Llandegfedd Reservoir
Reservoir · Fresh water · in The Severn Estuary
A fertile lowland reservoir in a shallow Monmouthshire valley, with weedy bays, a soft bed and a long-established stocked trout fishery.
Safety: tides and being cut off — can cause serious injury or death. 2 more points apply here.
FishingHQ describes what this place is. It does not say whether you may fish it: access rights, permits, licences, byelaws, closures and protected areas all apply, all differ and all change. Who to ask is below.
What you can catch here
Documented at this place, grouped by how you would be fishing, with how strongly the sources support each one. This is what has been written down, not a forecast, and being listed is never permission to fish.
From the shore · 3
From a boat · 3
Fly fishing · 2
What these strengths mean
- Characteristic of this coast
- This ground is strongly identified with this species by the sources that cover it.
- Seasonal
- Well supported, and concentrated in part of the year rather than spread through it.
- Repeatedly reported
- Several independent public accounts. Enough to say it happens more than once; not enough to call it a fishery.
- Recorded here
- At least one credible public account of this species being caught here. That is all it means.
- Places, accounts and sources are counted separately
- A fish documented once at each of six marks is still documented once at each of six marks. Breadth is reported as a place count and never raises the strength, and sources are deduplicated across places so one publisher covering a whole coast counts as one. A fishery account is a source describing the fishing; a recorded catch is a report of a specific catch. They are counted apart because they are not the same evidence.
How people fish it
Practised here: Fly fishing.
Methods the sources name for this ground. Each one is explained in full on its own page.
- Stillwater fly fishing
Fly fishing without current, where the angler supplies every movement and the problem becomes finding fish rather than presenting to them.
The ground and the water
- The ground
- A fertile lowland reservoir in a shallow Monmouthshire valley, with weedy bays, a soft bed and a long-established stocked trout fishery.
Safety
Tides and being cut off — Can cause serious injury or death
The tidal range exposes enormous areas of sand and mud and then covers them. The flood advances across level ground faster than a person can walk, and channels fill behind before the flat itself covers, so the route back closes first. People are cut off on the sands of this estuary regularly and some are killed.
What reduces it: Never go onto the intertidal zone without knowing the turn time and the route back, treat the filling of channels behind you rather than the water in front as the signal to leave, and do not walk out at all without local knowledge of which ground is firm. Carry a means of calling for help that survives immersion.
Worse when:
- On spring tides, when the exposed area is greatest and the flood fastest.
- In fog or poor light, when there is no reference to walk back on.
- On soft ground, where walking out is far quicker than walking back.
Moving water and currents — Can cause serious injury or death
Tidal streams here are among the strongest around Britain and are unsurvivable to swim against. Underwater visibility is effectively nil, so anybody in the water cannot see and cannot easily be seen. Soft mud can trap a person, and being stuck in mud on a rising tide in this estuary is a recognised recurring emergency.
What reduces it: Stay off soft mud entirely, fish from hard ground, wear a buoyancy aid where there is any chance of going in, and if trapped in mud call for help immediately rather than after struggling. Do not enter the water for any reason.
Cold water shock — Can cause serious injury or death
Water temperature is low enough for most of the year that immersion triggers gasping and hyperventilation, and the ability to swim is lost in the first minute. Combined with a strong tidal stream and zero visibility, an immersion here is a very serious event at any time of year.
What reduces it: Wear a buoyancy aid, keep off slippery hard structures near deep fast water, and if immersed, float and control breathing before attempting anything else.
Rules and access
Licence
A rod licence is required for freshwater rod fishing in Wales, issued by Natural Resources Wales.
Permission to fish
Separate. Fishing rights are held by clubs, associations, riparian owners or navigation authorities, and the licence does not grant access to any water.
FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Freshwater rod fishing in Wales requires a current rod licence AND separate permission from whoever controls the fishing, which is frequently a club, riparian owner or navigation authority rather than a public body. Close seasons, byelaws and local rules apply and change. Check with Natural Resources Wales and with the controlling club or owner before going.
Who holds the answer:
- Natural Resources Wales, for rod licensing, close seasons and fisheries regulation in Wales.
- The club, association or riparian owner that controls the fishing.
- The environment agency in England and natural resources Wales, for migratory salmonids, eels, elvers and the historic net and fixed-engine fisheries.
- The inshore fisheries and conservation authority for the English side, and the Welsh government's marine and fisheries function on the Welsh side, for sea fishing.
- The statutory nature conservation bodies, for the European habitat and bird designations and the site of special scientific interest covering the estuary.
- The harbour authority for the port and navigation areas, whose rules govern access to piers, walls and navigable channels.
- The local authority and food standards agency, for shellfish ground classification and biotoxin monitoring.
Nearby fishing
Other publicly documented places within about 40 km, by distance. Positions are approximate public geography and are never exact marks.
- The Usk and Newport — 10–25 km · Estuary mark
- The Usk at Abergavenny — 10–25 km · River reach
- The Wye at Monmouth — 10–25 km · River reach
- Aust and the Severn crossings — 25–40 km · Estuary mark
- Portishead — 25–40 km · Estuary mark
- Clevedon Pier — 25–40 km · Pier
- The Wye at Symonds Yat — 25–40 km · River reach
- Penarth Pier — 25–40 km · Pier
Sources for this place
- Environment Agency fisheries management, byelaws and rod licensing information — Environment Agency (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: Freshwater and transitional-water fisheries management in England, the structure of rod licensing, close seasons and byelaws, and the monitoring of rivers and stillwaters.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Angling Times — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Long-running published description of British coarse and match angling practice by water and by named reach.FishingHQ's interpretation of what it saysCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated public descriptions of which waters are conventionally fished and how, recorded as practitioner consensus rather than as scholarship, and not relied on for access, permission or any current rule.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy. Last reviewed 2026-08-16.