Abercothi is situated at Nantgaredig near Carmarthen, Wales. Click here to view directions to Abercothi.The Abercothi Fishery comprises approximately three miles of the River Towy and a further mile of the River Cothi. Almost all the fishing is double bank (with a bank share arrangement currently in place for the remainder). There are in all forty main named pools, including the renowned Junction Pool, on what is widely regarded as the prime stretch of sea-trout fishing in the Country.

There are three daily rotating beats being Llwchgwyn, Abercothi and Junction. Click here to view our Beat Map. Each beat changes over at 0700 hrs each morning and a maximum of five rods is permitted. Each beat contains fishing on both Rivers which reduces overall pressure whilst still ensuring the Fishery is fished throughout, and at the same time giving rods more flexibility and variety. Fishing is permitted on Sundays. Click here to view our Tariffs.

A full-time ghillie is available on the Fishery. He will be there to assist rods generally, show them the extent of the Fishery, pools etc. However, he may be required for general bankside duties also and to help with other beats from time to time. Should rods require the services of a personal one to one guide/instructor this can easily be arranged.

Fishing is fly only except for spinning which may be permitted at the ghillie’s discretion in high water. Most fish are taken on a fly in the evening or at night using a variety of methods from traditional flies to sunk tubes and surface lures. Access and parking to the whole Fishery is excellent, there being a suitable gravelled access road along or near the whole Fishery. Any walking is over bankside pasture. Wading is often required, but is mostly on gravel and fairly easy. There are few, if any obstructions to casting.

Abercothi is located about four miles above the tide limit and so most sections of the water usually hold fish throughout the season. It is renowned for holding large fish and every year one should expect sea-trout (or sewin as they are normally called in Wales) into double figures. Click Here to view our Catch Records.

Work undertaken towards the end of the 1980’s by the then Welsh Water Authority and continued by the National Rivers Authority showed there were more specimen fish in the Towy than was ever realised. Using traps and nets to enable fish to be fitted with radio-tags, not only were several fish over 20lbs. reported, but also that the average weight of 1,000 sea-trout taken during May was a phenomenal 8lb. This work also confirmed the existence of a good early spring run in April and May which extends the angling season favourably compared to many other rivers.

“One springtime shoal at Abercothi boasted 150 or more sea-trout, the smallest of them getting on for 4lb.”
(Trout and Salmon, May 1995)

When it comes to sea-trout few, if any, British Rivers can compare with the Towy system in terms of the total rod catch, and the average weight and large size attained by this “the most sporting and challenging of all game fish".

The best year in the 1980’s produced a total declared catch of 9,580 sea-trout with an average weight of 2lbs. In 1988, of all the fifty famous sea-trout rivers in Wales officially recorded, almost a quarter of the 30,685 fish caught came from a single river system, the Towy (7,134 fish). The Abercothi Fishery tends to average about 10% of the total catch for the whole River Towy catchment for both sea-trout and salmon.