Sea Fishing Wales’ Top 10

I have been asked to write a blog profiling my favourite top ten fishing venues in Wales. On the face of it that’s an easy enough task, yet for several days I have been pondering over which venues I am going to include and more to the point, those I am forced to leave out.

The problem, if you can call it that, is that the entire Welsh coastline has excellent fishing, and speaking as someone who has been fortunate to have fished much if not most of it over the past 50 years, picking ten favourite venues is tough.

After some considerable amount of thought, here are 10 of my favourite Welsh sea angling destinations for both the shore and boat angler…

1) GWENT SEA WALL.

My formative years as a sea angler were spent fishing the various sea wall marks that fringe the Gwent levels. More specifically the stretch of coastline starting at Magor below the Prince of Wales bridge, to St Brides to the west of the mouth of the tidal River Usk at Newport.

Silver eels, pouting and flounder were once the main summer species, along with an occasional strap conger, thornback ray, Dover sole or, albeit on extremely rare occasions, a small bass. Throughout the winter codling and whiting used to take over as our primary target species. Things have changed considerably over the course of the past few decades. The cod have almost completely disappeared and the numbers of silver eels, which are now protected, have crashed.

Summer fishing throughout this region focuses on conger eel, numbers of which have increased dramatically. Likewise thornback ray and bass can now be regarded as abundant. Dover sole are also caught in good numbers, along with other species once totally completely absent from the area such as dogfish and small-eyed-ray. I have been told that smoothounds have been caught at Peterstone just to the west of St Brides, which is hardly surprising as these are now common at Cardiff Foreshore.

2) CARDIFF BAY.

Cardiff Bay is a vast enclosure of fresh water. It is here moored at various marinas located within The Bay, that you’ll find the largest fleet of charter boats in The Principality. Much of the fishing in the region is in relatively shallow and often very coloured water, yet incredibly I can list at least ten species that Cardiff Bay charter boats catch in excess of 10lb throughout the year: Conger eel, smoothounds, spurdog, bull huss, bass, cod, thornback, blonde and small-eyed-ray and tope. In addition to these whiting, pouting, sole, flounder, spotted ray, dogfish and others are caught.

Over the years my work as an angling photo/journalist has taken me all around the British Isles, and I can say in all honesty that there are very few areas where you can find inshore fishing to match what anglers typically experience within spitting distance of the Glamorgan coastline.

3) ABERTHAW.

Aberthaw has long been an incredibly productive venue for shore anglers, as well as being popular for charter and private boats based at Cardiff Bay. Once again a wide variety of species are available, notably smoothounds which often are caught in huge numbers from the spring until well into autumn. Various species of ray, conger eel, huss, dogfish and bass are all caught here.

Aberthaw is a rough ground venue, somewhere that is suited to those anglers with some experience rather than the novice, anglers who are comfortable hiking across a vast expanse of slippery inter-tidal rocks. Fishing here is at it’s best for a couple of hours either side of low water on small to mid-range tides.

4) SWANSEA BAY AND SOUTH GOWER.

Swansea used to be the base of a large fleet of charter boats, which sadly is no longer the case today. A few charter boats are located at Swansea Marina, along with a substantial amount of private boats. Most of these fish the area from Porthcawl to Worm’s Head. They fish both the productive inshore grounds, along with other marks located in deeper water midway in the Bristol Channel. Target species include all of those already listed for Cardiff Bay, plus dozens of others such as black bream, triggerfish, pollack, wrasse, plaice, turbot, brill and more.

The shore fishing is excellent, anglers having the option of either fishing from the rocks, or beautiful sandy beaches. Many anglers focus on lure fishing for bass, fishing over ground that could have been purpose built for the specialist bass angler. Fishing bait is also hugely effective for bass, along with a plethora of other species.

5) RHOSSILI BAY.

Also widely known as Llangennith, this west facing expanse of golden sand is my favourite place to sea fish anywhere in the UK. I first fished here in the early 1970s, when a small group of us spent a fortnight camping on Burry Holmes, a small tidal island located at the northern tip of the beach. I’ve fished here at least once every year since that first trip.

The southern end of the beach is marked by Rhossili Ledges, a comfortable shore venue accessed following a steep though not especially difficult climb, and the truly spectacular tidal headland known as Worms Head.

A classic west facing surf beach, unsurprisingly Rhossili has long been a noted hotspot for bass. Bass can be caught here throughout much of the year, but the best fishing is generally from spring through until late autumn. The optimum time to fish is a day or so following a strong onshore blow, when the wind has subsided and this three mile beach is washed by a steady swell. Night fishing is almost more effective for bass.

Other species caught here include flounder, which are often plentiful throughout year round. In recent years anglers have targeted large shoals of golden grey mullet, which are available from June until October. These are caught using large bunches of harbour ragworm, known as mudworm here in Wales and available from local tackle shops, often in incredibly shallow water just a few yards from the very edge of the waterline.

An increasing number of anglers fly fish for mullet and bass. Fly fishing here is an exciting and often visual technique, it’s as close as you’ll get to casting at tailing bonefish on a tropical flat, without catching a plane! Watch out for venomous weaver fish, which are often abundant on this beach during summer.

6) TENBY AND SAUNDERSFOOT.

Located in south Pembrokeshire, the neighbouring towns of Tenby and Saundersfoot are two of the most popular tourist locations in Wales, and from Easter until the autumn both are extremely busy. Thankfully you never have to travel far to escape the crowds, and find yourself amongst some of the most beautiful and unspoiled coastal scenery anywhere. Best of all, the fishing almost everywhere is excellent.

Charter boats are based at both harbours. These cater for both the serious sea angler, and tourists looking for a few hours of family fun catching mackerel and several other species. For the dedicated angler the star attractions offshore include tope, bass, black bream and smoothounds to name but a few. Anglers fishing from the shore generally target bass using baits and lures, along with smoothounds, rays, dogfish and a wide variety of other species.

7) MILFORD HAVEN.

A huge inland waterway, Milford Haven is yet another venue that could have been purpose designed for sea anglers. Such is the unique topography of this vast inland waterway, regardless of the weather conditions, you will always find somewhere that is comfortable, and most importantly safe to fish.

Neyland and Milford Haven marinas are the base for the charter boats that fish the productive waters off the tip of south west Wales, and out beyond the horizon in the famed Celtic Deeps. Here anglers can experience the thrill of catch both blue and porbeagle sharks, often in large numbers, and including specimens to record size.

On a few albeit rare occasions, anglers have hooked, and subsequently release huge mako and thresher sharks. It is in these rich waters where licenced boats fish for bluefin tuna, giving their anglers the possibility of catching and releasing a fish that can weigh in excess of 1000lb. Shore anglers will find a wide variety of different venues throughout Milford Haven. Marks where they can target a large variety of different species using a variety of different methods.

8) ST DAVID’s.

The smallest city in the UK, St David’s is the perfect starting point for shore anglers looking to fish remote and rarely fished rock marks, which can be accessed with varying degrees of difficulty from the Wales Coast Path. Typically fishing clear water, anglers have the option of fishing baits or lures; often it will be possible to fish both side on the same session.

This is one of several areas in Wales where an increasing numbers of shore anglers catch tope from the shore. Averaging 20-40lb, tope estimated at weighing upwards of 70 and even 80lb have been caught in recent years. Other species caught on bait include conger, dogfish, bull huss, wrasse and on occasion even spurdogs or ling. Lure fishing will produce plenty of pollack, coalfish, mackerel and wrasse.

9) ABERDOVEY.

Situated on the north shore of the Dovey estuary, the pretty little town of Aberdovey has a long association with sea angling. Over the years boat anglers fishing aboard Aberdovey based charter boats have enjoyed truly spectacular fishing throughout Cardigan Bay, fishing for tope, rays, huss, bass and black bream.

The bass fishing in particular can be incredible, with anglers catching large numbers of what often are specimen sized fish, casting lures in the vicinity of several shallow reefs in the area.

Fishing at anchor throughout the summer months in very shallow water will provide what arguably must be some of the very best black bream fishing anywhere in the UK. Shore anglers fishing marks both within and outside of the Dovey estuary will find sport with bass, flounder, mullet and other species, including dogfish, huss and ray.

10) NORTH WEST WALES INCLUDING ANGLESEY.

Finally we travel to the far north west of Wales, to experience the rich and varied fishing north of the Lleyn Peninsula, including the island of Anglesey and the Menai Straights. Charter boats can be booked from various locations within the area including Holyhead, Amlwch and Carmarthen.

The waters offshore are famous for the high quality of mixed fishing that is available for a wide variety of species. One of the most popular options is to head well offshore into the St George’s channel, to fish deep water wrecks for pollack, cod, coalfish and ling. Shore anglers will find a multitude of options for a similarly large and varied pool of species, with bass, wrasse, huss, pollack, ray and tope being amongst the most popular.

WORDS & IMAGES: Dave Lewis