no-one in particular
Well-known member
Ah, that's the challenge and finding them. I always thought I could quite happily go and live on a boat for 2-5 years and just spend all day and every day doing just that on the Thames.
Best coarse fishing rivers in the country?
- Thread starter Badgerale
- Start date
no-one in particular
Well-known member
Weekend admirals...mind you I used to admire some of the crumpet sunning themselves on the decks, always a bonus somewhere however, missed a few fish, probably those huge unknown ones I am on about, bound to be.
My mate and I still talk of the day a wedding party went by on one of those monstrous Dutch barges,they had a jazz band,champagne corks popping everywhere,This was downstream of Abingdon,a few hours later the bugger came back empty,the guy driving it must have been in a rush to get back to the pub as the backwash drew water out of where it was six feet deep,the river went the colour of cocoa for the rest of the day and nobody could buy a bite not even from a bleak...
Thats an everyday situation on some of the places I fish...massive backwash as some barge idiot decides to power his monsterous ship at breakneck speed within a few meters of the bank. I have had chairs, nets , rods and basically anything not tied down dragged in by it on occasion.
I had frightening experience once, partly my own fault due to inexperience. I was out in a little inflatable with a tiny outboard motor & I got caught mid-river between two giant barges steaming towards each other on a corner which meant they both swung across river as well. I am sure the two skippers loved it and both went full speed at me. At full throttle my the little motor whining I –just- about made it to the inside of one of them but the bow wave then caught me and smashed me into the bank, there was nothing I could do but literally jump down flat on top of everything and hang on. I ended up soaked and lost a few things but it could have been a lot worse.
I can tell you when your right up close to the side of one of those barges its like staring up the side of building. Very scary.
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The Thames boat owners say that the most dangerous things on the river are the sculling boats because the rowers face backwards, they are too fast and the boats being very pointed go straight through the fibreglass hulls of the pleasure boats.
The riverbanks are being destroyed by seagoing vessels often going at high speed creating huge bow waves,when I first fished the Thames around Oxford virtually all of the banks gently sloped to the water,now the vast majority are cliffs,the river is run for the boat rental industry,the weirs have very little flow in summer,because it is all needed to operate the massive locks countless times a day,which equates to most of the rivers flow,this shows by the staggered nature of the flow,its a disgrace...
Julian Peacock
Member
The best rivers for me are the ones I regularly fish and close to where I live, the Flit, Hit, Hiz and Ivel. There are some lovely fish to be found, maybe not massive by national standards and not in the quantities of old.
I am mildly embarrassed to say that although I live close enough, I have only fished the G Ouse 4 times in my life! I suppose you could say I enjoy my local rivers too much to bother with a 30 minute drive.
8lb plus chub, 19lb plus barbel and 3lb roach all shimmer in media glamour but I’m happy chasing mostly moderate sized fish just down the road.
I am mildly embarrassed to say that although I live close enough, I have only fished the G Ouse 4 times in my life! I suppose you could say I enjoy my local rivers too much to bother with a 30 minute drive.
8lb plus chub, 19lb plus barbel and 3lb roach all shimmer in media glamour but I’m happy chasing mostly moderate sized fish just down the road.
Hi Jules,hows it going,havent fished the Ivel for a couple of years,ive walked it several times,but it looks horrible with many swims not a patch on what they were... All the best, Alan.
As an aside,how is your son getting on now???
As an aside,how is your son getting on now???
Julian Peacock
Member
PM sent
I remarked about how busy it gets.
This:
is a bitterly cold day in January, when it's quiet!