TOP POND PENYWERN
The lock on the members barrier
will be replaced in the very near future. Should you require a key
please contact Tony Rees at
tony@mtaa.freeserve.co.uk
Access to this pond is behind the ASDA superstore on
the A465 Heads of the Valleys road. To reach the pond turn off the
A465 towards ASDA, proceed across the 1st roundabout an
d
take the next turn left. Go right to the bottom of this road and at
the end turn right besides the end factory unit, follow
the track down to your left to the gate. This track can be very
difficult in wet weather. This is a very exposed pond but holds a good head of
fish. The species are Mirror and Common Carp, Perch,
Roach, Tench, Bream and Gudgeon. Pleasure fishermen have had bags of fish up to
30lb depending on the time of year. The specialist carp fishermen have had
plenty of double figure carp. ONLY TWO RODS MAY BE USED AT ANY
ONE TIME.
Baits: Maggots, Caster, Boilies, Sweetcorn, Luncheon Meat,
Hemp, Bread, Cheese, Worm, and groundbait are permitted on this pond.
Fishing Season Open all year.
Fishing Methods There are no legal
bait or lure restrictions on Penywern Ponds, barbless hooks only and landing
nets are essential. The use of Polythene or plastic bags is prohibited on these
ponds. Fishermen must use bait containers.
Top Pond Gallery
Top Pond is quiet large by local standards and has in the past
catered for
matches where up to 60 anglers have taken part. The water is
usually very clear with an abundance of Elodea (Canadian pondweed) in the
shallower areas, which can make fishing hard even though there is a good head of
quality fish.
The pond contains common and mirror carp up to 18lbs together
with a large head of perch up to 3lb, plus roach and the odd bream and tench.
The usual hair rigged boilies and buzzer approach for the carp with chopped worm
on the pole accounting for the perch. Groundbait feeder and maggot will account
for most species on the right day. Good sport can often be had
fishing on sliding float in the deeper areas of the main roadside bank where
there are depths of up to 20 feet.
During March 2003 the association
moved 300 carp in the 3lb to 8lb
weight range from Cyfarthfa Lake to this water.
These fish should quickly put on weight and during the summer it should be
interesting on how well the pond will now fish. Plus with the extra
fish the water should be fished more regularly than it has in the past few
years.
The next project for this water will be the
installation of new floating islands for cormorant protection, hopefully this
will be done during the course of this year.
DAY
TICKETS
Day tickets can be purchased
for this water from Carl Jones, Merthyr Angling Centre, Ce
fn
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. The cost of day tickets for this water is £4.50 Senior, £2 junior.
From the 1st July 2004 day tickets are now available on a Sunday and a Wednesday
from the newsagents opposite Merthyr Angling Centre Cefn Coed, the shop opens
around 7am.
July 2003
The carp we moved up from Cyfarthfa Lake
have been showing regularly. Fishermen
are catching them, and one of
the favoured baits is floating
bread crust. These fish were bought up on all the bread the public
were throwing into Cyfarthfa Lake to feed the ducks with, which often ended up
as a competition between the ducks and the carp. Other successful
baits are dog biscuit and strawberry flavoured boilie.
Car Park
The association has been
working with Dowlais Forum, ASDA, and Merthyr Tydfil Borough Council to provide
a car park for members adjacent to the pond. This has now be
en
completed
and
keys are available to access the barrier by the plantation from Tony Rees.
The key will cost £5, and members are advised to ring Tony first on 01685
723520.
August 2004
The pond is being used a
lot more since the introduction of the locked car park. Over the
last week end carp of 18lb and 20lb were caught. Perch to 3lb are
being caught by coarse anglers as well as roach, bream and carp.
September 2004
We are working with
Groundwork Trust to construct 3 Disabled platforms on the pond close to the new
car park. Hopefully this work will be completed before the end of
the month. Andrew Bailey who normally catches the larger perch
changed over to carp fishing and floated bread over the weed in the shallow end
of the pond to tempt a common carp of 10lb 8oz. He said that he had
a big struggle to land it through all the weed but was very relieved when it was
finally in the net.
April
2005
The pond has been dropped down about 4 foot to allow the
council to repair the overflow. This could be of benefit to anglers, because if
we get warmer weather the fish should really start to feed and therefore be
easier to catch. The pond will take quite a long time to fill to its normal
level unless we get very heavy rain. Dominic Walters, Brent Parry and Andrew
Llewellyn fished the pond on Saturday 9th April, Andrew landed a leather carp of 15lbs,
Brent a common of 12lb and Dominic one of 9lbs 12oz. Gwynfor Jones also fished
the pond on Saturday and landed several carp, unfortunately I do not know their
weights. Brent Parry who takes the bookings for top and middle pond
has asked if anglers could ring 01685 385541 in future, if Brent is not in
please leave a message on his answer phone and he will make a note of your
booking. He recently landed 3 carp on Top Pond one of 13lbs, one of
14lbs 8oz and one of 15lbs 10oz, Andrew Llewellyn who was fishing with him also
landed one of 9lbs. Brent reports that all the fish were in good
condition and gave a good account of themselves.
August
2006
The pond is fishing well for both carp and
other coarse fish. The carp are taking boilies and also being very
obliging and taking bread, dog biscuit and other floating baits. A
young man from Newport is doing very well catching carp on the fly on his
version of a floating dog biscuit. 2 very large carp have been
caught and pictures of them will be available very soon.
Back
Map
Back
d
take the next turn left. Go right to the bottom of this road and at
the end turn right besides the end factory unit, follow
the track down to your left to the gate. This track can be very
difficult in wet weather. This is a very exposed pond but holds a good head of
fish. The species are Mirror and Common Carp, Perch,
Roach, Tench, Bream and Gudgeon. Pleasure fishermen have had bags of fish up to
30lb depending on the time of year. The specialist carp fishermen have had
plenty of double figure carp. ONLY TWO RODS MAY BE USED AT ANY
ONE TIME.
