News
CDAA JUNIOR CARP MATCH 2023
This year’s junior event got underway on a very muggy and warm Sunday morning at 6.30am, the young competitors arriving full of enthusiasm, determination, energy and a big, big dose of expectation and anticipation!!
After an introductory chat and run through of the rules, hands anxiously dipped into the hat as the juniors drew their pegs for the day.
Weather wise it was a bit of a strange old day to be honest, ranging from cloudy and overcast conditions to begin with, and improving to bright sunshine and warmth as the day progressed.
Club Bailiffs, Committee members and volunteers were quick to help and assist the competitors in tying up some zigs as the fish became more and more active in the upper layers of the water, the youngsters benefiting enormously from watching and listening as our team of helpers explained how, why, where and when these rigs should be used to best effect.
Some stuck with the zigs all day given the warm conditions, while others alternated between bottom baits, pop ups and wafters in a bid to outwit the lake’s resident Carp population.
Despite plenty of fish showing themselves throughout the day, the actual fishing itself proved to be pretty tough and tricky, although in total seven fish were unfortunately lost either at the net or through hook pulls, but two crackers were successfully landed. At the end of 12 hours fishing, Callum Anderson took first place and the title with a lovely, clean 23lb 2oz PB Common taken from the long wall on the North Lake. This beauty secured Callum top spot and an absolute mountain of prizes he could barely carry!!
Securing second place on the day was Alfie Thomas, fishing the treeline on the inside bank of the North Lake Alfie connected with a beautiful zip linear Mirror late in the day that pulled the scales around to 22lb, a new PB for Alfie also!! As news of these catches spread around the lake our young competitors did not become disheartened, used them as motivation and continued to fish hard and to the very best of their ability right up until the final hooter sounded for the end of the match at 7pm.
At the end of the match each and every competitor gathered near North Lake gate for a chat, debrief and to receive their prizes (ALL competitors received a bag of goodies) as well as for a bit of a social!!
The Moat is certainly not an ‘easy’ venue to fish and is definitely not a ‘runs’ water so we would like to applaud and recognise each competitor’s skill, discipline and perseverance in keeping on going till the very end and never giving up, we very much hope that these young anglers have gained some knowledge, watercraft and insight that will hold them all in good stead later on in their angling careers!!
From all at CDAA thank you to the parents/guardians and children for attending and being so polite, courteous and such a pleasure to have spent the day with.
A huge thanks especially to Simon Ursell for arranging the prizes and organising the event so well!!
Tight lines and wet nets to you all, until next time.'
Semtex Lake - New Pegs
The club have added three new pegs to Semtex lake, thanks to all the volunteers that turned up to help out. The club will continue to improve the venue and add further pegs in the new year.
Caerphilly Castle Moat Stocking
The club have stocked Caerphilly Castle Moat with some stunning heavily plated mirrors from VS Fisheries ranging from 9.5lb to 16.5lb. Thanks to Simon & co for delivering in less than ideal weather! Looking forward to seeing these settle in and grow into future castle chunks!
Semtex
Huge thanks to the bailiffs in Brynmawr who have been tirelessly monitoring Semtex lake and clearing the rubbish on a regular basis. Unfortunately we haven’t been able to organise any work parties for the general membership due to covid-19 restrictions but will look to do this again when possible.
Caerphilly Moat Stocking
4 new quality carp were stocked into Caerphilly castle moat recently, weighing:
26lb 4oz
19lb
22lb 10oz
23lb
On behalf of Caerphilly Angling Association thanks to all of our bailiffs and committee for all of your hard work!
Sign the petition
The Wye, the Wharf, the Ebbw, the Rhymney, the Taff, the Cynon, Castle View - what does this mixed bag of South Walian waterways share? Every single one of them has seen anglers and walkers reporting a serious pollution incident in the last 18 months. I have tried to help legal campaigns and official reports on nearly all of these cases, but we have to start looking beyond our home banks to effect meaningful nationwide change now.
Together with the Angling Trust #AnglersAgainstPollution campaign I am urging you to sign this petition calling upon the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Secretary of State for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs, to provide greater funding for the environmental regulatory bodies across the United Kingdom. Polluters and law breakers must be held to account with proper enforcement and meaningful punishment, and we also must look to fix the many historical legacy issues we have with our long term sources of pollution - it is insane we are still using Victorian-era sewerage systems that empty directly into our waterways, and the damage to wildlife is absolutely catastrophic.
I know it might feel like you see a different petition every day, and that they can feel pretty futile against such odds and deep-rooted problems - but the Angling Trust have a proven record of positively lobbying this Government (see how they have enabled the covid-safe return of angling in England?) and the miracle comeback of waterways such as the Taff are proof that real change is possible, even from the absolute pit of despair. It is only by uniting as a collective that we can show the scale of this problem.
No one wants to go back to the dark days of waterways being declared 'biologically dead', and so many have worked so hard to get us to this point, but we can't keep sleepwalking forward into another ecological disaster either.
Please sign today, and if you see a pollution incident: document it and report it.
Petition
#AnglersAgainstPollution
Repost from Will Millard.
Semtex lake stocking
**Please note the lake is now closed for a week until 23rd of January to give these fish time to settle in**
The club have today stocked 27 stunning new carp including two 20lb commons into Semtex lake. A massive thanks to Andrew Riste who’s been working closely with JS Fisheries to get this done during difficult circumstances. This has been a significant investment by the club and we hope it secures good fishing for our members for the future.
Membership cap
The club's committee have decided to cap our membership, meaning no new memberships will now be available. This is to ensure our membership numbers are manageable for the venues that we have and that there's hopefully, always space for everyone to fish.
If you are currently a member, you will get the opportunity to renew for a period of time from June (yet to be decided) once this renewal period is up the free membership spaces (if any) will then be made available to any new members.
We will review this on an ongoing basis and possibly extend our membership capacity.
The club is going from strength to strength and there are plans for further improvements and investment in our venues in the near future. Thanks for all the support from our members and volunteers. We hope members appreciate the work involved and how important clubs are, especially when other commercial fisheries haven't been able to remain open during these difficult times.
**Please be aware of and follow current government guidelines on fishing.**
Castle View pollution
Statement from Natural Resources Wales regarding Castle View lake Caerphilly. Please be assured the club are doing all they can to monitor and assist NRW to resolve this issue.
“We’re aware of an ongoing pollution which has been affecting the Castle View lake in Caerphilly ⚠️ We’re working with Dwr Cymru Welsh Water and Caerphilly County Borough Council to investigate and to resolve the problem 👷♀️ 👷🏼 In the meantime, we’re advising people and their pets to keep clear of the water ⛔ We’ll provide further updates as the investigation develops.”
Castle View Aerator
Huge thanks to the members that helped install the aerator in Castle View lake!
This is a solar powered unit, so won't cause any noise issues for residents or anglers. It is anchored against the island. It will help safeguard the fish and other aquatic residents of the lake from any future oxygen "crashes". We will need all anglers, residents and other lake users to keep a close eye on this unit to make sure it doesn't get vandalised or stolen. If you see anything or have any concerns please contact us through the FB page.
Please do not cast close (within 15ft or so) to the installed unit or you run the risk of getting broken off by the anchor ropes and snagging on the pipes (pictured below)
The club is also exploring several other options to reduce the silt levels in the lake (which it is believed is the reason for the current issues) - we will of course keep you updated when we know more.
Thanks to Solar Aeration Systems and NRW for the aerator and installation.