Hello from oxfordshire!

[lukewood]

Hello everyone,

 

I am luke, im 23 from Kidlington just north of oxford, and after about 8 years of not going, I am looking to start fishing again.

 

I am quite lucky and work shift work so get 4 days off after every 4, leaving plenty of time for a few night sessions and lake trips.

 

If anyone knows any good places for fishing in my area, I would be really grateful if you'd share. I only moved here a week ago from around reading.

 

I used to do mainly river fishing, with the ocasional trip to a few local lakes. Never really had any decent catches, Just fished for a relax and something to keep me out of trouble now looking to really up it though and turn it from a pass time, to a hobby.

 

cheers.

 

Luke.

[Newt]

Hi Luke and welcome to Anglers' Net.

 

I've moved this to the Coarse section where it will get more looks and more answers.

[Mark Wintle]

My family come from Oxford so I fish it occasionally but the Thames is still good (little or no night fishing) for roach, chub and bream. Go and have a chat with Fat Phil in Abingdon Road (it's a tackle shop!) for options on the best club books. He'll know stillwaters as well.

[dave_daints]

You wont go far wrong buying a Kidlington Angling Society license Luke. You get some nice Cherwell fishing down the back of Kidlington. Its ace for big chub in the winter. You also get to fish all the ODAA (Oxford and District) waters which gets you miles of great Thames fishing. You have a tackle shop in the precinct in Kidlington (Predator Angling - hope its still going).

A famous bit of Thames on the ODAA ticket is Medley. The Thames that goes through port meadow. That'd be a good place to start I'd say. Lots of boat traffic/walkers in the day but can produce great bream/chub/roach.

I've been fishing round Oxford for almost 5 years now and there is so much good stuff to choose from with chance of very big fish from the Thames.

[Anderoo]

Hi Luke. Some good advice so far - another couple of shops worth a visit are States tackle in Witney and J&K in Bicester. After that your head will be spinning with the amount of good local fishing

 

The stillwaters can get busy in the summer months and are generally very carp-orientated, but there is a lot of very good river fishing available on cheap club books. The Thames, Cherwell, Evenlode, Windrush are all very local, to the north is the upper Ouse, further south is the Kennet, to the west the Avon and the Severn. I've been in the area for about 8 years now and have still barely scratched the surface.

 

You will hear plenty of stories (especially in the tackle shops) that otters have eaten all the fish. My advice is to fish places with an open mind and see for yourself. I've had plenty of good fish from stretches where they have apparently all been eaten.

 

Oh, and if you've never seen a crayfish, you soon will

[dave_daints]

Oh yes. Littlemore Angling Society ticket is £10. That gets you ODAA as well if you don't want Kidlington. Rated best value club ticket in the land by Anglers Mail.

[goosequill]

Hi Luke,

 

Not much to add to the great advice from the chaps above. I have been in the area for ten years and over time have developed favourite bits of the Thames, Cherwell, Ray and Ouse. However, if I could live another hundred years I still would not have fully explored all the river fishing, the Thames in particular is one of the most exciting rivers as it continues to surprise you all the time. I would get a local club book and just go exploring and enjoy the exploration and the inevitable surprises. (The Cherwell was one of the most amazing discoveries as coming from catching chub to around three pounds to suddenly catching fish regularly over five and six pounds just blew my head off. Then going to the Thames and catching more big Chub was potty! I have seen some big chub landed on the Thames and also seen extremely large chub swimming in the Thames; a ten pound chub on the Thames would not surprise me at all).

 

As Andrew has mentioned as well, Signal Crayfish are abundant and will eat anything!!!

 

Enjoy, and I look forward to reading about your exploring.

 

All the best,

 

Chris

[mono]

There are a number of clubs in Oxfordshire, Some have been metioned here already. Pop into you local tackle shop and they should be able to help you.

One more that springs to mind is the Sutton Courtney club.

 

Depending on how far you want to travel there are loads of day ticket waters also, Orchid lakes, The Shimano lakes nr Witney ( May not be shimano run anymore though). I use to live in Didcot a few years back and there are two lakes on the ladygrove estate.

Good mixed fishery and good sport, Think its day ticket duuring the week about £7 a day from Acorn Angling in Didcot. Speak to Tony the shop manager last time i went there.