NAC Winter Fish-In 2009 -

Port Talbot Docks, Wales.

 It has been the coldest winter for over 20 years and the temperature has been so cold that most stillwaters have been frozen over and angling has ground to a halt.
Most of us haven’t wet a line for weeks and our annual get together at a warm water fishery proved most welcome.

The waters at Port Talbot Docks are warmed by discharge from the coolers of two burners at the steelworks. Only one of these was running when we arrived but this was still enough to raise the water temperature to 12 degrees.

The weather turned mild and a pleasant warm wind and sunshine welcomed us to the fishery. With spring in the air, all present felt inspired for the coming eel angling season. The fanaticism for eel angling amongst members also helps to charge ones enthusiasm so much that summer seems a long way off.

The dock flows into the sea which served us up with an eerie, damp, cold fog that advanced like a solid wall until it blotted out the view; yet the bright dockland lights could still be seen faintly through the mist. A Stephen King movie comes to mind.

Ten members turned up to enjoy a good social and plenty of winter eels were caught. Though no larger specimens were landed, it was great to be getting plenty of eel runs in the middle of winter.
As previously on this water, sea baits such as sprat, mackerel and sand eel proved the best. Wayne Staddon had stopped off at a nearby ragworm farm and arrived with an interesting array of quality sea baits from this local supplier. They had showed him the ragworm rearing tanks which get invaded by eels that come up the outflow pipe then hide in the tanks to gorge on the abundance of king rag.

We all got a few runs and enjoyed some action.
There is a large population of smaller eels so plenty of action can be had on smaller baits. A larger bait for a bigger eel seems the best option but it didn’t work on this occasion. We will be back.

Jansen Bostock caught the biggest eel at 2.04. He caught another of 2.00+ and two smaller ones. Nick Rose caught four eels and estimated the largest to weigh 1.13 and 4 drams, while Barry McConnell had five eels, biggest 2lb+ (and that zander); Wayne Staddon caught one small eel of about 8oz; Tug Wilson - two eels to 1lb+; Pete Drabble - four eels, each one weighing about 1lb-ish; Neil Wilkinson - two eels to about 1lb; Mark Salt - one small eel. Dai Evans blanked and Mark Taylor blanked.

It is interesting to note that the two Welsh NAC members were the only two to blank. They never seem to do too well on home ground, so perhaps we will see them on other fish-ins this year as they may fare better when playing away.

We had our licences checked by the environment agency. This episode raised plenty of gunge which I’m sure the mole has heard all about by now.

Steve Pitts was unable to attend on the set dates and was so keen to fish there that we managed to persuade the reluctant fishery manager to let him go on his own a few weeks early. He had a good haul of eels to 3.04 and according to the fishery manager his behaviour was exemplary. Such is our reputation at this fishery that it can now be considered an NAC water and any members can fish it anytime so long as it is booked prior to turning up. Only the NAC ever get to night fish this fishery.