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Fishing the Middle Thames


Vagabond

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Following enjoyable trips on the Broads and last year on the Severn, we are having a week this year on a narrowboat based on Caversham.

 

Now I have fished the Upper Thames during my National Service Cricklade and above, and also around Wolvercote with Chevin and Pete Stone. However, I have never fished the Thames below Abingdon, so would welcome a bit of gen.

 

No, its not about asking for your favorite swims (we'll find our own !) but broadly about where boaters are allowed to fish, any permits I need, and if I pay for a fishing ticket from a local club, whether they have "rules" prohibiting the use of a boat !

 

My first instinct is to head up-river, to locate chub, roach and perch areas rather than bream, so any general advice will be welcome.

 

 

RNLI Governor

 

World species 471 : UK species 105 : English species 95 .

Certhia's world species - 215

Eclectic "husband and wife combined" world species 501

 

"Nothing matters very much, few things matter at all" - Plato

...only things like fresh bait and cold beer...

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EA do a downloadable pamphlet covering the Thames Water fishing area which you may find useful. Also a separate permit is needed for the locks

The two best times to go fishing are when it's raining and when it's not

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Dave we spend most weekends of the summer and a few week nights to on our narrow boat on the Thames and have fished most bits over the years so first question is are you heading upstream or downstream?

Many of the licks have bootable mooring space on the inside ie weir side of the lock island and you can fish from the boat here but they do charge circa £9 for the mooring per night

A fair few other bits are available day ticket and farmers that charge a fiver for mooring overnight in there fields let you fish,reality is you are unlikely to see other anglers let alone a bailiff

Let us know when and I am sure I can get Rusty,Steve W,Matthew and a few others for a mini Thames fishin

Any other info just shout .....I can put you onto areas that have done recent barbel to nearly 18 a fish I saw in the flesh but sadly not to my rod Steve

Edited by JV44

We are not putting it back it is a lump now put that curry down and go and get the scales

have I told you abouit the cruise control on my Volvo ,,,,,,,bla bla bla Barder rod has it come yet?? and don`t even start me on Chris Lythe :bleh::icecream:

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Sorry just re read your post heading upstream well a short cruise under Caversham bridge and the parkland on the left can be moored on opposite bank there is a large house with a bell tower the area is called the promenade and has great Roach and Perch fishing but the scullers will wake you up early with there shouting and wash from the safety boat

Head through Mapledurham lock and there are moorings on the far bank which give access to Mapledurham house scene of a ww2 film the eagle has landed I believe but think this is RDAA water not sure of guest ticket

Next is Pangbourne meadows on the right hand bank as you see the newly refurbished white road bridge in front of you it's a national trust free mooring and free fishing ,I took a 3lb 14 oz fish from here last September

These 3 alone are all within 3 hours leisurely cruise from your pick up spot

We are not putting it back it is a lump now put that curry down and go and get the scales

have I told you abouit the cruise control on my Volvo ,,,,,,,bla bla bla Barder rod has it come yet?? and don`t even start me on Chris Lythe :bleh::icecream:

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Many thanks Steve. Lutra will be with us on the boat, and I will send you a pm as soon as we hear from him.

 

later (3.15 pm 25th Feb) we ordered a Nicholson's "Waterways guide to the Thames and Southern waterways" yesterday, and its just dropped through the letterbox. reading it now !

Edited by Vagabond

 

 

RNLI Governor

 

World species 471 : UK species 105 : English species 95 .

Certhia's world species - 215

Eclectic "husband and wife combined" world species 501

 

"Nothing matters very much, few things matter at all" - Plato

...only things like fresh bait and cold beer...

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Many of the licks have bootable mooring space on the inside ie weir side of the lock island and you can fish from the boat here but they do charge circa £9 for the mooring per night

Sounds very civilized. My desire for a good trotting peg being what it is, I'm not sure some of my mooring last year on the Severn was quite as shown in the handbook. I bet them big heavy numb narrow boats would take a bit of unbeaching if you ran it aground. :rolleyes:

 

A tiger does not lose sleep over the opinion of sheep

 

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  • 4 months later...

Well, here we are back home after our week on the Thames. Very enjoyable, but fewer fish than on our weeks of the previous three years (on, respectively Ant/Bure/Thurne in 2013, Yare/Waveney in 2014 and Severn 2015)

 

The weirpool recommended by JV44 produced several good roach on bread, for Lutra and perch up to 1-12 on worm for me - both trotting.

 

Otherrwise, many swims elsewhere yielded very little, and we had to work really hard for our fish - a big contrast to last year on the Severn, where in most places it was a fish a chuck, with quite a few rod-benders boated. This time, Brian and I had only about half a dozen perch each over the pound mark (Best Brian's 1-14) Of the rest, all were small, and not many. We tried everything, even caught rudd in 12 feet of water, tripping the bottom ! Various methods produced the odd roach, bream, chub, and even a Tommy Ruffe, but many swims produced nothing.

 

One thing I noticed was how very shy-biting the perch were compared with other rivers (JV and his mates must have been teaching them what nasty things hooks are :) ) We all four of us did a bit of spinning from time to time, but the fish had obviously learnt that spinners were thrice as nasty as hooks. Spun high and fast, low and slow, big lures, little lures, plus everything in between. Only one fish (perch) on spinner which I got from the weirpool aforementioned - the other three spinners scored zilch.

 

Now I can't believe all four of us have suddenly forgotten everything we knew - how did you Thames regulars fare during the week July 4th to July 11th ? There was a Westerly (ie downstream) gale blowing most of the week which did not help trotting, but I expected to do better than we did.. I know some Thames anglers reckon the river fishes better in autumn/winter than in summer. Comments please.

  • Like 1

 

 

RNLI Governor

 

World species 471 : UK species 105 : English species 95 .

Certhia's world species - 215

Eclectic "husband and wife combined" world species 501

 

"Nothing matters very much, few things matter at all" - Plato

...only things like fresh bait and cold beer...

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I haven't yet fished it this season, but when I've done well on lures over the winter it has been with very small soft plastic ones on jig heads, fished in slack water and hopped back over the bottom.

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Bugger! I’d forgotten about this trip and would’ve popped along for a cup of tea had I remembered.

 

My Thames Lock and Weirpool ticket only allows me to fish my favourite Thames section from the bank after October so it’s no surprise that I’ve had my best sessions later in the season. Having said that I’ve fished off JV44’s boat (which is within the rules) during the summer months and in my opinion it’s not the best time of year, I was with him a couple of weeks ago and trotting did produce a string of silvers but nothing of any size. I tried lobs float fished right next to the boat which has been very effective for decent sized perch but no sign of even the tiddlers on that occasion.

 

JV44 fishes the Thames during summer far more frequently than I do so may have a different view but I suspect he’ll share mine, it’s better fishing from autumn onwards.

It's never a 'six', let's put it back

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Thanks Rusty. I felt we did the best we could, tried many presentations, baits and depths, but the river was dour. and the westerly wind very strong

 

The few perch we had over the pound mark all fought well - one of mine went straight upstream against the main current of the weirpool as if it were a barbel ! A most enjoyable few moments.

 

It may be significant that all week we saw very few other anglers - if we go again, I think we will choose late summer/autumn

 

 

RNLI Governor

 

World species 471 : UK species 105 : English species 95 .

Certhia's world species - 215

Eclectic "husband and wife combined" world species 501

 

"Nothing matters very much, few things matter at all" - Plato

...only things like fresh bait and cold beer...

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