Keith Jenkins, Fishery Officer with Environment Agency Wales, offers his personal view on the state of this popular sport and pastime along with plenty of advice.

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South East Wales has a range of fishing opportunities to suit the requirements of any coarse or game angler.

Game anglers have always come for the quality trout and salmon fishing and the beauty of the natural environment, but now they also come for the grayling, which thrive in the lower reaches of rivers like the Taff and Rhymney and can be fished through the winter months.

Over the past decade, coarse anglers have seen vast improvements in still water opportunities in South East Wales, with several commercial fisheries being developed.

Licenced to fish

This has not detracted from the traditional club scene, with a number of large associations going from strength to strength. These offer a variety of angling locations from small canal fisheries to specimen carp lakes.

The casual angler can choose from many day ticket waters both commercial or club.

Some river fishing is available but is limited as most are spate rivers, which may not lend themselves to mixed coarse fish species.

Match angling has maintained its popularity with many open competitions particularly during the summer months. There are also summer and winter leagues run by the local associations.

On the waterfront

The completion of the Cardiff Bay Barrage and the resulting freshwater impoundment is already showing sings of becoming a good fishing venue in the future.

The Bay is teeming with a variety of one and two year old fish, washed down as fry from the Taff and Ely, that should start producing some good fishing from June 2003.

Both coarse and game fishing enjoys a large local following but also support a healthy tourist trade.

Anglers are attracted from Birmingham and the Midlands while the M4 corridor grants easy access to anglers from the South of England.

New funding sources, such as the Welsh Assembly Government funded Sustainable Fishery Programme, managed by the Environment Agency Wales, will make a major difference to angling facilities within the area and develop opportunities to enable people to get fishing.

It has never been a better time to be involved in angling in South East Wales.