Keep an eye out for poachers on your lakes, rivers and fisheries…

 

Its a sad fact that in fishing we find ourselves having to deal with people that still don't respect our sport and no matter what style of fishing you do they don't discriminate as they see all fish as fair game. We all know that certain fish are allowed to be famed and harvested each year but when most of us fish private waters where fish cost a lot of money and the owners pay a fortune just to keep stock so that we as anglers can enjoy our sport, then i think its only fair we keep an eye out for those stealing fish from these waters and report it appropriately.

As of November 2015 All members of FAW are asked to take an active part in watching their local waters and fisheries for signs of illegal poaching and fish stealing. It has come to our attention that there are groups of locals (not just foreigners) going around in vans catching large carp and selling them to other lakes. Firstly if i was a lake offered cheap large carp i would want to know where they were coming from due to the chance of spread of illness and virus but some people don't care. We DO NOT want any member to get harmed due to this matter and advise members not to approach these people unless they feel safe to do so and contact the appropriate authorities to get them reported and get the issue solved.

Above is all the information that is required to report the offence including the telephone number and make sure when reporting that you use the actual crime code 116/11 otherwise the police will not act on the matter. As of 2016 All FAW members will be issued wit ID ca5rds identifying them as a member of the club and an active protector of waterfowl and fish of all species. We at FAW will continue to support this cause until it is completely stamped out and reduced in our areas.
I hope that all members feel the same way.

Many Thanks for your support: Martyn Russ –Fishing Adventures Wales

Junior Welsh Carp Championship

Once again Peterstone Lakes, The home of the Birch Carp Syndicate, have showed they have what it takes to run top quality competitions. The first to start the adult Welsh Carp Championship which is one huge success story they decided it was only fair they did a junior competition for the up and coming anglers and the future of the sport. Martin Chronin (owner of the Birch Syndicate & Pro Baits UK) decided to hold a 2 day competition for the juniors to fish up on the Pencil lake as it is known by the locals.

The competition turn out was amazing and i have to add exciting from the word go. Talk about a close match. The young anglers all drew their pegs and set up camp for the 2 days and it wasn’t ;long before the lads were seeing plenty of fish action and fish on the bank.  The pencil Lake (as well as the swan lake) contain a good stock of course fish including some large Carp, Bream and Barble but as this is the Carp Championship it was only one species we were interested and the lads targeted the carp beautifully.  All the young competitors showed top quality angling and amazing fish care during the competition and it’s nice to see the future generations of the sport doing so well.

With only 6 hours left to go into the competition the results showed how close the comp was….

Sheldon Rees 29lb 6
Evan Hubbard 24lb 12
Liam Cronin 20lb 15
Jacob Rosser 20lb 8
Joseff Rosser 14lb 4
Jamie Davies 10lb
Matteo Palladino 6lb 7
Dan Monk 6lb 4
Jack Davies 5lb
Stefan Wolf 4lb

With only a couple not getting on the board you can see it was all to fish for as one fish could take it. Thankfully the weather had been kind to the boys and they all did very well in the competition but unfortunately there could only be one winner and what a title he would get the FIRST ever Junior Welsh Carp Champion and also sponsorship from Pro Baits UK

Final Results:

Sheldon Rees 29lb 6
Evan Hubbard 24lb 12
Dan Monk 22lb 2
Liam Cronin 20lb 15
Jacob Rosser 20lb 8
Joseff Rosser 14lb 4
Jamie Davies10lb
Matteo Palladino 6lb 7
Kailum Avery 6lb
Jack Davies 5lb
Stefan Wolf 4lb
Luke Martin 0
Lloyd Prytherch 0
Jake Peacock
Biggest fish
Evan Hubbard 12lb 3

A huge CONGRATULATIONS for MR SHELDON REES for becoming the first ever Junior Welsh Carp Champion.

Hendre Lake, St. Mellons – from Paradise to a Tip in just over 3 months.

by Martyn Russ

Being a disabled angler i don’t get out as much as normal abled anglers do but i do try my best and when i go out i like to make sure i have everything i need and am in comfort too in case i have an attack. I had decided, after checking the weather and seeing a break for 4 days, to get a fishing trip in from the Friday Night till the Sunday evening,  The last trip to my local lake was when it was run by the Birch Syndicate and was an amazing place. You walked around the lake in the sun you could see all the carp basking in the reeds playing on the top. and boshing out in the open water playing. Fishing this lake was a great pleasure and ended up having a red letter session with a total of 19 fish between 2 people of the period.

For this reason i chose the same location again despite hearing that the council had stopped the syndicate having the water and they were no longer in charge of the place. I was told that it was a mess and get ready for a surprise. I arrived at the lake at lunch time on Friday to meet a couple of the younger locals i know who are all good fishermen and even they said to me get ready for a shock as i loaded my gear onto the barrow, I made my way around the railway side of the lake to see so much rubbish it was like walking through a litter tip. The pathway wasn't to bad it was where it had been blown into the bushes and got trapped and built up over time. I thought that the council sent people round to empty the bins and take care of things like that i must be wrong? I made my way to the swim and set up after clearing a huge amount of rubbish out the way and set up my three rod system and settled down for the evening.

I noticed and eeriness about the lake, as though something wasn't right. Normally i follow my gut but thought i would ignore it and worked hard at trying to get the bait out ready for the night and the rigs set up just right. I spent the next 3 to 4 hours doing this, flicking bait out in an area of a penalty area on a football pitch and placed my three rods on the out areas and fed up the swim and set up for the night.  For some reason i didn't go after those quick bites as i couldn’t see any carp showing of playing there wasn't a sound around the area so i thought i would sit in for the long one. As i set up my swim i started to notice people arrive on all the different swims and start setting up fishing for carp and also pike, I noticed one guy catch a huge pike on the carp park bank fair play to him and he put that back but i saw people place a fish in a bag and couldn't say where they were from but they had an accent but nothing was said to them. The lads that were fishing next to me seemed to be getting pike like there was no tomorrow on the second day fair play to them.

The thing that  got to me the most was as i was sat warm in my bivvi enjoying my cuppa tea all of a sudden all i could hear were axes chopping up the local trees for fire wood. I would mind one or two but this seemed to be going on right around the lake. Anyone would have thought it was bonfire night. The smell of burning wood , smoke and burning plastic was crazy and the shouting and noise was just mad no wonder none of the carp were about. “ Smaller carp were caught the in the evening by the guys but when i when for a walk around the lake, the next day, as the sun was shining strong there was no sign of any carp in the reeds no sign of the by the island and nothing playing in the shallows. The change in the lake was amazing to see and really saddened my heart. Something didn't seem right about the lake and after spending the evening talking to some of they guys that fish the lake regular even they seem to think fish have gone missing, carp found dead on the bank and whispers of boats in the nights and barbeques going on. I know its the old story rumours can be a dangerous thing but after walking around the lake, seeing all the rubbish and damage to the trees and the mess every where i decided to pack up and end my trip Saturday lunch instead of staying till Sunday night as i couldn’t put up with the chaos on the bank and the noise and fires during the night. The worst thing was taking away management of the lake as now its becoming just a tip and saddens me to know i wont be visiting it for specimen fishing again that for sure,.

Wet Nets & Tight Lines

Welsh Carp Championship Final 2015

by Martyn Russ

The end of another fantastic year of the WCC sponsored By Fox International and held at Lamby Lake Cardiff.

With yet another round of qualifying matches completed and some of the best anglers in south wales managing to get through to the final the scene was set for another brilliant fishing competition again this year. Just as before each qualifier was fished at different venues around south Wales and the winning pair from each venue then went through to the final.

 

With the qualifiers starting off so well and the competition being so close we were expecting an active and close competition. Although we didn't see as many carp on the banks as we would have liked to there was still some beautiful fish caught and the competition was close from the very start. The competition was tight and really there was only 2 fish in it. As they entered the final day the standings were:

Matthew & Gareth Gronow 45lb
Anthony Jones & Mark Dickinson 26lb 4oz
Harry Wakeling & Andrew Tucker 23lb

 

Although all the lads that entered the final are all winners in our eyes there could be only one champion couple and that went to Matthew & Gareth Gronow who again are crowned Welsh Carp Champions for a second year running. Well done lads.

and we mustn’t forget that the biggest fish caught during the entire competition was a lovely Birch Syndicate mirror at 29lb 12oz. caught by  Kris Lee who won an Avid Brolley System Sponsored by ‪‎Cardiff Angling Centre‬ @‎cefnmably lakes.

‬

Lets hope 2016 is even better and bigger than ever! Top Angling

Wet Nets & Tight Lines

Welsh Carp Championship Update:

The Welsh Carp Championship continues to grow support as more and more fishing companies are getting involved and more anglers than ever before are following the competition. The fishing has been great with some very close matches and competition. Anglers have been showing just how good they really are with some amazing captures and results so far through the qualifiers it just leaves the final to go and i can assure you its going to be an interesting one, for those following the competition here are the results of the last qualifying rounds and some of the photos at the venue. 

Fenrod Lake Qualifier Final Results

Lee Baker & Mike Rowlands 53lb 9oz

Luke Hayes & Mike Robb 37lb 14oz

John Jones & Nathan Russell 36lb 14oz

Steve Hughes & Jannette Williams 24lb 15oz

Chris Powell & Nick Powell 16lb 8oz

Lee Evans & Carl Thatcher 10lb 8oz

 

Lee Baker & Mike Rowlands coming 1st 

Luke Hayes & Mike Robb coming in 2nd.  

 

Lamby Lake Qualifier Final Results

Ross & Spencer Partridge 121lb 10oz

Richard Bateman & Ben Fevlus 113lb 1oz

Nathan Branna & Ryan Jenkins 89lb 5oz

Chris Robinson & Olly Hughes 63lb 6oz

Alan Price & Tim Wright 53lb 8oz

Sion Butcher & Paul Carey 34lb 1oz

Kev Farrow & David Barrows 32lb 11oz

Dafyn Lewis & Dan Walker 31lb 11oz

Mathew Maskill & Gerald Durham 18lb 9oz

One pair yet to catch still.

Ross & Spencer Partridge coming in 1st 

Richard Bateman & Ben Fevlus coming in 2nd 

 

 

This years final is looking to be a good one with some top anglers getting through and some quality fish being caught through the qualifying rounds. Lets hop the Final is just as active as the qualifiers. Well done to all entrants this year who have made the WCC 2015 a Great one! Keep an eye out for the final results .....

 

 

Catching Wary Carp off the Top

By Martyn Russ, Featuring Brian Chandler

When the sun is out, the weather warm and the wind low this is usually the perfect time for zig or floater fishing especially for the Carp fishermen amongst us. The other day Brian Chandler, admin of Club FAW, decided that when he saw that there was a break in the weather and that the wind had dropped he thought he would sneak in a couple of hours fishing at the local lake that he's a bailiff on. When he arrived at the lake he spoke with a few other fishermen who were also trying to take the carp off the top using floater fishing techniques and they said they had been there for 4 hours but noting was happening. The carp seemed to be very shy and although they were coming up for the odd one or two dog biscuits floating around the lake they seemed to shy away from all the hook baits no matter what the presentation or how good your set-up was.

This didn’t deter Brian one little bit and he started to sling bait out on a regular basis only catapulting two or 3 biscuits every couple of minuets and watching the carp come up and take them but didn’t put his rig in the water he decided to wait. He noticed that the carp were quite a distance away from the swim he was fishing so decided to start baiting up close to them and slowly move the bait across to where he was fishing. This started to do the trick as the carp started to follow the baiting pattern. Knowing how shy the carp were acting today he didn’t want to put his hook bait amongst them or cast to showing fish as this would spook them and undo all his hard work so he waited until they had entered his swim and then using a huge cast he cast way over the top of them into the distance a few meters away from where they had been feeding.

He continued to feed the cap little and often every couple of minuets sending out the bait and watching them slurp them down. He began to slowly increase the amount he was putting in and watched as they were slowly becoming a little more confident and at that moment he begun to move his hook bait little by little every few minuets until it was sitting in the area they were feeding. This was the time he thought and loaded his sling ready with a handful of biscuits coated in his favourite flavouring. He waited for the wind to drop slightly, aimed and fired. The biscuits all landed smack bang on target and surrounded his hook bait and within seconds of them hitting the water the carp were slurping them down. He twitched the bubble float gently not to spook the fish and watched as the mouth appeared up under his hook bait and suddenly slurped it down. Instead of striking at that moment he waited and watched the bubble float and waited for the weight of the float to set the hook and move and then he lifted his rod straight into his capture. He was rewarded with a beautiful mirror carp weighing in at around 15 or 16 lb showing that even when they are nervous and feeding shy you can catch them if you take your time and do it right.

A week later brian returned to the lake again trying to get them up feeding off the top. After a couple of hours on the main body of water only the odd one or two would take a surface bait so he decided to change the area and moved to the back of the island and found the carp sitting in the shade keeping cool. Again using the same technique as he did before he managed to land another beautiful Carp, a common weighing in at 18lb 8oz.

Top Angling Brian. Wet Nets & Tight Lines

First 48 Hours Session of the Year - May 2015 Hendre Lake, St. Mellons. Cardiff

By Martyn Russ

Eager to get our first longer session of the year we decided to go down the evening before and prepare the swim for the night and try and get in a couple of early bites to the session. The actual forecast was for cloudy days with a storm slowly moving in but as we actually found out there was a heat wave set for the second day. Unaware of the incoming heat we arrived at the lake in the early evening and set up camp on a large double swim on the railway bank, as its known to the regulars, and chose the double swim right next to the centre slues. Apparently as the slues brings in natural food it was looking like a good area to target along with a good open stretch of water with and island as a feature and a gravel bar that runs the top length of the lake and partly around the back of the island.

 

 

I set up the Korum Multi Shelter and John put up His TFGear Speed Light Force 8 2 man Bivvi. Camp was up and its was time to get the rods out and start fishing. I had decided to use the Korum Rods, 3.5lb 12 Foot distance rods coupled with the Korum KXI 80 Reels with Subline 15lb that has a slightly deeper spool holding more line than a standard bait runner that gives you that little extra casting distance. Also the Korum 3 Alarm bus bar with the KXI Alarm and mini bobbins. John was using The CK Fusion Experts 2.5 12 Footers with The Grandslam Pro Frees pools with Ultima KR Pro 15lb Silt using the Black Zero Alarms and Dual Rod Stalking Set. As The lake is very silt, with deep silt in placed and soft, we both decided to use as light as lead as possible. Using tungsten tubing and quick change swivels we had a selection of rigs to try ranging from bottom to pop up and rigs and also a couple of zig’s in case they were up in the higher layer of the water.

 

I used one rod to fish the slues to the left of our double swim and the other two out in the mid water. For the first day we decided to divide our efforts with one using Nash Monster Squid and the Other The Red Ball Bait from First 4 Fishing. We baited up our swims and using small PVA's with stick mix and a few boilies around the swim we set our traps and waited. The weather started to turn quite brisk as the night fell and was started to wonder if they were going to feed as they had just started to spawn. Suddenly the rod in the bay ripped into action on the Monster Squid Black and I was into a large carp that bolted straight into reeds 2 foot from where the bait was laying despite the rod being locked up tight to try and avoid the snags. Trying to lead the carp out of the snag the mainline wrapped up and the carp was lost. I couldn’t believe it, devastating when you lose your first carp and wonder is that the only chance you will get on the trip. I re-set the trap in the bay and switched the other rods over to the monster squid black to see if we could entice any others. Hours passed into the early hours of the morning and both myself and John wondered if that was going to be it. Suddenly 1am in the morning the rod on the bay again ripped into action and despite being quick into the strike the carp again bolted into the snag this time tethering up around the thick stem and there was no way of shifting it which meant I was going to have to go in. Freezing cold and right up to your chest I placed the chest waders on and in I went. I slowly released the carp from the snag and just as it got free it shook its head and spat the hook, big and chunk and gone. After all that I wanted to scream. Could this be a sign of things to come, was the session doomed. Around 30 minuets after re-setting the bait again the bay rod went round and I was into a small carp that again got into the snag and was off. My ego was dented and I wanted the ground to open up. This surely couldn’t be happening.

 

 

By the morning I was feeling so low I just couldn't think what to do. It was at that moment Johns Rod screamed off and he was into his first carp of the session, again on the monster squid black he managed to stop it from running around into the bay and finding the snag and was rewarded with a lovely 15lb 4 oz Mirror Carp. This boosted our moods and we started to prepare for the day. We put out a bit more bait and waited. It was a couple of hours and I was again into my fourth and again it tried to get into the snag. This time I clamped down real hard and managed to get it to go around the reed bed keeping it up in the water. John grabbed the net for me and I landed my first of the session, a lovely 12lb , 8oz Mirror. At last the jinx was broken and we had started to get the fish. Unfortunately that was it for the first day and the swims died despite keeping the bait going in little and often. The weather had suddenly changed and the day became so hot I ended up with terrible sunburnt arms despite staying in the shade for most of the day. We were pleased we had finally had some action but started to think what we could do to get then going again. I decided to use the Korda goo to start them off and also a sudden bat change to see if they fancied something sweeter and opted for Mainline Essential IB Wafters on a balanced hook with the IB boilies on stringers covered in Korda Pineapple Goo. Maybe a change in the morning would set them off.

 

 

Day Two – The Swim Just Kicked Off

Early hours came and despite having no sleep the night before due to the stress of loosing the carp I managed a couple of hours and was up at the crack of dawn watching the mist rise from the lake, The sun was coming up and again it was set to warn up. Lets hope they wanted to feed before it gets too hot again. I changed all the rods over to the new baits with stringers attacked and set them out first thing again with one on the bay. Within 30 minuets of setting the new bait out my rod ripped off and was awarded with another. Within 20 minuets of me landing mine and returning it Johns Rod Jumped into action and he was again rewarded with a a nice common of 14lb 6oz.

  

  

  The bait change had worked and we were beginning to catch fish. We continued like this for the entire morning with small intervals and then the bites would go again. The bay seemed to remain dead and we were getting them all from mid water, off the bottom with the balanced wafters in approximately 8 foot of water. The rigs we were both using were Size 6 Korda Krank hooks on the N-trap Soft Semi Stiff Hook link at 5 inches with a size 15mm Balanced Essential IB Wafters with a string of 5 15mm IB Bottom Baits and a small Stick of Stick Mix with crushed boilies. Coating the hook bait with the goo seemed to be working well so we continued doing it the entire day.

  

 

The second half of the day wasn't so hectic as the lunch time became very warm again with no clouds in the sky and the sun belting down but as evening fell the clouds started to come and the winds built quickly making the lake very choppy. The carp switched back on and I was rewarded with my largest of the day 18lb 5 oz plus another 2 and John also managed another 2 with the smallest being 13lb. We were both very happy despite me getting sunburnt with a great result of 18 Carp total with me on 10 and John on 8, we had 4 mid sized bream and I lost the 3 and John also lost 2. Hendre Lake hold a few larger 20's up to 28 and lots of 10 to 20lb Carp so we were very please wit our results from this lake. There isn't 100's of carp and I class this water semi wild as it's still connected to the reams feeding the lake in 3 places so a result like that was really good with them spawning at the same time. I think now they need to be left alone for a month and then we will get back down the lake to have another go.

  

Wet Nets & Tight Lines