Best coarse fishing rivers in the country?
- Thread starter Badgerale
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sam vimes
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I'm quite content with my local bits of the Swale and Tees (especially with regards to scenery). However, I'm fairly confident that very few would travel any great distance to fish either in the places I do. I doubt I'd fish them if I didn't have a self-imposed limit as to how far I'll travel to fish. It's very rare for me to travel more than fifteen miles to fish. I fish a lot and the anglers I encounter from much more than fifty miles away are invariably holidaymakers/second homeowners that aren't here primarily for the fishing.
Which rivers are the best is rather fluid, their form fluctuates over the years. If money/distance were no object, at this point in time, I'd want to fish the Wye, Trent, Ribble, Dorset Frome, Annan and Nith. At different points in the past, the Great Ouse, Severn, Warks Avon, Hampshire Avon (and other Hampshire/Dorset rivers) and Wensum would all have featured on my list of rivers to fish.
Which rivers are the best is rather fluid, their form fluctuates over the years. If money/distance were no object, at this point in time, I'd want to fish the Wye, Trent, Ribble, Dorset Frome, Annan and Nith. At different points in the past, the Great Ouse, Severn, Warks Avon, Hampshire Avon (and other Hampshire/Dorset rivers) and Wensum would all have featured on my list of rivers to fish.
dalesman
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The Clyde, Wear and Tyne for their dace shoals, but content with Swale for the Chub fishing now I returned to Yorkshire
The Wye would have to be up there for me, it's got a diverse range of species to specimen size, often in lovely surroundings, although the ever increasing leisure activities that go on along most of it's length certainly take the shine off.
markcw
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Believe it or not the River Mersey in Warrington was one of the most polluted in the country.
Now it has a Salmon ladder on one of the weirs.
The match record is 75lb.
It has a good variety of fish in it including carp over 25lb.
Not saying it's the best but it is often overlooked .
Now it has a Salmon ladder on one of the weirs.
The match record is 75lb.
It has a good variety of fish in it including carp over 25lb.
Not saying it's the best but it is often overlooked .
sam vimes
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flightliner
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If its Barbel you want then the Trent is up there with any others as one of the best, if not "the best".
Ixf its gudgeon you want then it must rank as one of the worst in the tidal sections at least!
Ixf its gudgeon you want then it must rank as one of the worst in the tidal sections at least!
markcw
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Nope or of the seals that pop up in the match length .No mention of the infamous Mersey Trout!
The Mersey trout is mainly found at the Liverpool end of the Mersey.
John Aston
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Favourite or best are very different . I've loved many rivers , from the Upper Witham in my Lincoln years to the Rye and Swale now , via plenty of holiday rivers from the Tay to the Test , Frome and Avon . I have no idea what the best coarse fishing river is , because if you like grayling and chub you might be disappointed on the Gt Ouse and if barbel and zander are your thing, best stick to Trent and forget the Tyne . And few of us have actually fished more than a relative handful of rivers anyway - I reckon I've fished fewer than 40 in a 50 plus year fishing career , which leaves a few left to explore. I've never cast a line into the (Border) Wye , nor the Thames, nor the Severn
I often think about which river I would choose if I were condemned to fish only one. It needs to be big enough to be unknowable , flow through pretty countryside (that excludes a fair bit of the Trent then ) , have a diversity of fishing , contain very big fish of at least 4 different species I like, and be accessible and affordable for the normal angler . On those criteria I think I will settle for Thames or Severn .
I often think about which river I would choose if I were condemned to fish only one. It needs to be big enough to be unknowable , flow through pretty countryside (that excludes a fair bit of the Trent then ) , have a diversity of fishing , contain very big fish of at least 4 different species I like, and be accessible and affordable for the normal angler . On those criteria I think I will settle for Thames or Severn .
For me it's the Lower Severn or Warks Avon from Stratford down to Twyning. They both suit most established river methods, depending on conditions on the day, and you can have an easy one-rod day if you fancy it or have four or five different methods to try and really get the most from the peg. The other good thing is that the shoal fish will respond to feed if the river's not too low and clear and you can build a decent catching hot-spot if you get it right.
For me it has to be the Hampshire Avon. I fell in love with the river as a child and have vmtonued the affair ever snce.
It was the main reason why I bought my house here and while it is a shadow of its former self, it still gives me all I need from a river. Below Salisbury for coarse fishing and above for river trout and grayling . . . everything I need . . . .
It was the main reason why I bought my house here and while it is a shadow of its former self, it still gives me all I need from a river. Below Salisbury for coarse fishing and above for river trout and grayling . . . everything I need . . . .
markcw
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What's the stretch of the Avon like in Stratford itself, ? You can park at the butterfly farm and walk down to the river,
It's not far from Oxford so may be worth a trip. I know it's day ticket .
It's a nice stretch of river but there's just so many people I don't go there. Some of it's Stratford AA and some of it's Leamington.
Stratford have got the next stretch downstream at Seven Meadows by the racecourse which is decent with a couple of weirs and Leamington have the Lido stretch above the town and that's pretty good as well. Both do day-tickets for those stretches I think.
All the usual river species are there, plenty of roach dace chubb, odd bream and barbel about.
The Trent has everything these days - including, if you know where to go, some quiet, scenic stretches full of character. It's 5 mins from my door, but I drive 30 mins or more up or downstream to fish. Much of the middle Trent is like a motorway: wide, relatively featureless with high banking and plenty of traffic. I'm more for the A roads and B roads. The barbel fishing is second to none.
The Derbyshire Derwent is so beautiful once you get a few miles above Derby that my reaction on first seeing it was "Can I really fish here on this ticket?". There are some idyllic stretches below Derby, too, but the fish stocks have been unaccountably depressed for a number of years now. It was once a roach, chub - and later barbel - fishing Mecca, so there's always hope. And plenty of grayling in the meantime.
The Soar - around 15 mins away - is closer to the river I've enjoyed most, notwithstanding all the thrills and spills of faster water, big barbel etc, the Weaver in Cheshire. A mix of deep, slow canalised sections and featureful non-navigable flowing sections, you can find places to fish any method you enjoy for any species in pretty, pastoral landscapes.
A bit further down the A50 we've got the third big Trent trib, the Dove, another medium size river full of character, often in idyllic settings.
There are two very small rivers and a tiny brook 10 mins away. Much as I like them, they're places where you go for an hour or two and pick up the odd chub on lo-tech methods and a pocketful of gear. Nice get-out-of-the-house-for-a-bit places.
Naturally, I like some of the popular holiday/special day out places: Middle Severn from Ironbridge down to Bewdley; the Wye around Hereford or Ross. I'm thinking more of bread and butter, everyday fishing, and I still miss being able to drive to Northwich, have a look off bridges on the Weaver and Dane (a serpentine little beauty of a river) and decide if I fancied fishing stick float for roach and chub, feeder for bream, pole, waggler or slider for everything including tench or even sit out for a barbel or carp. Within a radius of half a mile you could be on a deep pool or fast shallows, next to locks, sluices and bridges with all that fabulous waterside architecture or under a tunnel of trees, on the main big river or a secluded backwater, on permanent pegs on a flat towpath or in the foliage down a steep bank. Wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, but I loved the place.
The Derbyshire Derwent is so beautiful once you get a few miles above Derby that my reaction on first seeing it was "Can I really fish here on this ticket?". There are some idyllic stretches below Derby, too, but the fish stocks have been unaccountably depressed for a number of years now. It was once a roach, chub - and later barbel - fishing Mecca, so there's always hope. And plenty of grayling in the meantime.
The Soar - around 15 mins away - is closer to the river I've enjoyed most, notwithstanding all the thrills and spills of faster water, big barbel etc, the Weaver in Cheshire. A mix of deep, slow canalised sections and featureful non-navigable flowing sections, you can find places to fish any method you enjoy for any species in pretty, pastoral landscapes.
A bit further down the A50 we've got the third big Trent trib, the Dove, another medium size river full of character, often in idyllic settings.
There are two very small rivers and a tiny brook 10 mins away. Much as I like them, they're places where you go for an hour or two and pick up the odd chub on lo-tech methods and a pocketful of gear. Nice get-out-of-the-house-for-a-bit places.
Naturally, I like some of the popular holiday/special day out places: Middle Severn from Ironbridge down to Bewdley; the Wye around Hereford or Ross. I'm thinking more of bread and butter, everyday fishing, and I still miss being able to drive to Northwich, have a look off bridges on the Weaver and Dane (a serpentine little beauty of a river) and decide if I fancied fishing stick float for roach and chub, feeder for bream, pole, waggler or slider for everything including tench or even sit out for a barbel or carp. Within a radius of half a mile you could be on a deep pool or fast shallows, next to locks, sluices and bridges with all that fabulous waterside architecture or under a tunnel of trees, on the main big river or a secluded backwater, on permanent pegs on a flat towpath or in the foliage down a steep bank. Wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, but I loved the place.
Ray Roberts
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I’ve never fished the Trent but I think I will put it on the agenda for this year.
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I only ever fished the Trent once for a weeked hosted by Jan Porter on stretches close to his then home.
He spent time with us (3 from Norway) helping out on rigs and tactics . . . one of the most enjoyable weekends fishing ever.
It was a lovely stretch of river but not the easiest of places to fish . . . and one of the best Indian meals on the Saturday night too with Jan and Mel.
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steve2
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Apart from the River Annan I have not fished many rivers outside of the South of England. Although my favourites have always been small streams. My best coarse fishing rivers have been the Hampshire Avon, Dorset Stour but for pike fishing the Fenland drains.
ian g
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I just love to fish the Severn , the Dane was also a favourite when I lived up in Cheshire . I love the fishing and the scenery . Rivers for me have a magic draw which keeps pulling me back.