South Wales has long been a haven for sea anglers, either from the shore or afloat its many marks can offer fishing opportunities for both novices and expert anglers alike. The coastline is littered with different types of sea bed, ranging from rocks, reefs, sand banks to mud flats, combined with the second biggest tides in the world that power up the Bristol Channel daily. All this together with quickly accessible wrecks makes this part of the sea a great area for the fish, and what is good for fish is good for the fisherman.
The following are a few of the sea fishing marks to be found along the South Wales coastline.
Cardiff and Penarth
Over the past decade the Cardiff and Penarth area has established itself as arguably the top rod and line cod fishery in the UK. But it doesn't end there, for the summer fishing is just as good with a large variety of species, and for the adventurous there are also huge numbers of wrecks littering the seabed of the Bristol Channel within a couple of hours steaming.
Species that can be caught throughout the year are cod, codling, bass, thornback, spotted, and small eyed rays, turbot, huss, dogfish, tope and even porbeagle shark which move eastwards up the channel with the mackerel shoals.
The Corus Short Arm
The Short Arm is part of the Corus steel works in Port Talbot, and is owned and operated by ABP to whom an application must be made for a permit to access.
The short arm, along with its partner the long arm, are essentially concrete breakwaters built onto boulders laid on the sea bed that go out for about 1/2 mile or so forming a harbour for the very large cargo ships delivering raw materials to the steelworks. It also offers many different fishing opportunities, from ledgering, float fishing to spinning and plugging. All these techniques have been successfully deployed here. Be aware though that fishing is only allowed during daylight, and access is not allowed in rough weather.
Bass, mackerel, garfish, pollack, wrasse, mullet and the ever present dogfish are the usual catches of the day here, with flatties, conger eels and rays making an occasional appearance. Winter can provide some hectic sport from the dogfish, pouting and whiting, but it is the kind of venue where anything can turn up.
The Ogmore Deeps
Ogmore Deeps are situated a few miles to the east of Porthcawl in South Wales and is a popular shore venue with a well-deserved reputation for producing big cod. The Deeps as they are locally known, forms a series of flat rock ledges offering access to relatively deep water close in and certainly within the casting capabilities of most anglers. It is somewhere the big fish can and often do show.
It has a wide range of marks to fish from within itself, varying from sandy bottom to coral reefs and rocky beds. As a result tackle loss can be high if fishing in the wrong spot, also as the tide ebbs, a strong current appears, so grip leads are a must. Casting for distance is not an issue as even on the lowest tide it still has a fair depth of water.
The mark is capable of producing a wide variety of fish throughout the year with species ranging from bass, mackerel, gurnard, small eyed and thornback rays with the occasional blonde ray throw in for good measure. The winter months tend to provide the best fishing with whiting in abundance, good size cod/codling, conger and obligatory pouting and dogfish.
Swansea and Mumbles
The ground off Swansea is a mix of clean sand and mud, rough ground patches, reefy ground consisting of coral, and further out undulating sand banks. The beauty of Swansea is that most of the popular marks are within Swansea Bay itself and only a short trip of maybe 20 minutes by boat is required to reach the prime fishing grounds.
The ground around the Mumbles Head Lighthouse varies from mixed rough amongst sand to the right, with mostly sand at longer range towards the east. It fishes best either side of high water, with the bigger tides giving the better fishing.
The abundance of species that can be caught throughout the year within the Bay and around the pier makes this a popular choice for many anglers. Fish caught include cod (some reaching 20lb+), small-eyed, spotted and thornback rays, tope, with fish to over 50lbs possible, bass, smoothound and mackerel which encourage a few porbeagle sharks within range.
The reefs hold black bream through the summer, as well as the ever present conger, bull huss. The offshore wrecks can give excellent pollack fishing as well as cod, huss, and big conger. From Mumbles pier bass, mullet, flounder and even the odd trigger fish.
Baits
It is always best to research the mark you intend to fishing to see what the most effective baits are catching the fish and this will vary throughout the fishing year. But for most areas, rag worm and mackerel will tempt most species along with sandeel for the rays. Lug (black and brown), worm tipped with mackerel/squid or crab works well for the codling with bigger cod going for one or two whole squid. Conger will take almost any fish bait. During the summer months bass can be taken on rag worm and crab, sometimes when on the float with crab, live prawn or mackerel strips.
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Tony Fowler - After having a varied career to date with qualifications ranging from Electrical Engineering to Marketing. Throughout my life I have ...
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