those that caught included visitors G.Bright 3 fish-6lb, G. Alonzi 2 fish-4lb 2oz, T.Jones 1 fish-2lb 8oz and T.Alonzi 1 fish-2lb 2oz. Members Ted Bailey 3 fish-6lb 8oz, Malcolm Reed 4 fish-9lb 4oz and Bob Stoodley 2 fish-5lb 2oz.
Spring Bank Competition
The Spring competition was hotly contested by 17 members catching 57 fish between them with only 2 blanks recorded and the eventual winner was Max Thompson with 6 fish-13lb 6oz. Runner up was Tony Heming with 6 fish-11lb 13oz and in third place was Graham Tamplin with 5 fish-11lb 8oz. Heaviest fish was 3lb 9oz caught by David Wells. Various small black flies, gold head orange fritz, Montana and damsels have been productive coupled with floating or intermediate lines. The tump and east bank continue to be the hot spots. The weather prospects for the next week could be promising but anglers should take extra care when casting into strong winds.
6 th June report
Plenty of fish rising especially in the early mornings but they are proving difficult to catch. Fish have been caught by boat and bank anglers using mainly slow sinkers and sink tip lines. Nigel Thomas from Caerwent caught his first fish of the season that weighed 3lb 2oz. Bristol members Vic Duke and Mike Brooks each caught 3 fish for a total weight of 12lb 4oz. Visitors C.Price 4 fish-9lb, W.Price 4 fish-9lb 4oz, and D.Bond 1 fish-2lb 3oz. Boat successes included M.Herbert 4 fish-10lb including one at 3lb 4oz, Ann Heming 5 fish-12lb 4oz heaviest weighed 3lb 7oz, Tony Heming 5 fish-12lb 5oz, French visitors Joel Martinez and Rene Andre again had another excellent day’s fishing each catching 5 fish for an average weight of 10lb 6oz. Cardiff member J.Larke went away with 3 fish-6lb 9oz after fishing an afternoon session whilst Alan Doolan and Norman Mills each landed 1 fish but Ben Martin managed to catch 2 fish-6lb 4oz. Should the hot spell continue then fish will be moving into the deeper water and catches will be mainly taken by the boat anglers. Top flies were buzzers, black and green patterned nymphs and the occasional cat’s whisker. The hot spots were the tump and north bank.

Dyffryn Springs 02920 595929 mobile 07740869620
Hot, summery weather has made the trout fishing challenging and successful
anglers are fishing small flies, slow and deep. Alun Newell of Cardiff had a
brace for 7.12lb fishing an orange nymph on Waycock, Tony Evans of
Newport landed a 7lb rainbow on a bloodworm fished on the bottom. John
Roberts of Treherbert had a 5lb rainbow from Goldsland and Mike Davis of
Merthyr killed one of 4lb and returned five more on a diawl bach. Steve
Walker of Newport returned a fine 6lb brownie on Goldsland which took a fry
pattern in the margins.
On the rivers
Oliver Burch' river views
This piece is only likely to interest anglers with access to the Usk or the Wye - or possibly the Potomac in the USA, the French Loire or one or two other Atlantic-flowing rivers favoured by that rather mysterious fish, the Shad. There are two of these: the Twaite, which averages 1-2 pounds, and the much rarer Allis Shad or Alewife, which can be as large as 8 pounds. I have caught a few Twaite Shad in my time, but never to my knowledge an Allis, although I live in hope. Given the fun which an athletic 11/2 pound Twaite Shad can give on trout tackle, an Allis must really be something. Both are protected species (and should therefore be released), members of the herring family, which come into fresh water to spawn. Not much more is known about them, but the existence of a shad run was instrumental in stopping the proposed Usk barrage scheme, for which we should be grateful.

The last couple of weeks in May and first week in June is when they usually show up, and I make a point of having a day on the Usk Town Water at this time. The trout fishing on this beat is usually excellent anyway, but the chance of shad is a real bonus. If you want to be sure, contact Sweet's Tackle-shop in Porthycarne street 01 291 672552, where Jean Williams usually will know if the shad have arrived or not.
My session this year started on a Monday at 6 o'clock, which is a nice quiet time for a public water, when I waded into the top of the broad gravelly stretch between the old railway bridge and the town bridge. The Town Association wisely restrict wading to thigh waders, which means that anglers can't walk everywhere, but you can still get into position to cover the deep trench with its fish holding rocks and lies in the centre. It's perfect water for a long soft rod and a team of small wets, and I was using a size 14 Hare's Lug and Plover on the point, with size 16 Dark Moor Game and Water Hen Bloa on the droppers. The water was slightly high with just a tinge of beery colour after rain, and the morning was cool and cloudy. Olives were hatching and trout were rising. Everything, in fact, ideal. And sure enough, after the second cast across the streamy water at the head of this enormous run, followed by a quick upstream mend, a brounie of about 14 oz, a typical lower Usk fish, whacked the Hare's Lug very solidly. That was a nice start, and by the time I had spent an hour working my way down to the large rock in the centre of the run, I had released 5 brown trout between 12 oz and a pound.

A few rises showed beyond the rock, somehow different, more diffused than the neat concentric rings produced by trout. I swung the team of flies across, and struck when the line somehow felt heavy. I connected with nothing, but when the flies came in, something white was spinning on the point. It turned out to be a large circular fish scale, bright silver shot with blue - the clearest possible evidence that shad were present, probably in such numbers that the flies had scraped their backs. A moment later I had a view of a forked tail scythingto anglers wanting to try for shad, is that they will take any bright glittery fly. Probably they will, and in the Wye they will certainly occasionally take a salmon fly, but I have generally had better luck with something dull. I changed the point fly for a size 12 Crawshay's Olive, which is an old-fashioned Usk wet fly but a very good one, the main colours being grey and brown with a prominent yellow silk rib. By crossing the town bridge and moving up to attack the swim from the other side I managed to get a better angle, and now I was really at the races with takes coming steadily. I have known shad make a smash and grab take when a fly is on the dangle directly downstream, but more usually you just get that heavy feeling. I can only suppose that they pick up the fly and remain still with it. Lift into the fish and you quickly know what you have got - clearly not a trout. Some people criticise the fight of shad, but on light tackle in a heavy current I find they give a better account than a trout of the same size. Usually a deep dogged run is followed a trip upstream, the sight of that unmistakeable silver flash under water as the fish banks, and then a series of dashes, often with jumps, and general reluctance to give up. Like tench, they just seem to get stronger and stronger. Unlike trout, which leap and remain still as they sail through the air, shad come up with a permanent quiver running through their body, so that they often tail walk. I suppose that characteristic, together with the oversize sulky mouth and the fact that they are both kinds of herring, this is why they have been referred to as "mini-tarpon." Persuade the creature into the net and you will find that you are disengaging the hook from a remarkably tough and bony mouth, looking more like a hinged trap. Otherwise, the main impression is the beauty of the silver-blue colouring. Maybe because of the effort expended in the fight, you may well find that the fish needs to be held upright for a moment to recover on release.

I was fairly well splashed and my right arm was definitely aching by the time I released my seventh shad from the school. Three visiting anglers from Nottingham, who were trying shad fishing for the first time, showed up to watch this fish netted, so I left the swim to them after advising a change to a duller fly. Before leaving, I went down to try the bridge pool where they had been fishing gold heads without success. The weir pool below Usk Town bridge is the classic place for shad, and sometimes can get quite crowded with anglers who have waded out on the concrete apron. (Be aware as you wade that there are v-shaped trenches in the concrete, which increase the depth by about 5 inches for a short distance, opposite the middle of the first two arches). In fact the whole bridge is an interesting place, and if you can manage to walk across it without peering down, you have have no feel for water at all. I have watched salmon spawning upstream from the parapet in December and shoals of sea trout in July. In June, you are unlikely to be able to spot the shad, but if you look down to the concrete footings you may be able to see one or two of the big sea lampreys which come in to spawn at the same time. 4 or even 5 feet long, undulating against the pale bottom, their down-turned sucker-mouths put me in mind of those right angle attachments on vacuuum cleaner pipes. These are not my favourite fish.

There isn't much to do here on the bridge pool, but cast the flies across the runs into the weir pool to let them wash around in the current until that "heavy" feeling comes and you strike. After which something starts to charge around the depths, while you work out out how to play it up through the run of heavy water. Interestingly, the Crawshay's Olive worked its magic again here, despite the failure of the goldheads earlier, and I took 5 more shad before leaving at midday. All these dozen fish were almost exactly the same size - about 11/2 pounds.