WHERE TO FISH
Dave Lewis explores the bass and flounder fishing opportunities along the beautiful tidal stretch of this Carmarthenshire river
The River Taf in south west Wales is not an especially large river. It meanders at leisure through the rolling Carmarthenshire countryside, eventually reaching the sea near the village of Laugharne where it joins the rivers Towy and Gwendraeth to enter Carmarthen Bay as one great estuary sandwiched between the spectacular twin surf beaches of Cefn Sidan and Pendine.
Laugharne is, of course, the one-time home of Dylan Thomas, whose famous boat house home and writing shed are located at the water’s edge on the banks of the Taf affording truly magnificent views across the estuary. It is widely acknowledged that the heavily wooded hill behind the boat house was the inspiration for what is certainly Dylan’s best-known piece of work: Under Milk Wood. And it is under Milk Wood where you’ll find one of the most productive areas to fish.
The optimum time to fish this estuary is around two hours either side of high water, ideally on tides of around 10.2m Swansea scale: that’s a neap tide. Tides larger than 10.5m create especially difficult conditions due to the excessive push of current, especially during the ebb. Further, there are safety concerns as there are several places where the tide pushes all the way up to the rock edges below the woods, cutting off your safe retreat from the beach.
SPECIES
Flounder are one of the most prolific species within the estuary. Bunches of maddies fished off long flowing traces are the bait of choice with most locals looking to catch flounder, though lugworm or chunks of peeler crab also work well. Ground bait consisting of mashed bread can be used to attract shoals of feeding mullet to within range; both thick lipped and golden grey mullet are caught here in good numbers.
The Taf is noted for producing big bass, including specimens weighing well into double figures. King rag is one of the most productive big bass baits in this estuary; though, unsurprisingly, peeler crab will catch plenty of fish, especially during the first moult of crab during the spring. The most productive time to fish here for flounder is from late October through to January. Bass can be caught from March until November. Mu
