Thames: River Thames - is it fishing for anyone else?

[alan whittington]

Fished below Abingdon again,one 3 foot twitch 7-12 barbel.

 

[Specihunter]

Well done mate glad that it could be changing for the better.

 

[peter crabtree]

I fished at Laleham (near Staines) on saturday,no colour,noflow,all I could catch was gudgeon,loads of them.Not a roach or perch or dace showed.I fished the waggler with caster,and fed hemp and caster.

 

[Andrew Potter-Irwin]

Reading\Henley stretch

Hi, I will be around this area in a couple of weeks for a few days and wondered if anyone had any information about the fishing in this area. What species can I expect and what methods\baits to use would be a great help.

 

[Specihunter]

Hello Andrew , I'm not to sure of the area there's chub, roach , bream , perch and the odd barbel and carp . Most tactics will work .

 

[Andrew Potter-Irwin]

Normally we head up on the canal for our brothers boat trip but this is the first year on the Thames. We normally just fish with maggots and I think that was the downfall when my brothers were on the Thames a couple of weeks ago. Just ended up with loads of perch.

I am going to go down the bigger baits route I think and see how that goes.

 

[peter crabtree]

Loads of perch Andrew? don't knock it mate.

 

[alan whittington]

Do you know Peter that while i was sitting waiting for that one bite on Saturday,perch were bashing through fry for most of the day,on both sides of the river,the only trouble being they didnt seem above 4oz(most considerably smaller).
Im sorry Andrew but i havnt any knowledge of the area you mention,but would imagine 'speci' isnt far away from the mark.

 

[Andrew Potter-Irwin]

I have done some looking around the web and found a few snippets if info which may help.

Pete, I shouldn't have been so dismissive of the perch. I think the trouble was they were all pretty small ones and it's always nice to have a mixed bag. Unless the biggie comes along that is.

 

[Murton Bere]

Thames barbel

Fished below Abingdon again,one 3 foot twitch 7-12 barbel.

Alan

Whereabouts below Abingdon did you fish? Have laid off the river for 3 - 4 weeks whilst trying to whistle out some Tench from a recently discovered lake.

Time to get back on the river now I think. Normally get on the Culham stretch and wondered if this was where you'd fished? Wondered what levels and colour/flow are like.

Any info would be appreciated.

Cheers

 

[alan whittington]

Just below Culham Murton river conditions still poor low,little flow and plenty of boats and the only colour is from wash i believe,the few anglers out caught nought from what i could gather,my mate blanked again,im starting to think that someone's been using a 'bream strainer' on the Thames below Oxford(one bream since the start,unheard of or what).

 

[Specihunter]

More like fish strainer.

 

[alan whittington]

It b****y well seems like it mate,ive had some ridicule for not being able to catch on the Thames but im not alone by a long chalk,5 fish so far this season and i dont give up easy but there's only so much punishment i can take.Is there some change in chemicals being used to treat sewage that is effecting the river or are we in an extremely bad season scenario(lets be fair its not been good for at least two before this),wonder how many clubs have inquired to the EA on the quality of the fishing,or are they as apethetic as the rest of us?

 

[Murton Bere]

Enquiries

Not sure whether to give lake Tench one more go or get on the river as I mentioned earlier. Went for a couple of hours tonight on the little stretch of the Windrush hoping to get a few banker Chub - one <2lb fish to my mate. I had two sodding great Cray's though.

With regards to the sewage treatment question I do feel it's something like this that's causing the problem. Clubs won't question what's going on on as they're only interested if the commercials they fish their matches on gets affected.

Isn't this the sort of enquiry that Angling Unity could look into?

I remember the stretch at Culham giving mixed evening bags of Bream to 6lb+, Chub 4lb mean, Tench and Barbel too. Have had more than one session with all four in one sitting. Now it's so slow. My mate lives almost beside the river and between us we've often been amazed that we aren't in more competition for swims on this stretch. But now most wouldn't give a toss.

Might have a go tomorrow afternoon/evening and see how it goes. Don't try won't find out I suppose.....................................................................

 

[alan whittington]

Well,my mate and i are going for more punishment tomorrow Murton,but im starting to have a negative attitude before i leave home,sad isnt it,we live in Luton but love the Thames but the Ouse is calling us back for at least the winter months for at least the chubbing is fairly consistant.

 

[Murton Bere]

Ouse

great river to have on your doorstep Alan. Used to fish up at Radwell and like you say there's a fair amount of Chub in the river there, and a good size too. I always bang on about how good the Thames is and sure one or more records may be contained in its waters (vast amounts of it stretches have huge holes that never get fished) but this season is testing that belief.

Windrush tomorrow night I think then a few evening Thames sessions through the week probably. Being made redundant in November and that has a little more appeal than a Thames session at the mo ;-)

 

[geoffmaynard]

Rather than sewage treatment, I wonder if it's something the farmers are putting on the ground and getting washed in. I remember noticing some years ago, when fishing Sonning, that 'slurry' time always killed the fishing. Maybe it didn't kill the fish, but it sure made them sick enough to put them off their food.

 

[alan whittington]

I dont know when you fished Radwell last Murton but the chubbing there has been a lot slower(possibly been too well fed with high quality bait).My mate and i blanked again,with no sign of fish(apart from small stuff)and two swims fished.
Possibly right Geoff but its been like it from june 16th,the only anglers on the river are beginners or people like myself who are determined to be there to see the change,if it occurs,at the moment the jury is out for it looks like the middle river is in trouble and according to my fish finder devoid.
I went onto 'fishermans blues' this morning with my tales of woe,and a person whom i think posts on this site slagged me off saying i should should stop moaning and be thankful that i can go fishing(doesnt he mean sitting looking at the river,which isnt all bad),i said my concerns lie with the river(after all i can fish elsewhere but the Thames is still there suffering),i feel that my feelings on the river and catches or lack of of them are of no interest so i will now suffer in silence as is the river itself,perhaps the individual might find he was a little more interested if he stopped catching chub on his own river.

 

[peter crabtree]

Sad to hear of the middle Thames suffering lately. I am pleased to say my club fished our annual tidal match directly below Kew bridge. Despite the the fish kills,one quite recently,I caught baby bass,some real goer dace,roach, eels , and skimmers. Not bad for a polluted river.

 

[Murton Bere]

I dont know when you fished Radwell last Murton but the chubbing there has been a lot slower(possibly been too well fed with high quality bait).My mate and i blanked again,with no sign of fish(apart from small stuff)and two swims fished.
Possibly right Geoff but its been like it from june 16th,the only anglers on the river are beginners or people like myself who are determined to be there to see the change,if it occurs,at the moment the jury is out for it looks like the middle river is in trouble and according to my fish finder devoid.
I went onto 'fishermans blues' this morning with my tales of woe,and a person whom i think posts on this site slagged me off saying i should should stop moaning and be thankful that i can go fishing(doesnt he mean sitting looking at the river,which isnt all bad),i said my concerns lie with the river(after all i can fish elsewhere but the Thames is still there suffering),i feel that my feelings on the river and catches or lack of of them are of no interest so i will now suffer in silence as is the river itself,perhaps the individual might find he was a little more interested if he stopped catching chub on his own river.

Alan - don't let a berk like that put you off. He might be on this site but slagging you off out of hand is just plain stupid. Your concerns and mine are genuine and as you say he'd soon pipe up if his own river was affected.

I notice you say your fishfinder reveals no fish present? I find that expremely worrying. I refuse normally to buy into the 'otter' theory for disappearing fish but if you are truly not seeing fish with the device and they've been seen before then we may have mich more of a problem.

Me thinks that the EA or AT should be involved?