Bracelet Bay, Southgate, Langland Bay and back to Swansea West Pier

Some views of Swansea West Pier

A couple of pictures of the dog fish we caught


Last week me and my housemate continued to explore a few sea fishing spots in the evenings. On Monday we headed out past Mumbles and on to Bracelet Bay. We parked in the car park by the kids playground area and went out on the rocks. The tide was almost fully in but was on its way out. In the couple of hours we were there all we managed was one weird looking thing which we believe was a long-spined bullhead having looked at pictures on the net. This was caught float fishing with lugworm although I did also try using silver shrimps and also fishing on the bottom to no avail.

On the Tuesday evening after work we headed out towards South Gower and ended up at Southgate. We went for a bit of a stroll and found that there are some accessible areas on the rocks that we might try in the future but we decided not to atempt it this time. We then continued to Caswell Bay but the tide was in and there were a lot of surfers and body boarders there making it unfishable from the beach.

Our final destination was Langland Bay where we dicided to give it a go for an hour. Having gone to the far edge of the beach to keep out of other people's way we soon found there to be an excessive amount of sea weed and abandoned fishing. I did notice people fishing off the rocks further around so maybe thats somewhere to try in the furure.

On Wednesday evening we went back to Swansea Pier. In the two hours we were there we managed four dog fish and a crab between us, all of which we put back. This is mainly because I'm not really sure how to prepare and cook dog fish but I have since been researching online so the next one we catch may not be so lucky! In truth we were just glad to catch something having not had much success in the previous two evenings.

Some pictures of June and before

A common carp from Gowerton


A Fendrod bream



A freshwater muscle that attached itself to my hook at Gwinear. This is not a trick honest! When I reeled in to check my rig and bait this muscle was attached to the hook.



A bag of small fish from an afternoon at the HRPs



A Gwinear mirror carp

18 lb Gwinear mirror

18lb 8oz HRP mirror

11lb Gowerton common

The orange koi carp from Gwinear

18h July Swansea West Pier

I went to the car boot sale at Singleton this morning and bought two new beach caster rods. Putting these with the sea fishing tackle I already have, most of which used to be my Granddad’s, I just about have a complete set up. Me and my housemate therefore decided to go for a short session but didn’t really know where to try first. I went online and found Swansea West Pier mentioned on a couple of forums so we decided to head there so that we could get some bait from the tackle shop in the marina.

We got down there at maybe 12:30 with £3 worth or rag worm. There were maybe seven other people already fishing and we went right to the end. The tide I think was maybe ¾ the way in or so. I haven’t been sea fishing for quite a while and never in Wales so I thought it may be a bit hit and miss as to whether or not we caught anything. I set up one rod to fish on the bottom with the worm and the other with silver shrimp to spin for mackerel. There was a guy fishing with I assume his son and they caught a dog fish whilst we were there and someone else caught a small whiting. Other than that there wasn’t much being caught.

It was very windy and difficult to distinguish bites. I had no luck with the silver shrimps so I switched to worm also. The wind began to die down and eventually I had a good bite and landed a dog fish which we threw back. We ran out of worms at maybe 3 -3:30 and headed back. I couldn’t believe the number of people that had arrived by then, the pier was almost completely full of people fishing. Clearly this is a popular spot!

What was disappointing was the amount of rubbish left here, the place was actually pretty disgusting! Clearly there are a few that spoil it for others by leaving all their crap because they cant be bothered to carry it home or to the nearest bin.

Recap: June in St Austell (Trebellan Park)

The final place I tried when back in Cornwall was a campsite called Trebellan near Newquay. It has three pools with the one right at the bottom holding the larger fish I think. This is another place I have fished in years gone by that I thought I’d try again. I initially went for a walk around the pools in the evening before I fished. It was quite busy on the bottom pool so my plan was to try the other two pools on the site.

Due to my success in the evening at Penvose I decided to just head to Trebellan for the evening and not spend the whole day there. I got there maybe around 5 and found the top two pools jammed with people so I headed down to the bottom pool. To my surprise there weren’t many people there but there was a net laid out on the grass so I think the bailiff had been doing some netting which may have been the reason why. I asked him if it was ok to fish and he said yes so I set up with one rod on the bottom with a boilie and the other with the same floater setup that had been so successful at Penvose. Unfortunately this method of fishing was ruined by the rat infestation where I was fishing. At one point I estimated there were about seven around me and they weren’t very shy! I would throw out free offerings and they would swim out and take them. I did see a rat do this at Penvose but there was nowhere near as may as at Trebellan. They would swim out and try and tow in my hook bait and would come out almost up to my feet at times as I sat in my chair.

I had given up the floater fishing for a bad job and was no longer watching the bait. I had set it up on two bank sticks with the butt in a grip and with the freerunner and alarm on. It was just dipped on the surface just as I was doing at Penvose. It had been in the water for quite a while and I had assumed the rats had nibbled the bait off when all of a sudden something grabbed it and the freerunner started screaming off line. I was into a decent fish and it was trying to dive through rushes and into overhanging tree branches. I did my best to persuade it other wise and eventually it turned and headed towards open water. I had it on for a few seconds longer and as I leant to pull the net closer the hook pulled out. When I inspected it I saw that it had been bent out. I was quite surprised as I didn’t think I was over aggressive with the fish. The hook I was using was part of a pack f a 100 that I had bought cheap on ebay. They looked the part but when I compared it to a top branded equivalent I couldn’t believe the strength difference. That will teach me to buy unbranded rubbish from ebay! This was a bit of a shame because it felt like a good fish too.

That was the only take I had despite the obvious signs of fish moving and splashing all over the place. I get the impression this can be quite a frustrating place where you can see the fish but they are difficult to catch due to the fact it is fished so heavily. The pool itself is quite nice but shame about all the rats.

Recap: June in St Austell (East Rose Farm)

I also went on my own at a place on Bodmin Moor called East Rose Farm. I tried the carp lake for the morning but didn’t have much luck. I tried method feeder with groundbait and sweetcorn and also a closed feeder with maggots. Both were pestered continuously by the thousands of small rudd and roach in the pool. I then tried a boilie but was having no luck. It then began to hammer down with rain so I hid under the umbrella for quite a while.

When it finally eased off I moved to the top lake. Again the feeder was pestered by small fish and it soon began to rain again, so I gave up and just left the boilie rod fishing. I noticed several heavy ish rod tip knocks that were certainly no rudd or roach. I had been told the lake was good for tench so that’s what I think it may have been. If it wasn’t for the rain I would have changed tactics. Eventually I hooked a fish which turned out to be a tench of about 3lb 8 oz. When the rain finally subsided I packed up but it wasn’t an entirely wasted day after all.

Recap: June in St Austell (Penvose Farm)

The next place I tried on my own was a place called Penvose Farm near Newquay. This is somewhere I had fished a when I was younger and a new lake has been added since I was last there. I arrived at about 11am and started on the bottom lake where there were already people fishing. My decision was influenced by the number of carp I could see cruising about. I put a boilie on one rod and put it in the margin almost right under my feet. The other I set up to try and cast a surface bait (floating boilie) to the island where I could see several fish. This however proved very frustrating as I had some almost take it but then think better of it.

At about 2pm I moved to the next lake (not the unfishable one with all the weed). Here I fished a boilie with a pva bag containing one or two boilies and pellets. I could see carp under a tree and they began to take biscuits so I tried to dangle my floating boilie near them. As with the bottom lake it proved very frustrating as they would almost take it but not quite.

I tried using a method feeder for a bit and was getting several bites on sweetcorn but I think this was only from small roach as I kept missing them. Eventually I had a run on the boilie and I had the fish on for a minute before the hook pulled but I don’t think it was a big fish. Every so often I would notice fish taking off the surface and I kept picking up the rod I’d set up for floaters but I was having no luck at all.

At about 6pm I heard a carp taking off the surface in the margin near me so I decided to the floater one more try. This time I put a dog biscuit in the bad rather than a boilie but as it was smaller I thought it would make the hook look more obvious. I dipped the biscuit in the water whilst holding the hook shank up ever so slightly to make the hook look less obvious. I held the rod and set the freeruner on the reel. After a couple of minutes a carp grabbed it and I landed my first fish of about 4 lb. I thought that would be it but I tried the same tactic at the same spot and another took it about 5 minutes later. I kept gradually feeding the biscuits and they began to feed more and more and I was landing fish after fish. I couldn’t believe how well it was going; when I packed up as it began to get dark I had landed 16 carp. The biggest was only about 8 lb but it was awesome fun and what looked at one point to be a bad day had turned into a great one.

Recap: June in St Austell (Gwinear Farm)

After completing my final exam I headed back down to Cornwall for about three weeks. The first fishing trip I did was with dad at a day ticket water called Gwinear Farm. It was a successful day and I managed to land three carp and loose one. I had an orange koi carp around the 9lb mark, a mirror of 13 lb 8 oz and another mirror of 18 lb. Dad’s best was a common of 17 lb but he also landed two smaller ones and lost two others, one at the net which was a decent size.

We returned to Gwinear for another day session but this time we were less successful and only landed a fish each both low doubles. The third time we returned to Gwinear I think we again managed one fish each the biggest about 14 lb.

The beginning

I suppose I’d best start with an introduction. My name is Gregg and I’m 28. I am originally from St Austell in Cornwall but I am currently living in Swansea.

I started fishing at around the age of ten I’d guess after pestering my Dad to take me after seeing the fishing section at Trago Mills. The first trips I remember were sea fishing trips to Par Docks and Black Head float fishing, with a small blue fiberglass spinning rod. I can’t honestly remember what the first fish I caught but the chances are it was a pollack as I seem to remember us catching a few of these early on.

We soon progressed to mackerel fishing with feathers and silver shrimp off the rocks at Black Head. I can remember my dad getting himself a beach caster to add to the blue spinning rod and before long we were catching a lot of mackerel. I can also remember us catching wrasse and a dog fish at Black Head but most of the time we targeted mackerel.

I was content with this for a while but then I discovered that one of my school friends went freshwater fishing with his dad. I can remember going with them once to Bilberry pool which is part of Roche Angling Club (RAC) and from that point on I pestered my dad to try freshwater fishing.

We joined RAC in the early to mid 90’s and I think I started with the very basics of one match rod and a net with the addition of a second match rod coming soon after, which was bought cheap at a car boot sale ( I still have these!). We began with the basics of float fishing and started catching the usual roach, rudd, perch and the occasional eel.

Another place I used to go as a kid around this time was a place we called Square Pool between Bowling Green and Kerrow Moor which was free to fish. I can remember going there several times with other kids from school and catching roach, rudd, perch and the occasional brown trout. I seem to remember someone catching a reasonable sized bream there once also.

We also went a few times to a place my friends called St Georges near Roche Rock which I think was an old clay pit. It used to be quite over grown but was prolific for perch and brown trout, I think this pool has been cleared and is private now.

It was at RAC’s Wheal Rashleigh Pool that I first saw people properly targeting carp with their bivvies and rod pods etc. The first time I saw a carp caught it seemed to me like a whale and naturally I wanted to catch one. I had also heard y friend at school telling me how his dad had caught Tench up to nearly 7lb and a carp of about 14lb from Bilberry where they primarily fished. This fuelled my desire even further.

We tried in vain a few times at Wheal Rashleigh to catch a carp with my new Sundridge carp rod bought from Trago Mills. I was getting a bit frustrated so my dad took me to Whiteacres near Newquay. I caught my first ever carp there, a 6lb ghost carp from the eery lake. I returned to Whiteacres several times with school friends and it proved to be extremely prolific as it was so heavily stocked. I caught several carp there up to about the 15lb mark and sometimes the number of carp caught in a day would run into double figures! It was here that I perfected the basics of carp fishing.

I was still fishing Wheal Rashleigh with my dad and eventually I landed my first carp there which I think weighed 13lb and I was over the moon. It wasn’t long after that I landed another from Wheal Rashleigh and soon we became quite consistent. By this time we had added some extra tackle with a second silstar carp rod, my dads home made rod pod and some optonic bite alarms. Baits were predominantly Richworth’s tutti frutti or strawberry flavor boilies which were awesome back then.

We didn’t do too many long sessions down at Wheal Rashleigh but we were there quite frequently. I remember the first night session we did it got so windy that we couldn’t fish. The bobbins we had would blow about and keep setting the alarm off and every so often the rods would blow right off the alarm. (This was a design fault with the original optonic alarms and a modified “ear” was made available as a modification which they had the cheek to charge for). We took the baits out of the water and huddled in our little dome tent to shelter from the wind and rain. In the morning we found that rats had chewed off our boilies hair and all!

I remember doing lots of after school evening sessions down at Weal Rasleigh and eventually I landed my first fish over 20lb there, a 21lb mirror carp. I think I was about 14 and and I sent the picture of to Anglers Mail. I think the biggest I caught from Wheal Rashleigh was about 22lb 8oz and I think dad caught a common carp around 22 lb. I’m not sure what the lake record was at the time but I guess it was around 25 lb so we were doing pretty well. I had certainly never heard of fish anywhere near 30 lb being caught although I hear that they go over this in there now.

Carp fishing had taken over by this time and so my dad had sold the sea fishing tackle we had. The last year I think that we were members at RAC was in 1999 as I found a membership booklet for this year amongst the tackle and it was also the year I left to join the army. So from about 1999 to 2005 fishing pretty much ceased entirely. I left the army and went to university in Swansea and I did the odd one or two fishing trips here and there whilst back in Cornwall during the summers, at local day ticket waters.

In September last year I was talking to someone I knew in Swansea who was also used to do a bit of fishing. This led me to investigate a couple of places nearby namely the Fendrod Lake and Gowerton Pond. I also found a blog online about fishing in Swansea called Carp Coarse and Swansea by Dan Jones. These all helped to reignite the spark and I asked my dad to bring up all the old tackle and I joined Brynmill Angling Club.

I went a fair bit in September mostly at Gowerton Pond and Brynmill’s Half Round Ponds (HRPs). I caught a few carp from both places with Gowerton being more prolific but with a smaller weight average. The best I managed from Gowerton was about 13lb and 19lb from the HRPs. I attempted the Fendrod about three times and managed two single figure carp and an 8 lb 8 oz bream.

The start of my final year of university meant that my fishing pretty much stopped by the beginning of October. I have however recently graduated and hopefully will now find the time for plenty of fishing. I hope to get back into sea fishing as well as general coarse fishing. There are species of fish that I’ve never caught that I’d like to at least attempt to catch, and of course every angler wants to improve on the size of fish they have caught.

The aim of this blog is therefore to keep a diary of fishing trips documenting objectives, locations, techniques etc here forth. This will be useful as a personal reference and for anyone else who cares to read it. Hopefully there will be the opportunity to share tips and information with some of you to help achieve our goals.

Cheers for now.