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.