PONTSTICILL/DOLYGAER (PENTWYN) RESERVOIRS

DOLYGAER (PENTWYN) RESERVOIR REOPENED FOR PIKE FISHING WATER LEVELS HAVE IMPROVED

Pontsticill Gallery

Situated approximately 5 miles from Merthyr, Pontsticill reservoir was opened in 1927 by Lord Buckland of Bwlch, at a cost of £1,200,000, a great deal of money at the time. It is 2½ miles long and when full contains 3,400,000,000 gallons of water.

There are two reservoir in this complex, Pontsticill the lower lake is over 300 acres with depths varying to over 100 feet and Dolygaer the upper lake is about 40 acres with an average depth of 18 feet.

The reservoirs are in effect one lake as they are geographically side-by-side and linked together by spillway and a large underground gravity aqueduct, which allows the free passage of fish between them.

During May large numbers of fish migrate into the shallower Dolygaer to spawn and tend to remain there until the onset of winter. Due to the altitude of the waters winters can be fairly unpredictable and consequently April to October tend to be the most productive times of year. For up to the minute information and day tickets, contact Carl at Merthyr Angling Centre Cefn Coed on 01685 379809.   The Red Cow Pontsticill Village, Newsagents opposite Merthyr Angling Centre, Cal White Pontllotyn, Cliff Harvey Angling Cilfynydd. 

Species: Roach, Rudd, Perch, Bream (to 14lbs), Hybrids Roach/Bream (to 4lb), Tench (to 8lb), Pike (to 32lb, best this year 2000 27½lb), Carp (to 36lb 10oz Welsh Record), Wild Brown Trout (14lb 2oz, best this year 10½lb).   Largest net of Bream 300lbs

FISHING SEASONS

Coarse fishing - Open all year round (except Pike).

FISHING METHODS

Anglers must be properly equipped for the type of fishing they are engaged upon, e.g. unhooking mats, landing nets, etc, etc.

No fly fishing is allowed off the dam faces or overflows. No fishing is allowed in front of the Sailing Club (Marker Posts). Fly-fishing only is allowed in the nature reserve at the end of Dolygaer Reservoir

Trout Limit Only 4 fish per rod per day may be taken. A size limit of 10inches snout to tip of tail applies.    Day ticket holders 2 fish per day

Fishing Times Sunrise to one hour after sunset.

It is recommended that a very good midge repellent is used on these waters, because grown men have been known to cry!!!!

Litter Please take your litter home with you. The use of polythene or plastic bags is prohibited on these reservoirs.

Once again the Bream are showing in both Dolygaer and Pontsticill the biggest so far this year came from Pontsticill and weighed 10lb 7oz, and was caught by Jeff Richards.   Dolygaer has produced good bags of bream the best being around 150lbs with bream of 8lb being the largest, Andrew Whittock is worried he could lose his welsh record because the 36lb 10oz carp has shown again but this time she was just 36lb, still time for her to put on weight before she spawns.

Day Tickets

Day tickets can be purchased for this water from Carl Jones, Merthyr Angling Centre, Cefn Coed, Merthyr Tydfil phone 01685 379809.   From Cliff Harvey Albion Industrial Estate, Cilfynydd, Pontypridd phone 01443 400766.  From Carl White Fishing Tackle, The Square Pontlottyn, Rhymney phone 01685 841245 and the Red Cow in Pontsticill Village open from 7.45am.   The cost of day tickets for this water is £5 Senior, £2.50 junior.   A season ticket is also available which covers Dolygaer and Pontsticill Reservoirs only for £40 for adults and £20 for juniors.   From 1st July 2004 day tickets to fish this water are available from the newsagents opposite Merthyr Angling Centre on a Wednesday and a Sunday only

News

On Monday night David Jones fished Dolygaer and landed 4 bream to 6lb and hooked and after a good 15 minute fight landed a 30lb carp.   Hopefully I will eventually get the photograph of the fish once the film has been developed.

11th August 2003

The bream are continuing to show and be caught in Dolygaer (Pentwyn) Reservoir, plenty of groundbait seems to be the secret.   With the recent thunderstorms the reservoir has risen again and will not be dropping very fast because the two feeder reservoirs upper and lower Neaudd are both full and overflowing into the Taf Fechan stream feeding Dolygaer.

Chris  Howells with a 14lb 1oz        His boys with a 5lb                      Chris with hat and 14lb 7oz 

   Chris Howells with 10½lb and Hywell his son with a 8lb 7oz caught Sunday 16th Aug 03

October 2003

I must report that the reservoirs are extremely low and Dolygaer(Pentwyn) is now empty.   We did a fish rescue on Sunday 19th October.   We were joined on the rescue by 2 members of the Environment Agency who supplied us with the nets needed to net the old river bed in Dolygaer.   The committee would like to thank everyone who turned up on the day and especially the youngsters who worked like Trojans and never uttered one word of complaint.    We moved approximately 25000 fish and we did not lose a single fish.   Pike to 25lbs, Bream to 9lbs, Roach to 2lbs, Tench to 6lbs, Perch to 4lbs and a 20lb Carp.   Below are pictures of us netting the stream bed.

August 2004

Good bags of bream are being caught both on the roadside and the bank side of Dolygaer.   Last weekend (31/7,1/8) 4 anglers fishing the roadside had nets of 150lbs, 80lbs, 80lbs and 60lbs and on the the far side 2 anglers had over 140lbs between them.   The Reservoir is also fishing very well for perch and roach.

November 2004

We are now into the winter and the reservoirs are full to the top.   Some good bags of bream, perch and roach are being caught but as the weather cools down so the fishing for these species will get harder.   The pike are being obliging and the biggest one recently was one of 22½lbs caught by 15 year old Jamie Evans from Hirwaun.   Mark Fury came over from Bristol on Sunday 21 Nov and had a really good day with 5 pike the biggest were 2 of 15lb, one of which fought like a tiger and the other came in like a sack of spuds, I met him just as his alarm went off and I photographed him fighting and returning a pike of 5lbs, see the pictures in the text.

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