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New Welsh Team Members
Congratulations to Malcolm Edwards and Mathew
Jones who have just qualified to fish for the Welsh team in 2012. They
both fished consistently throughout the trials to ensure their places for
the 2012 team. I am sure they will both be great team members and give
their all to ensure a Welsh win. Well done both. |
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Sneaky Leighton
Congratulations to Leighton Rees who tied the knot with
his new wife Elin in a quiet ceremony that no one knew about. Having spoken to Leighton he said" John it was a great
day and cost less than a grand" he also said "before you ask no she is not
pregnant" as if I would think that!!!
Well all I can say is congratulations to you both and when is the party. |
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Steve and Elaine Richards land another!
Congratulations are in order as they just landed another
great catch in the form of a baby boy Iestyn Tomos Richards. Weighing in
at a very respectable 7lb 2oz Iestyn Tomos is probably the heaviest catch
Steve will ever make ;)
Well done Steve and Elaine and
Shaun of course. |
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CORMORANTS AND GOOSANDERS
Report Your Sightings of Cormorants and Goosanders!
The Angling Trust, has launched a new web site for
anglers to record sightings of cormorants, goosanders and mergansers
throughout the UK:
www.cormorantwatch.org The new site is
easy to use and will gather vital data to help persuade government of
the need for action to protect fisheries.
The Angling Trust succeeded in persuading the Fisheries
Minister Richard Benyon to carry out a review of the licensing
procedures and he has stated that he is prepared to take “bold
decisions”. As part of this review, the Trust needs data on the
abundance of cormorants to convince the government to take decisive
action.
Anglers can record sightings and activity of cormorants
anywhere in the UK, directly onto a Google Maps driven micro-site at
www.cormorantwatch.org Users will
also be able to scroll around the map and zoom in to view details of
each recorded cormorant sighting and watch the real picture of
cormorant predation in UK waters build up week by week.
The Trust’s aim is to persuade DEFRA to simplify licensing procedures
and allow greater controls on cormorant numbers. It is hoped that this
data will also be factored into a wider pan European study on
cormorants.
Angling Trust Chief executive
Mark Lloyd commented “This
is a moment when anglers need to stand up and be counted. If people
don’t record sightings of cormorants and other fish eating birds on
this site, then the politicians and civil servants will not have the
information they need to make decisions which could affect the future
of fishing for the next generation. It takes less than a minute to
record a sighting. All anglers who see one of these birds in the next
few months must make the effort to visit
cormorantwatch.org and put a pin
in the map, whether they are a member of the Angling Trust or not.”
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WARNING:
Non EA Rod Licence Website Applies Unnecessary Charges
to Anglers
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The Angling Trust is
warning all anglers NOT to buy their licence from the commercial
fishingrodlicence.com web site, unless they want to pay an unnecessary
extra charge of £14 for checking over their application. This service
is of no real benefit to anglers because the Environment Agency (EA)
does not require applications to be checked before submission. The web
site has been set up this year and comes top of a Google search for
"Rod Licence". In addition to the extra charge, anglers buying their
licences from the web site will not be able to go fishing until they
receive their licence in the post. The EA site offers a receipt and
reference number which does allow people to fish while they are
waiting for the licence to arrive.
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Newsletter 2011
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All the news from the
2010 Season
A better Season but still not great
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The 2010 season was not our worst season
and to be honest it felt a little better than 2009.
In the last few seasons we have seen heavy water all through the
winter dropping to summer levels as soon as the season starts. Last
season was the complete opposite with low water levels through the
winter giving rise to higher than normal water levels well into the
season. With some fantastic sunny weather all through the whole of May
and no rain at all till June which must have held a lot of fish back
from running the river early as we have seen through previous seasons. Although some really good fish were taken during the early part of
June the later part of the season became very unsettled with water
levels remaining higher than normal. Fly fishing at night was
strangled by the high water flows allowing the spinner and worm
fishermen to make the most of the situation. Nearly all of the biggest
fish caught last season fell to spinners and quills and the fly had
little impact all along the whole river. Notable fish caught last
season were a salmon of 11.6 lb caught by Peter Davies and a salmon of 9.10 lb
caught by Chris Downing. Dai Wigley and Darren Jones both weighed in
sewin of 6lb plus. Even though there seemed to be a few more
fish around they failed to settle and probably carried on running the
water throughout the season with the best fishing coming between July
and August. The final two months of the season were nothing less than
dire with just a handful of fish coming to the net. We can blame the
lack of fish on the world wide problem of global warming, we can blame
it on fishing practises at sea but my money is on a great deal of
poaching that has been going on last season in the lower reaches of
the Loughor estuary into the lower reaches of the river. There were
two instances of poaching with nets being being enforced by the
Environment Agency and even instances of nets found in the lower
reaches of the river at Pontardulais. We really need to be aware of
persons on the river bank without rods as they could be looking for
the quiet areas of the river to attack. This is one of the reasons why
I feel we should all address the question of catch and release. I know
four or five members who consistently release fish all through the
season which is great to see. What we should all remember is that the
only time we as members of this club can do anything at all to look
after the fish that run our water is when they are running our
stretches of river. Every fish released, that makes it to its spawning
ground upstream will shed thousands upon thousands of eggs giving our Sewin more of a chance to strengthen numbers and hopefully return to
the river to shed even greater numbers of eggs. So my message to you
all is that we should endeavour to release as many fish as possible
all year round.
The 2010 season saw the new water Tycroes water in use once more
giving fantastic access to the Tycroes water and Erw Wastad water from
the new car park situated on the Tycroes side of the river in times of
heavy water. New signs were put up to show the boundary start and end
and on the gate of the car park. Please study the new maps for this
car park which clearly show that access from the car park to the water
is via the field below the car park and not down the lane which runs
alongside the car park. Please ensure you close the gate from the car
park and take any litter home with you.
A great deal of the members that fish the middle water will have
noticed the massive damage caused to the area of water below Buarthu
Farm. This was caused by a local farmer building up his banks with
shoal from the river bed to try and halt the ingress of high river
flows accessing his fields. This has caused a great deal of damage to
a great piece of water which has now become very unstable underfoot.
Once the association became aware of the situation we quickly involved
the Environment Agency and reported the incident for investigation.
The farmer in question argued that he was unaware that it is illegal
to remove shoal from the river bed and as a result was formally warned
not to do this again without consent. For future reference, if anyone
sees a digger in the river at any time in this area please report it
immediately to the Environment Agency first and then the club
secretary so that we can put a stop to this practice which has gone on
for years in this area of the river. Please take care when fishing
this area of water due to the unstable ground underfoot along this
area of river bank.
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Mike Willies looking good
You might remember that just thirteen months ago Mike Willies life
took a turn for the worse following what can only be described as a
completely freak accident which left him paralysed from the neck down.
At that time Mike's life hung in the balance with no more than a slim
chance at best of ever getting through his ordeal. For those of you
that know Mike, it would be fair to say that he could be headstrong,
impatient, argumentative and single minded in purpose. His whole life
revolved around work leaving just a little space for the other things
in his life. All I can say is "Thank the Lord for these traits"
Since the accident Mike has continued to improve, gaining strength day
by day. His headstrong attitude and sense of direction has brought him
from a state of complete dependence on other people to a person who
can now dress himself, even though it may take ten minutes to put a
shirt on. He is able to feed himself and lift himself in and out of
bed and move himself around. When you consider that all this has been
achieved in just a few months you have to sit in awe at the power
within this man. For all the problems Mike is still facing his
attitude is far beyond anything I could do I am sure and during a recent
visit to his home I realised that there was an awful lot more
improvement to come from this guy yet. Recently he started a computer
course and is now online and will be undertaking a driving assessment
in the near future. Although he still has issues with his replacement
leg I am sure that one way or another he will overcome that too. He
told me that his one overriding goal is to get back to fishing with a
fly which was something Mike really loved to do and more importantly
had time for. For me Mike is one of those people that you cannot but
admire and look up to, his attitude and courage in the face of
overwhelming odds is unbelievable. I am sure that you will all agree
with me in wishing Mike as full a recovery as is possible and that the
next twelve moths will see an even grater improvement on what he has
accomplished so far.
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Club Champion 2010
The new club champion for the
2010 season is Mathew Jones. Mathew fished consistently well all
season to accrue a total of 22.5 points to secure his
position during the 2010 club competitions held throughout the year.
These competitions are held on both river and still water venues
showing his prowess in many differing fishing situations.
The picture shows Mathew accepting his Club Champion trophy from
Vice Chairman, Peter Davies at the annual presentation night.
Well done Mathew.
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New
Credit Card Type
Permit
Last season we received several reports of people
fishing that were unable to produce their permits when asked. Please
remember that If you
are asked for your permit and cannot produce it for inspection then
you may be asked to leave the river. Please carry your permit at all
times. Another reason we ask you to carry your permits is that
there are emergency numbers on each permit that will enable you to
report pollution or poaching incidents quickly which in turn could quite
easily stop a major problem arising on the river.
This year we will be introducing a new credit card type permit which
will feel and look exactly like your bank card or driving licence. The
card is much more hardwearing, rugged and waterproof and will be impossible to copy as it
incorporates a security hologram. Another reason, which will save
members money each year is that the photos we receive this year will
be used for the next five years before needing to submit a new photo.
This will save each member around twenty pounds over the next five
years. Last year I personally ejected 2 ex
members of this association from the river who were carrying permits
that had been copied to look like the permits distributed by the
association at that time. This of course gave rise to the thought that
there could be many more ex members producing their own permits to
fish the river without paying for a permit. This new card will
eradicate this problem and ensure that only true members of the
association are using our amenities.
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Bank Clearance and Work Days
Last year a great deal of
work was carried out on the river to try and open up areas of water
that had become unfishable because of over hanging trees and overgrown
areas along our river banks. Quite a few
areas have now been cleared yet again and are now fishable once more. This year
will see work carried out on the area adjacent to the Garnswllt
Sewerage works where we will be replacing the old style with a new
style closer to the river. We will also be clearing the same bank all
the way down to Buarthu and along the block stones. By clearing this
area we feel that we will be able to control the knotweed easier and
hopefully foot traffic from anglers will keep the area clear as it
used to be many years ago. The same
type of work will be carried out at Tro Will again this year to try
and overcome the thick tree growth which has sprung up along the
railway bank. In order to
carry out this work the association has purchased a new brush cutter
to add to the one we already own so that we can double our efforts in
the eradication of the dreaded Japanese knotweed and make the river
banks an easier place to fish.
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Car Park at
Garnswllt
This season will see new posts
installed at Granswllt car park which will make the car park a little
easier to use and ensure better security. There is still a little work to do at the car park and
will be finished this coming season. A new lock will be installed on
the gate which should be easier to use than the last lock as we had a
few complaints that it was difficult to turn the key rings on the last
lock that was installed.
This car park has proved quite useful last season with many people now
using the car park to access our middle water from Two Rivers Meet
down to Tro Will. The beauty of this car parking area is that it has a
very easy, flat access to the river for disabled members. Please
ensure that when you cross the railway that you close all gates after
you and take care whilst crossing. One report received from a member of the committee
last season was that someone had entered the car park to fish but on
leaving had not tumbled the numbers on the lock. This meant that the
gate was still open.
Please ensure that when
you enter and exit the car park that you lock the gate after you and
that you jumble the numbers on the lock so that the gate is locked. Please ensure that you keep this car park clean and tidy
and take your litter home with you.
Remember that the combination for the lock will
change this season and will be printed on your Permit card.
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The Lane at Hendrewen
I would like to thank our members for the effort made to ensure
there were no problems caused in the lane at Hendrewen last year. Again
there was no complaint received so please keep this up for the new season as this is still one of our
most important stretches of water on the Loughor and of course our best
access to this stretch of water. Please remember that you
display your Ammanford Angling stickers in your car window as this really
worked well for us last season and helped to identify potential problems
before problems could arise. If you do not have a car sticker then
please ask the secretary for them at a cost of 50p each. New members will
receive two badges free of charge and are re-usable.
Please ensure that you only use the car park situated just 70 yds up
the road from the lane at Hendrewen to park your vehicle and
ensure that no more than three cars are parked at any one time. Close all
gates after you cross the railway crossing and do not walk through the
middle of the field and keep to the sides of the field at all times.
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Car Park at Tro
Will
Again this year the car park has been well used and
again my thanks for the cooperation of members in keeping the car park
clean and tidy. Last season we replaced some of the ballast stone at
the car park to try and stop the ingress of mud that was starting to
swamp one side of the car park.This coming season will see new finger
posts installed to try and ensure members space their cars evenly so
that we can ensure room for five cars in this area.
Please
remember to take your litter home with you and please do not throttle
your car engine excessively when leaving the car park late at night.
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New River Maps
Last year maps of the river,
access areas and car parks for the river were made available on the
website and are easily printable to your own printer. Just follow the
instructions on the website to download full A4 size maps for your own
use.
This year full size colour maps are available for sale which have been
beautifully produced by one of the best river maps producer in Wales
namely Mike Davies
and would be a wonderful item to frame for your own home. Each map is
an elegant study of the river giving pool names, car parks, accesses
and where you can and cannot fish.
The cost of the full size maps are as follows and are available in
three sizes from the secretary upon request.
Small Map - £24.00
Medium Map - £28.00
Large Map - £32.00
Our thanks must go to Mike for the work he has put into this visually
impressive map of our river over the last few years. It really is a
work of art that will grace any wall within your home.
That is provided your good lady is willing!
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Fly Tying Classes
Again this year the fly tying classes have seen a
very good attendance. Our thanks again to the tutors who give their time to
teach the art of fly tying. The tutors are Peter Norman, Peter Davies,
Brian Jeremiah, Dai Wigley and of course Malcolm Edwards who is probably one of
the best fly tiers in Wales. The classes are held every Monday night
from November through to March and are open to anyone that wishes to
learn the skills required to tie a fly.
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Riverfly Monitoring
Last
year this association has
been taking part in the Carmarthenshire Rivers Trust kick sampling
covering the River Loughor. The process of kick
sampling ensures that we build an accurate picture of what
is actually happening in our rivers and is carried out four times
a year. The main reason is to monitor whether we have a healthy
habitat and clean river water to support not only the fish that
live in it but the invertebrates they feed on. Having a healthy
environment for the fly life in the water ensures that there is a
plentiful supply of food for our migrating fish to feed on
which in turn should return more healthy fish to the sea so that
they can fatten up and return once more to spawn in larger
numbers. Obviously the threat of pollution and sheep dip can
then be assessed more easily and hopefully rectified before it
causes so much damage that the river can no longer support the
head of fish we have enjoyed in the past. Recent samples taken on
the rivers Lash, Cathan, Pedol have all yielded
a more than adequate population of nymphs and crustaceans in our
upper waters to support the growing fish we have in our rivers.
Unfortunately we only sampled twice last year due to inclement
water levels. All in all our rivers water quality is good and bodes well for coming seasons. We are also seeing more
kingfisher and Otters in our waters which also shows improvement
in water quality.
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Catch and Release
We all know that there is a general decline throughout the worlds Sea
Trout and Salmon stocks but there is something you as an angler can do
to make a difference however small it may be. Catch and release is a
great way to do your bit for the environment and ensure an ever
increasing stock of fish return to our river each year. This year the
association will be carrying out a catch and release policy that will
become compulsory on our waters from the 1st October as agreed at AGM till the end of
the season. It was also passed at AGM that the daily catch limit on
Sea Trout should change from four fish daily to three fish.This initiative is already being carried out on Pontardulais Angling Association water and we felt that this could be
a great way to try and increase the number of spawning fish at the end
of the season. This policy is also initiated by our association and
not by the EA so can be reversed at any time. That is to say
that any migratory fish caught after this date must be returned to the
water for release. If we all
return a few fish each year to the river we could have as much as
13,000 extra fish return to our waters each year to spawn. If this happens year
on year the numbers of returning fish could conceivably treble in
numbers in future years. If we report pollutions early we can ensure
that any damage caused to the rivers habitat is rectified without any
lasting damage caused. These are things we can all do and should do.
Not one of us needs to kill a fish unless it is for the pot. Last year
saw new laws come into force in England and Wales that now make it
illegal to buy fish that have not come from recognized outlets such as
fish markets, superstores and the like. This means that the people who
catch or poach fish for a living will find it hard to sell their catch
and if they do, not only they be fined heavily but so will the people
who buy the fish. This is great news for fish stocks so we should all
try our hardest to play our part in improving our waters fish
population. Whilst I know that not all of our members approve of this
move we have to believe and understand that this could drastically
improve the quantities of fish we see each year so please get behind
the club on this initiative to see if it makes any lasting difference
to the quality of fishing on our river.
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Email Addresses for the
future
You may have noticed that we
are now asking for your email addresses on the Permit Renewal Form
you were sent recently. The reason for this is to enable us to
email each member that has an email address any type of
information we urgently need you as members to know so that
information can circulate more quickly. We will also email forms
that are normally sent via the Royal Mail which will save the club
money each year. Those members without an email address will still
receive your permit renewal forms via Royal Mail. Your emails will
be secure and not passed on to any third party and will be soley
for the use of the association.
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A Word of Thanks
Our thanks must go to those
that support the Ammanford Angling association in all we do year after
year.
To the committee of the Pick (Ammanford Social Club) for the rooms
that they allow us to use for committee meetings, AGM's and fly tying
classes.
Rob Williams at
Tight Lines for the support given to the club for junior
competition prizes and reduced cost's for fly tying equipment for the
fly tying classes. Rob has always supported the association and
understands that the juniors are the future of fishing in Wales.
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Finally
My thanks to the membership of this association for
their support and cooperation throughout the the past year and the
hope that this year will be one to remember.
The committee of this association and in
particular the officers of this club that do so much to ensure this
association grows from strength to strength each year. This committee
has worked particularly hard in the last few years to make the fishing
experience with Ammanford & District Angling Association a happy one
Thank you.
John Jones (Secretary) |
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