First thing I had to do, before writing this blog, was go on Google Maps and remind myself exactly where the Canal went. It was fed from the River Neath at the aquaduct at Aberdulais, and ended up just short of Port Tennant in Swansea. The bottom end was reed fringed, fairly shallow and weedy and home to the odd shoal of Rudd and some Tench and Eels Further up the Rudd petered out so it was Tench, Perch and Eels. Or so we thought initially, because the upper reaches held more than the odd surprise or two.
I first encountered the Canal on one of those teenage lads night fishing expedition, i.e. basically an opportunity to drink beer and arse about, especially as I’d gone with two right nutters. Every night fishing trip I’ve ever done has been a disaster, and this was no exception. The reason was that I’d never associated weather conditions with how the fish might respond, so I’d end up shivering under a moonlit sky and waiting for a light frost just before dawn. And so it was that night on Tench Corner.
So a few years later when I had transport I started visiting the stretch up from the road bridge. Usually late April so I could grab a couple of hours after work. You had to think about where you parked because we now had a close season and the bailiffs were getting a bit busy. This is where I first tried out a Sigma Wand, and yes, I snapped the finest tip first time out (because you just had to!!!!) Tench corner access was trickier but then we realised that we could cross the canal just up from a Pump House and walk down. Plus we discovered that there were some big big Tench in the deeper water by the Pump House. But upstream was evem more of a revelation! Bream, Roach, and on one famous occasion when the canal was coloured and flowing, I caught 5 Chub on the stick float. Alan caught one and witnessed my fish. Neither of us had ever seen a Chub in the canal and we never saw or heard of any again. And the other find was that just about every road tunnel along the canal’s length was home to a large shoal of decent Roach. They weren’t easy to catch, but if you could get their heads down a decent bag was on the cards. I’m pretty sure that Nigel Evans had a netful.
Match wise I remember us using various lengths for local Mini Leagues. I think we started down the bottom but there were issues because 1 angler would drop on the Rudd, catch all match and paralyse the opposition, who were reduced to scratching for Eels. So we moved up to the Pump House access and either fished up and down towards Tench Corner or just up into a tree-lined section. This was very dark, mysterious and magical. The accepted method was to catch the slight flow by fishing a Billy Makin pole stick to hand at about 7m. It was lumpy, especially using the in vogue method of attaching elastic (don’t ask…..), but I had a lovely match catching Roach and Perch and then a bonus Tench and a Bream on pinkie and breadpunch. I had another win a bit further up the same length, all Roach and Perch, and a win up Neath Abbey. Plus a second in a sponsored event won by Alan G who caught the only Tench in the match and done me by 1oz. And the sponsorship money was mainly to te winner, which I actually think is fair enough.
Now I’m fairly sure that the WFCA held a Welsh National on the Canal, and that it was won by Brian Crowe. This might be total bollock, but I do like to think it isn’t, as he certainly deserved it for his contributions.