Sunday 15 April 2007

Pembrokeshire, St Dogmaels

Teifi estuary, St Dogmaels low tide looking seaward.
Take the road from Cardigan to Poppit Sands, the B4536, in the village of St Dogmaels turn right and at the bottom of the hill there is a low sea wall. There is a small amount of roadside parking at the far end of the wall towards a new boat park. You can get access to the beach near the small pumping station or via the slipway further up the road. There are boat moorings here which make fishing difficult except at low tide, the beach here is muddy. Walk to the left towards the sea, past the boat moorings and where the estuary narrows a little and where the rocky bank starts, two channels of the estuary meet. The beach is firmer sandy silt here.This is a good mark for flounder fishing, my only ever near 3lb fish came from here to a soft crab bait tipped with mackerel. If you look you may find soft or peeler crab bait nearby although flounder will take fish baits, especially the larger fish. Locals used to use earthworms here with great success.
On big tides there is a lot of water moving in the estuary and the current is too strong for easy fishing at maximum flow, especially if the river is in spate. You will need to fish over low or high water slack times or when the flow abates. On very high tides it is possible to get cut off at this mark so consult tide tables before heading out there.
Bait is a problem in West Wales. Mackerel or frozen raw prawns can usually be bought from Tesco in Cardigan, there is a tackle shop in Cardigan (Castaway Tackle Shop in College Row 01239 621856 ) which sells frozen bait and very expensive farmed, boxed ragworm. As you go through the High Street on the one-way system you will notice a small square with what used to be Woolworths to the right, immediately turn left down the hill, this is College Row, there is a car park about 50 yards further on
.