If you could only fish one river...

[Anderoo]

This is interesting, hearing about all these rivers. The Tees, for example, I'd never even heard of but it doesn't arf sound good!

 

I guess I would have to pick the Thames. There's plenty of it, from the upper Thames upstream of me here, right the way down to the tidal at Teddington, and it sustains amazing numbers of fish and some very large specimens of several species. It could keep you busy for the rest of your life.

 

It is also moody. I've fished it on and off here for a number of years now and still find it quite mysterious and at times utterly baffling. I would definitely miss its seductive little tributaries, but the main river is the place to be. It is also - around here, at least - virtually unfished. Magic

[JV44]

This is interesting, hearing about all these rivers. The Tees, for example, I'd never even heard of but it doesn't arf sound good!

 

I guess I would have to pick the Thames. There's plenty of it, from the upper Thames upstream of me here, right the way down to the tidal at Teddington, and it sustains amazing numbers of fish and some very large specimens of several species. It could keep you busy for the rest of your life.

 

It is also moody. I've fished it on and off here for a number of years now and still find it quite mysterious and at times utterly baffling. I would definitely miss its seductive little tributaries, but the main river is the place to be. It is also - around here, at least - virtually unfished. Magic

 

Most of us are likely to pick our local river unless it`s really pants as time constraints on most of us dictate thats the one we fish most ,A year ago i would have said unquestionably the Thames but since moving our narrow boat onto the Kennet and fishing out of my comfort zone so to speak its a very close call .

Gonna go with the Thames by the narrowest of margins simply because i have fished it for a long time and yet still she is very hard to read ,the upshot is you just don`t know for sure what is in your bit as the size of her means less known fish to target and much more of a mystery barbel wise at any rate .

Big areas never see an angler and i always feel like the first person to fish a new bit even though i obviously ain`t which keeps calling me back to her .

[Dales]

For me it would be the Little Brosna in Co Tipperary & Co Offally in Ireland. It has all the things I look for in a river. Great countryside, bridges and flows through picturesque villages and past the odd pub were you can stop off for a pint of the black stuff on your wonderings along the bank.

 

Plenty of fish to target, Brownies, Rainbows, Salmon, Perch & Pike and the odd Bream in some of the deeper parts.

 

Although my choice may be seen through rose tinted glasses as I used to fish it as a child on holiday, long before I started to fish at home in England and I would spend months looking forward to the summer holidays to go fishing.

[Brian Carragher]

Most of us are likely to pick our local river unless it`s really pants as time constraints on most of us dictate thats the one we fish most

 

Not so sure thats true, I picked my local river as I think its the best around but for a long time I did'nt really fish it preferring to fish the Swale and in particular the upper Ure and was a paid up member of New galloway club where I used to fish Loch Ken quite extensively, 360 mile round trip, and its still one of my favourite places and i was also a member of a syndicate lake about 1.5 hrs away from home but these days because my local river fish's so well and as already said, has the lot, I don't get the urge to travel and fish other rivers when I've got very good fishing on my doorstep

[grayson]

This is interesting, hearing about all these rivers. The Tees, for example, I'd never even heard of but it doesn't arf sound good!

 

I guess I would have to pick the Thames. There's plenty of it, from the upper Thames upstream of me here, right the way down to the tidal at Teddington, and it sustains amazing numbers of fish and some very large specimens of several species. It could keep you busy for the rest of your life.

 

It is also moody. I've fished it on and off here for a number of years now and still find it quite mysterious and at times utterly baffling. I would definitely miss its seductive little tributaries, but the main river is the place to be. It is also - around here, at least - virtually unfished. Magic

Never heard of it- really? Not as in Teesside perhaps ? Southerners....... But it is a lovely river and its upper stretches are absolutely stunning scenically.Used to fish for trout and grayling there and it is beyond all doubt the most vicious bastard of a river to wade !

 

My one choice would be the Wye (the big one in Herefordshire).Never seen it let alone fished it but looks and sounds big enough and wild enough to keep me going for years.

[Worms]

My one choice would be the Wye (the big one in Herefordshire).Never seen it let alone fished it but looks and sounds big enough and wild enough to keep me going for years.

Good choice mate, a bigger version of the Teme really!

[tiddlertamer]

This is interesting, hearing about all these rivers. The Tees, for example, I'd never even heard of but it doesn't arf sound good!

 

I guess I would have to pick the Thames. There's plenty of it, from the upper Thames upstream of me here, right the way down to the tidal at Teddington, and it sustains amazing numbers of fish and some very large specimens of several species. It could keep you busy for the rest of your life.

 

It is also moody. I've fished it on and off here for a number of years now and still find it quite mysterious and at times utterly baffling. I would definitely miss its seductive little tributaries, but the main river is the place to be. It is also - around here, at least - virtually unfished. Magic

 

 

I've always struggled with the Thames.

 

I think it may be that where I've fished the river it has been so wide it has felt really daunting...

 

Around Windsor and Eton, I have fished the London Anglers association stretch but I found the main river overwhelmed with boat traffic and had to retreat to a quieter tributary.

 

When invited by a friend to fish below a weir on the Datchet stretch, the boat traffic problem disappeared but my friend and I find another big problem. Bleak. Seemingly millions of them. Every cast when trotting.

 

And last summer there seemed to be very little flow in the river so trotting, my favourite technique, had to be shelved.

 

I believe you are closer to Oxford where the Thames may be a touch more intimate even if large in comparison with most rivers.

 

But for me I have found the Thames frustrating though I do have my eyes on a stretch further upstream which is owned by the London Anglers Association. Not a million miles from Oxford too.

 

I'll let you know if I have any luck!

[Will Wilkinson]

The Great Ouse for me. Yes it's my local river, but it's also got lots of variety and specimens of most species. I can fish wide deep swims for Bream, weedy margins for Perch, riffles for dace, pools and glides for chub and barbel, the list just goes on and on. Plus it flows through some lovely countryside.

 

Will

[The Flying Tench]

apart from the roach - and they were always somewhat elusive

C.

That's cos you are just a youngster! When a friend of mine called Alf used to fish it 70 years ago as a boy he'd go ledgering for roach in an afternoon and get maybe 6 fish, all over a pound, and often with a 2 pounder!

 

Actually I'm interested by your comment, Chris, because some of the people one talks to give the impression there was amazing roach fishing just 20 years ago, but from what you say it may not have been quite like that.

 

I certainly agree about the perch, chub and barbel.

 

J

[richjones]

I would have to say my local river Dee (the welsh one).

 

The river holds so much mystery for me, most catches are kept secret and although rumours circulate, there is a lack of solid evidence.

 

The maximum sizes for each species are very rough, for example, barbel were thought to go to 5-6lbs in the river, yet i know from experience that this is far from the truth! Nobody wold assume that there are genuine 3lb roach in the river either

 

I dont think that i could fully learn how to fish this river given 10 lifetimes to do so. Just when i think i know where the chub lie in a particular swim i blank fishing there 3 times in a row. I suppose that as it is a spate river the swims are constantly changing (i arrived at a favourite swim today to find a 40 foot tree across the river)

 

I also enjoy this river as it is largely underfished and there really could be fish of any size in it! Some huge bass come from the estuary too!