Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal – Pontymoile Stretch

Pontymoile is a proper canal stretch with a bit of cracking history around it. The fishery starts around Bridge 48 at Pontymoile Basin and runs through to Bridge 53, just beyond the Open Hearth pub. It’s on the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal, at the historic junction with the Monmouthshire and Brecknock & Abergavenny canals.

• 1 lake: Pontymoile Stretch
• Fish: perch, bream, roach, rudd, pike
• Tickets from: Full membership — published 2020 price — £25
• Find it: Pontypool · NP4 0RF

Based on how each lake is set up — not a ranking.

Pontymoile is a proper canal stretch with a bit of cracking history around it. The fishery starts around Bridge 48 at Pontymoile Basin and runs through to Bridge 53, just beyond the Open Hearth pub. It’s on the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal, at the historic junction with the Monmouthshire and Brecknock & Abergavenny canals. Those two routes were linked at Pontymoile in 1812, so there’s plenty to look at before you’ve even tackled up.

This is a Festival Angling Club water, not a turn-up-and-fish day-ticket venue. Membership has to be sorted before fishing through the Clubmate online portal, and the current rules say there are no day tickets. The club’s published 2020 prices were £25 for full membership, £15 for concession membership and £10 for under-16s, but current pricing wasn’t published on the checked pages. Worth having a look at the live portal before making the trip, rather than arriving with the kit and no ticket.

Nearby Pontypool canal waters have reported perch, bream, silver fish and pike. The silver-fish crowd includes roach, rudd and dace, giving you a decent mix of possible targets without pretending every peg will produce the same thing. On a new canal, spend a few minutes watching the water, checking the margins and looking for any change in depth, cover or colour. Then start tidy and adjust if the fish aren’t playing ball.

A light, accurate approach should be a sensible place to begin, with the margins and any visible features worth checking before casting miles across the canal. Keep the kit simple and bring enough bait options to adapt. A pole or float setup may suit a close-range search, while a second rod can give you another line to test where permitted. Keep in mind that only two rods are allowed, dropping to one rod on match days.

The rules are fairly clear, so have a proper read before packing the tackle box. Fishing is dawn to dusk only, with night fishing prohibited, and you can fish only from designated pegs. It’s one angler per peg, apart from an accompanying junior or permitted accessibility arrangement. Barbless hooks are mandatory, hooks can be no larger than size 8, and bait must be at least 18 inches below the surface. Floating baits, nuts, spinning, fly fishing and treble hooks are all prohibited.

There’s free parking at Pontymoile Basin, although parking opening times can vary, and the canal is also accessible on foot or by bicycle along the towpath. Bring a dipped landing net, and an unhooking mat if carp fishing. Rigs must be free-running, with no braid main line, leadcore, ready-spliced leaders, fixed leads or fixed feeders. Keep the peg spotless, avoid conservation areas and never leave tackle unattended. Get the admin sorted, pack for a proper daylight session and Pontymoile could be a bob-on choice for anglers who enjoy working out a canal rather than chasing a guaranteed bag-up.

Good background reading. Most of it is a few years old, so treat it as a starting point and ask on the day.

Videos linked by the fishery

• Our read

  Checked Sept '26 — “Pontymoile is a club-controlled canal stretch running from Bridge 48 at Pontymoile Basin to Bridge 53, just beyond the Open Hearth pub. It offers classic canal coarse fishing, with perch, bream, roach, rudd, pike and other silver fish reported on nearby Pontypool canal waters.”

This is our own summary of recurring public feedback and the venue details we checked, not a copied customer review or a promise you’ll catch. Feedback changes, so we keep it separate from the Tackle Index score.