ABERAERON TOWN ANGLING CLUB

THE RIVER AERON’S ONLY ANGLING CLUB

News 2024

11 March 2024 - Bevan’s Pool has a new gate

The entrance to Bevan’s Pool, above the top weir in the town, has a new gate - the previous one had rusted away at the base of the supports. A big thanks to our Chairman, Nigel Davies, Al Davies, Mike Lench and Paul Lewis for performing the works. A special mention to Al Davies who donated the gate.

Bank maintenance Feb 2024

The Club held a bank maintenance day on 24th February which concentrated on the town pools. The hedge bordering the leet was cut to aid back casting, bank verges and paths were cleared, litter collected, the steps to the bottom pool cleared and the flagstone steps into Pengarreg Pool were removed and reset as they were sloping and dangerous, particularly when wet. A large tree remains stuck in the Bottom Pool but the water level was too high to safely remove it at this time - when the water level drops it will be cut up and removed. Food and drinks were held after the session at the Hive for the Six Nations rugby Ireland v Wales. Thanks to all who attended and contributed.

Guest Permit week

The Club will again hold a guest permit week in June (10-16th) when members can bring a guest to fish with them on the Aeron, as a trial, for free. Note that members have to be present with the guest at all times and the guest must possess the relevant rod licence - day, week and season options are available from the Environment Agency.
https://www.gov.uk/fishing-licences/buy-a-fishing-licence

As this may increase numbers fishing the town pools, please be sensitive to the numbers present and rotate locations so everyone can have a go.

Club lake competition dates

All Club lake competition dates have been set and are now visible in the Calendar on this site. The Club is again very grateful to the sponsors of these events (The Hive, Pont Steffan Dental Practice and Y Seler) who provide the prizes for first, second and third places but also a prize for the biggest fish caught in each competition. If interested in competing, please contact the Lake Secretary.

28 March 2024 - Bank Maintenance Coordinator

Mike (Eog) Evans has agreed to take on the role of Bank Maintenance Coordinator. Mike will assist the Committee in identifying areas of the banks that need attention, fallen trees for removal, path clearance, damage to styles, etc. and will coordinate with the Committee and members to arrange dates and times for bank maintenance activities. Mike is known to you all and he brings a wealth of experience, helping to streamline an activity that has grown over recent years, becoming an annual Club event. It is anticipated that there may be 3 key bank maintenance days per year; one in the dead of winter to take out branches that restrict access or overhang the river, one in February to trim the town pools hedge and clear the town pools banks and one in the later summer to trim any fresh green growth restricting access on paths or to pools.

28 March 2024 - Sponsorship of Club lake competitions

The Club is pleased to announce that the Club’s lake competitions will again be sponsored this year.
In each of the 3 Club competitions qualifying for the Alun Williams trophy, the prizes will be £50 for top rod, £30 for second place and £20 for the top boat split between both anglers. There will not be a prize for heaviest fish.

The Iorrie Lewis competition will be held 10am - 5:30pm on 11th May at Llyn Clywedog and will be kindly sponsored by the Hive. Drinks and food will follow the event at The Hive, Aberaeron.
The Alan Butler competition will be held 10am - 5:30pm on 15th June at Llyn Brenig and will be kindly sponsored by Pont Stefan Dental Practice. Drinks and food will follow the event at The Hive, Aberaeron.

The David Morgan competition will be held 10am - 5:30pm on 07th September at Llyn Clywedog and will be kindly sponsored by Y Seler. Drinks and food will follow the event at Y Seler, Aberaeron.
A big thank you to all sponsors for continuing to support the Club.

16 April 2024 - Aeron pollution event, 11 April 2024

On 11 April , during a heavy flood, the river began to foam excessively and smelt strongly of slurry/manure. The event was reported to NRW. Two NRW officers attended the same day, confirmed the pollution and worked upstream having received complaints in the Talsarn area too, well above the two main domestic effluent treatment works on the river. NRW did not find the source but, their view, given the volume of pollution in the river, was this was probably a burst slurry tank or some other major acute ingress of slurry as opposed to a spreading event. The Angling Club performed phosphate analysis on the town pools water that evening, many hours after the peak, and the values were 50x normal. Given that the volume/flow of water in the river was probably 10x normal and the samples were 12 hours after the photo, phosphate levels were probably thousands of times normal level at the peak of the pollution event. Given that we had very high flows, it is possible that this will not have had much effect but, had this occurred in summer flow, the river would now be dead from the source of the pollution to the sea. For those who think this is an exaggeration, this very thing happened on the Peris in Llanon a few years ago and there were even sea fish dying at the mouth of the river on the beach.
It is more than frustrating that NRW did not manage to identify the source of what was a very significant pollution event on the Aeron, probably one of  the biggest in many years. The take home message is that if you see the river is being polluted, take photos, report it to a Club official and report it to NRW immediately, requesting an incident number and feedback on the report once investigations have taken place. The NRW number to report pollution events on is 0300 065 3000.

25 April 2024 - GB Fishing discount
            
GB Fishing, Corporation Street, Aberystwyth kindly offers ATAC members a 10% discount on purchases in store when presenting your ATAC membership card. It’s the start of a new season so if you are buying tackle then support a local business, shop local and get a discount on your new tackle. A big thank you to Basil at GB Fishing for this generous offer.

25 April 2024 - water quality testing

Mike Lench continues to test the quality of the water in the rivers Aeron and Arth on a fortnightly basis. Mike tests the water in 3 locations on the Aeron and two on the Arth, for pH, conductivity, temperature and phosphate. With the recent pollution incident on the Aeron registering a phosphate level 50x the normal level, the data being assembled is of indispensable value and, with an 18 month data set already in hand, we are now better placed than ever to demonstrate when our river is being affected by pollution. With global warming and increasing temperatures becoming commonplace, the temperature data being generated will prove useful to indicate when temperatures become critical to salmonids; temperatures above 20degC are unsafe for salmonids and we may need to close the water to fishing when temperatures reach this level. Last year the temperatures reached 18degC in the height of summer; catching and releasing fish in such high temperatures can be detrimental to survival rates so this is something we are looking at carefully in consultation with NRW.
A massive thanks to Mike for going out in all weathers, all year round, to both the Aeron and Arth to perform the testing.

The Club held its first lake competition of the year on Llyn Clywedog on Saturday 11 May, the Iorrie Lewis competition. The event was fished by 17 anglers, a great turnout in unseasonably warm and bright conditions and was won by Robin Foster with 9 fish. Second was Rhodri Davies with 7 fish and third was Mike Lench with 5 fish. The heaviest fish was caught by Owain Dimmick, a rainbow of 3lb 11oz. The event was kindly sponsored by The Hive who provided cash prizes to the successful anglers. Congratulations to all who competed, in particular to the winner, Robin Foster, a first win in a Club lake competition for Robin. The event was followed by food and drinks at the Hive; a big thanks to Rhodri, Rhys and their team for sponsoring and for the excellent food and hospitality in the evening.   

11 May 2024 - Iorrie Lewis lake competition

11 June 2024 - Bank maintenance

The Club held its second bank maintenance day on Saturday 08 June focusing primarily on the Cwmmins stretch of river but also on some of the area of the town pools that were inaccessible due to high water at the last bank maintenance event. A big thanks to all who participated to improve the access for all to the fishing upstream

13 June 2024 - water temperature and salmonid survival

This year the Club will use its fortnightly water testing program to monitor the temperature of the river as we move through the summer months. Salmon and sea trout are susceptible to higher water temperatures and temperatures above 20 C stress the fish, increasing the risks of mortality. With climate change and increasingly warmer weather, fishing in warmer water, even with well practiced catch and release, could result in fish not surviving. Even between 18 and 20 C, fish struggle to recover when caught.

Historically when there were no restrictions on taking salmon and sea trout other than a daily bag limit, the limit itself was enough control in warmer weather with most taking their catch up to their limit at which point fishing stopped. However, as all salmon and any sea trout over 60cm now have to be returned safely to the water by law, the risks are higher to those fish caught during high water temperatures.  

Therefore, it is probable, should temperatures of the water rise above 20C, that fishing on the river will be stopped until water temperatures reduce. Should this happen it will be announced on this website, on social media and by signs on the river.

Should water temperatures increase above 18 C then warnings will be issued to take extra care when releasing fish, allowing additional time to ensure they recover fully before being released to swim in the flow.

Last season the temperatures reached a max of 16.5 C in June and July.

15 June - Alun Butler Spring Lake Competition

In the Club’s second lake competition of the year, 18 anglers fished an unseasonably cold and sometimes wet and breezy mid-June day on Llyn Brenig. The lake fished consistently in all areas with everyone catching fish without someone getting into a shoal of fish and catching a boatfull in one place. Most fish seemed to have been caught on dry fly but the top place for the day went to Gareth Jones, who caught on wet flies, taking 10 fish for a bag weight, including bonuses for fish returned, of 24lb 143/8oz. In second place was Rhodri Davies who landed 8 fish for a bag weight, including bonuses for fish returned, of 16lb 77/8oz. In third place was Mike ‘Eog’ Evans, who landed 5 fish for a bag weight of 15lb 7¼oz. Mike Evans also picked up the prize for the heaviest fish of the day, a rainbow weighing in at 3lb 13¾oz. Further back, four anglers landed four fish each and six anglers landed three fish each, showing the fair nature of the day.

The event was sponsored by Pont Steffan Dental Practice who provided cash prizes to the successful anglers and the Club extends its thanks to Owain Dimmick for the generosity. Special mention also to Cam Reid and Carl Scourfield who attended from Tenby, getting up at 3am to arrive in time in north Wales to fish.