stafford doxey marshes

[Ry hilton]

Hi has anyone else been fishing over these marshes recentely ,i wanted to know what fish apart from the cracking roach reside in the big pool known as trappers,also any info on any of the other pools or the stretch of the sow which runs through these marshes ??

[Rob Ward]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doxey_Marshes

[Ry hilton]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doxey_Marshes

Cheers rob i know the area pretty well though and am just after some info on some of the better swims and theirs nothing at all really useful about fishing this location on the net think me needs some local advice

[Alan Fawcett]

to be honest the marshes are nowhere near as good as they used to be, the best of the fishing is now down the Sowe alongside the Sainsbury store and on round the bend behind the old mill.

 

If you are willing to walk to the very top end of the marshes (motorway end) where the river doglegs away from the railline then you can find some good chub fishing and the occasional barbel but i do mean very occasional!

 

The pools are pretty good the old cemetry pool used to be excellent for Tench, Perch and pike, the large pool where the birdhide is has some good roach and tench fishing but you have to be ready to put up with the hassles from the twitchers (most of which are very anti fishing) and if you walk a bit further up you'll find a small pool right alongside the Sowe which used to have some good fish in it but its much better to fish it after a flood due to fish getting trapped in there

 

If you can get on it (due to it being seriously overgrown most the time) the "darling" which is a very short "river" that runs through the marshes connecting the pools together has some excellent Perch fishing and the odd large Eel has been caught in there as well as other assorted fish passing between the pools

 

The river itself though is now very sadly almost deviod of fish in the marshes but they are slowly returning and hopefully the fishing will return to its old self soon, one of the best places used to be by the old railbridge but as i said the river isn't what it used to be

 

I take it you are either a member of the fishing "club" or you buy your day ticket from Bates tackle?

[Ry hilton]

Hi Alan yes im a member of the fishing club ive been over their a few times now ive had plenty of perch and roach from the river i was goin to have a roam up to the dog leg by the railway on sunday see if i can spot anythin ,how ever i will be their for a few early hours on trappers as the roach in their are good sport ,i had a 4lb tench from the cemetery pool {pike pond}the other week so possible try down their again , i see what you mean tho their fishing nowhere near as good as they used to be thanks for you help tho much appreciated

[lampro]

its a sad shame when the twitches took over the marshes, I fished it for years as a youngster/ teenager my farther and grandfarther also walking the sow before it became a stream. The big lake at the end of woggers lane as it was know held some good double figure pike good head of breem tench and roach, the small pond opposite belive it or not had some nice tench back in the day. The dead arm was good for tench and pike I used too go every evening after school night fish at week ends had some great times over there, and then they made it a club water you couldn't fish any of it the only place was the grave yard side of the pike pool until the council came over and moved you on. It would greave me to buy a licence out of principal as the farmer who owned the land promised that when he pasted on it would go too the fisherman. All that's happened is the twitchers have drained areas and over flooded areas for wading birds totally ruined what used too be my and other young and old peoples area in Stafford to be enjoyed. Farther and son fishing together learning the trade having fun with out bailiffs asking for your permit it should never of happened. Well theres my rant if you can still get on it fish the dead arm it was always the best pool or the old tench pool by the river

[ayjay]

its a sad shame when the twitches took over the marshes, I fished it for years as a youngster/ teenager my farther and grandfarther also walking the sow before it became a stream. The big lake at the end of woggers lane as it was know held some good double figure pike good head of breem tench and roach, the small pond opposite belive it or not had some nice tench back in the day. The dead arm was good for tench and pike I used too go every evening after school night fish at week ends had some great times over there, and then they made it a club water you couldn't fish any of it the only place was the grave yard side of the pike pool until the council came over and moved you on. It would greave me to buy a licence out of principal as the farmer who owned the land promised that when he pasted on it would go too the fisherman. All that's happened is the twitchers have drained areas and over flooded areas for wading birds totally ruined what used too be my and other young and old peoples area in Stafford to be enjoyed. Farther and son fishing together learning the trade having fun with out bailiffs asking for your permit it should never of happened. Well theres my rant if you can still get on it fish the dead arm it was always the best pool or the old tench pool by the river

 

I think it's important to correct a couple of your misconceptions.

 

Twitchers are birdwatchers, not all birdwatchers are twitchers by any means, probably less than 5%.

 

Doxey marshes has not been taken over by twitchers or birdwatchers even - it's run by the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, most counties have a dedicated wildlife trust, we certainly do in Hampshire.

 

I don't agree with everything they do in terms of management, (I rarely even agree with what my fishing clubs do in that respect either) but on the whole they do a good job.

 

If you dislike or disagree with things so much, join (your local wildlife trust) and get involved, make a difference, but be aware that the habitat required for wintering wading birds (and others) has been disappearing at a faster rate than good fishing over the last few decades and needs addressing, fish are just one link in the chain - fishing for them, whilst important to us anglers is low on the list of priorities for any wildlife organisation.

 

Do note however that even four years ago it was stated that the fishing was not as good as it used to be.

 

to be honest the marshes are nowhere near as good as they used to be, the best of the fishing is now down the Sowe alongside the Sainsbury store and on round the bend behind the old mill.

 

 

I've never yet revisited places of my youth and been delighted, and rarely even pleasantly surprised, it's usually been a disaster, (to my eyes).

Edited September 27, 2014 by ayjay

[tincatinca]

Good grief. This thread has brought back some memories. I lived in Stafford from the early fifties to the late eighties and fished the Sow and the marshes a great deal. The Sow was a completely different river prior to the building and opening of the M6 and was capable of producing specimen Chub, Perch, Roach and PIke. Sainsburys is roughly the area where the old gas works was and with the warm water outlet there you were always in with a chance of big Roach and Perch in fact it is there where I lost what would have been my biggest ever Roach. The river from what used to be the brine baths right the way upstream to Chebsey and the confluence with the Meece was capable in certain areas of producing some very good fish relative to that time. The pool near the cemetery used to provide some great sport with the PIke using surface popping lures whilst the pools at the back of Cresswell and over toward Doxey came up with some very decent Tench. I caught my first fish in the Sow which was a decent Roach from under the Broad Eye bridge. Happy days.