County Pride

wanderer · Oct 28, 2015

Okay lads, this thread is about how you regard your county, and where if anywhere you would prefer to live and why. I live in deepest Northamptonshire, no spectacular landscapes, most Stately homes of any county in England, rural beauty, loads of gravel pits, many matured from WW11, a lovely sleepy old river,.I am very close to the centre of England and my neighbouring counties of Beds, Cambs, Bucks, ensure that my fishing can be varied and productive, fantastic rivers , lakes and pits, i feel spoiled, Berkshire would be my dream county if i had to move, but you Northern guys have some gems, and the southern lads as well with your wonderful chalk streams, come on boys shout up your county.

Peter Jacobs · Oct 28, 2015

I live in a small village in Wiltshire right opposite the Hampshire Avon river some miles above Salisbury . . . does it get any better than that?

Wiltshire . . . God's Own County.

wanderer · Oct 28, 2015

Not a lot Peter but i live in carp county, as you say yours is cracking and i agree with you, i spent my youth dreaming of Mr Crabtree and the Hampshire Avon, enjoy my friend, lucky man.

S-Kippy · Oct 28, 2015

I live on the edge of the Chilterns in Bucks but am a Middle Saxon by birth. I've always had an affinity with my Dad's county of Lincolnshire but I'm not sure I could live there. Bucks is a nice enough place to live but its a bit too near London and the fishing is a bit patchy if you're not a carp man and I'm not. You probably noticed !

Hampshire/Wiltshire/Dorset for me I think. Oop North is OK provided it stays there.

lambert1 · Oct 28, 2015

Hampshire/Dorset for me too. Would love to live in Winchester as I spent a fair bit of my childhood there, but it is way too expensive. My parents and older brother are in Dorset and I always love visiting them as the countryside is wonderful. Berkshire is ok, but is getting mighty crowded now with all the new housing being built.

silvers · Oct 28, 2015

I live in warwickshire - on top of a hill in the cotswolds ..... lovely countryside and great hills for the push bike. I love mountains - for walking, climbing and skiing .... but am happy enough with visiting rather than living in them.

Locally - I only fish the Warks Avon - but the stretches I fish are shallow, streamy and varied in both tactics and fish populations.
The fishing is pretty similar to where I grew up in Bedfordshire ..... the Great Ouse "above Bedford" has some cracking stretches - really pastoral without the drama of the Middle Severn or the Wye. I've witnessed the changes in the river over 35 years now - which is part of the beauty of fishing!

john step · Oct 28, 2015

My adopted home is Lincolnshire. I live on the edge of The Wolds, which are a fantastic hilly rural area with low population. (Don't spread it around too much as most people think its all flat)
I have lived in Dagenham, Kent, Middlesex, Hertfordshire and Spain but here is the best.
The only shortage is small to medium rivers but the Trent and Witham makes up for that.
There are a wealth of waters many free and most at bargain basement prices from what I can deduce from looking at venues I used to belong to.
I can fish most days without another angler in site unless I go to the Trent but there I can find a hundred or so yards each side of privacy.

Traffic jams are rare. House prices are low. Car and other servicing are cheaper than Hertfordshire, The folk are friendly and the air is clean.

S-Kippy · Oct 28, 2015

Where about in the Wolds, John ? That's where my Dad hailed from and many of my defining childhood memories are of summers spent up there. It is lovely but I couldn't move my family there. Nowt for the kids which is why my Dad left.

peterjg · Oct 28, 2015

For 14 years prior to 2013 I lived in Chesham, Buckinghamshire where I continued fishing for carp in the Colne valley pits at Harefield. In 2013 I moved to Basingstoke , Hampshire and am now spoilt for choice. Within 30 minutes I have the Yateley lakes, the Kennet, the Kennet and Avon canal, the Loddon, the Basingstoke canal and lots of lakes just south of Reading and am also within easy reach of the Thames.

john step · Oct 28, 2015

S-Kippy said:
Where about in the Wolds, John ? That's where my Dad hailed from and many of my defining childhood memories are of summers spent up there. It is lovely but I couldn't move my family there. Nowt for the kids which is why my Dad left.

PM on way.

thecrow · Oct 28, 2015

Warwickshire is where I was born and still live, film maker Ken Loach comes from the same town as did George Elliot (Mary Ann Evans) plenty of estate lakes that never get fished (well not now) in the county.

bracket · Oct 28, 2015

I am a Nottingham Lad, born and bred, now living in Dorset, so no complaints there. However, in the dark dank winter evenings, while sinking a few cans of Carling, I drift into a reverie and I am back stomping the banks of my home town River Trent, where I knew every peg. So the best of both worlds really. Pete.

sam vimes · Oct 28, 2015

I originally hail from a smidgen further north than the county I live. However, I was brought up only a few miles away from where I currently reside. After years of schlepping round the country, and occasionally the world, I could have settled anywhere, but I chose here for various reasons. If I were to move with coarse fishing in mind, I doubt it would be in the top ten counties I'd choose. There would be a few lower though. After having lived in, worked in or visited every county in England, Scotland and Wales, except Dorset for some reason, other than for fishing, there's nowhere I'd rather be on a permanent basis.

slaphead · Oct 28, 2015

I'm a Lanky lad living in the Rossendale Valley not far from where I was born. Local fishing is mainly commercial, the only proper rivers The Calder and Ribble and the Leeds-Liverpool Canal is nearby. Just over the border is the Rochdale Canal too.

I like where I live because of the lovely views and great neighbours, plus we get to see the grand kids at least once a week.

However, my wife is of Welsh descent and having lived in North Wales and holidayed there many times I could seriously consider living there.

Keith M · Oct 28, 2015

I have always felt that the grass was greener on the other side, however over the past few years I have grown to love where I live in Hertfordshire.

I have some excellent Barbel, Chub, Roach, Dace, Perch & Pike fishing on the upper and middle stretches of the river Lea, the river Ivel, the Colne, the Ouzel and the Gt Ouse.
Plus I have access to many excellent stillwaters some of which hold record nudging or record breaking fish of most species which are all available to me on club books.

I would still be very content if I lived next to the river Wye in Herefordshire or next to the rivers Avon and Stour in Hampshire/Dorset or the river Severn or even the declining river Kennet but I am extremely content with the fishing that I already have on my doorstep in Hertfordshire (and Bedfordshire); and I've learnt that the grass isn't always greener on the other side as I once thought LOL.

Keith

steve2 · Oct 28, 2015

I was born in the wrong county for a river fisherman, Essex, which no rivers to talk of just a couple of over abstracted, over gown drainage ditches. Always intended to move to Hampshire or Dorset but family life got in the way.

imol · Oct 29, 2015

A small twist on the "county" theme; I will write about the county in Sweden in which I live: Skåne.

For those who may not be familiar with Swedish geography, Skåne is the southernmost county in Sweden, the closest to Denmark.

There are very few commercial coarse fishing venues here (I can think of only one); the majority of fishing is very unspoiled and natural. The locals tend to focus on pike, perch and sea trout fishing, which often leaves the other fish un fished-for.

There are no barbel in Skåne, and only one of our rivers holds any chub at all. My nearest river, however, does hold good heads of roach, ide and bream as well as double figure pike and some specimen perch.

The biggest issue with fishing here is access. Many of the lakes and rivers are only easily fished from a boat, bank fishing is not so common. I have to make my own swims quite a lot.

The other issue is that by default, fishing is forbidden on all waters where it is not explicitly allowed and there are lovely stretches of water where it's not even obvious who to ask for permission to fish.

I often miss my home county of Yorkshire; I grew up on the banks of the Ouse and miss it, despite the flooding...

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Peter Jacobs · Oct 29, 2015

imol said:
Skåne is the southernmost county in Sweden

That is where we used to hold the Scandinavian Master Festival back in the 90's.
The hotel Jaegersro would be invaded by 100 anglers from all over Scandinavia and Europe.

The fishing was superb especially in late April when the Ide would run back up the rivers, and the Roach and Bream which were the match target species.

The festival was run over 4 days fishing a different location each day but we would often drive down from Oslo in the summer to enjoy the great pleasure fishing.

greenie62 · Oct 29, 2015

imol said:
... Skåne is the southernmost county in Sweden, the closest to Denmark.....

Never been there but I have been known to imbibe Skåne Akvavit on a few occasions - vastly superior to the Aalborg brew - even their Jubilaeums label imho. Now where did I put that bottle?

mg:
:thumbs:

robertroach · Oct 29, 2015

I now live and fish in Dorset and it's a nice county. like many others.

I previously lived in Ringwood, just over the border in Hampshire. I think that must be the best fishing location you can imagine and a pleasant town as well. Easy access to the Dorset Stour, Hampshire Avon and scores of gravel pits and lakes. Not too far for an occasional sea trip too. Our back garden had fishing rights on a stretch of the Avon. Wish I was back there sometimes.

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