The fishing in the south east is dead!

[Dave H]

I envy you guys fishing west and north of the south east as here it has become a complete waist of time for the true coarse angler. Even the day ticket fisheries are packed out at weekends especially and i cant stand them anyway.

And i am sure you all know its carp all the way and a 15lb bream is a nuisance to many down here .

I used to fish the mole as a kid and now it is all owned by match fisherman and the Medway is not that much better . There are a few syndicates or clubs that have the use of coarse fishing but they are now becoming as packed as many day ticket venues and i really struggle to find just basic small fishing enjoyment such as roach and rudd and skimmers in peaceful surroundings

 

Rant over from a grumpy angler who blanked yesterday on a day ticket on a monday morning still recovering from his float being bombarded by method feeders the day before

[Rusty]

I feel for you Dave. I was brought up in Kent (Welling) and used to fish Dartford Lakes, Danson Park, Horton Kirby and Foots Cray Meadows when they were day ticket coarse fisheries and anyone catching a carp was immediately bestowed Angling God status. Lamorbey Park in Sidcup was a brilliant venue for rudd during the mid-seventies. All these places were a bike or bus ride away and capable of producing a mixed bag with the odd larger specimen. When I moan about having a bad day on the Kennet I just think how my fishing would have to change if I ever moved back to Kent, it would probably stop.

 

What about the Kingfisher club http://www.kapscoarse.co.uk/ . I used to be a member and they had lovely waters at Shorne & Hoo, I see their lakes are now predominantly carp but they have river venues too.

[kirisute]

shame you aren't closer to us! we barely have 300 club members and our waters are not pressure fished at all!

walked round our carp lake and its sister lake on Friday evening and both were utterly empty!

[Anderoo]

In the last few weeks I have caught plenty of perch and zander on lures from canals, good perch on legered and float fished lobs from a local club lake, rudd, perch, roach and a decent bream from a local gravel pit on maggot feeder, several good crucians from a club lake on little method feeders and on the float, plenty of carp to nearly 20lb on floaters from a club lake, lots of trout from a reservoir on little nymphs and dries, a few good tench from a gravel pit, and probably other things I can't remember right now. I haven't even ventured out on the rivers yet but there so much good stuff in store there too!

 

So I don't agree that the fishing in the SE is dead - sounds more like someone has taken a blank rather too badly

[Anderoo]

On a serious note, for several years I did most of my fishing in Kent as it offered something I couldn't find closer to home. If your local fishing really doesn't suit you, get in the car and travel elsewhere. A couple of hours isn't that long if you value what's at the other end. In more recent years I've been doing trips of almost 2 hours each way two or three times a week to get up to Rutland in the autumn for the vertical jigging.

[Dales]

I sort of agree that a lot of good quality waters both still water and running are tied up in the south east on syndicate and restricted membership at high prices, but that still leaves a lot of good quality mixed waters available.

 

Yeah, there are a lot of commercial Carp style waters but I still maintain their is plenty of good mixed fishing for those who look closely enough. I joined a new club this year and have been working my way around some of its waters. I was less then excited by a few and one was damn right poor, I fished for around 3 hours and lost count of the match style Carp when I got past 60! I have no plans to revisit that one.

 

However, my last outing on the ticket around 2 weeks ago i came across a little gem, its about 1 hour 20 minutes away. Its full of bays with huge weed beds and clear water, tree lined, bags of wild life, flush toilet in the car park and not very busy. Not huge at around 3 to 4 acres but it looks like a very good all round venue where you can tuck yourself away unseen and seeing no other anglers (Bliss). I fished maggot feeder and had some good Roach and Rudd to over 1lb plus a few bonus Perch to over 2lb and Bream pushing 4lb. A small river that also looks interesting flows nearby and has flooded in to the pit in the past and has deposited a few Dace and Chub in to the pit.

 

I have found out that it contains a few Crucians and Tench, plus some decent eels. i saw with my polaroids 2 Pike in the margins and a Carp cruising out in the middle plus what looked like 2 big Chub cruising about. There is no night fishing and I suspect the Carp are not supper sized and with all the weed and clear water it may not be an ideal water for a certain type of angler. However, it's the sort of place I love. Other then the eels I doubt it will contain a PB for me, but at the moment it does look like a nice place to spend a day with a whole raft of different species to go at. I may even try to catch one of it's Carp.

 

If you can't find a place to fish you like, you have either lost interest in fishing or your not looking hard enough!

[Steve Walker]

In more recent years I've been doing trips of almost 2 hours each way two or three times a week to get up to Rutland in the autumn for the vertical jigging.

I still can't read "vertical jigging" without thinking that it's the standing up version of "horizontal jigging". Fnarr fnarr.

[wotnobivvy]

Steve, that is jogging !!!

[chesters1]

Stockbridge pond is considered packed if theres 5 or more ,if you mean dead as in no fish i am surprised generally at stockbridge dead is a size ten and 4" of float sticking out the water ,if you fish light its very alive .

And thats in a club with c4,000 members but 68% are after carp we have a handful and they dont have names ,its so lovely and quiet i am still on the same two pens i started using in 2003

 

As for the river i went over somerset bridge today twice both times not an angler in sight

Edited July 6, 2015 by chesters1

[chesters1]

Steve, that is jogging !!!

Muuum that man said jogging