River Thames Oxford area

[Paul_T]

Hi all, I was wondering if any of you that are local to the Oxford area, or fish in the Oxford winter league could tell me if you have any matches on the Thames on Sunday please?

I’m looking to pleasure fish either of Medley, Donnington, Folly (in that order of preference). Could you tell me if any are booked for matches as far as you are aware?

Many thanks,

Paul

[TF_steve1]

Oxford Winter league is on Medley this weekend

[boyceyParticipant]

kennington ac have a match behind the four pillars sunday littlemore are on there water below of sandford lock.iffleys free i think as is donnington but if ya not to sure ring fat phils on abingdon rd and he will put you right.saying that get a littlemore card from fat phils only a tenner and go fish the match and fill up with roach galore or look on there website littlemore angling

[Paul_T]

Thanks for the reply guys.

Good call Boycey! Donnington is roach heaven so I may end up there. I haven’t fished for 18 months now so will be a little rusty for a match, but I can’t wait to run a float through on rod & line.

Have a good weekend

[TF_jwb]

Oxford winter league practice this weekend will be on Medley,channel and folly.
Winter league next week will be same venues

[TF_Waggler]

Donnington could be a bit hectic with rowing eight boats Sunday Paul.

[TF_Katarino]

I know I harp on about it but why not give Eynsham a go? The pegs on the high bank just below the gate are brilliant pleasure pegs for stick, pole or waggler. If you don’t mind a walk there is also a flyer down the bottom where you can catch chub on the stick virtually under your feet.

[Andy GParticipant]

Blimey, has your bike got a puncture?

[boyceyParticipant]

~shh weres that chub peg mate would love some of that….on the centerpin heaven~clap

[TF_Katarino]

Right Bank downstream of Swinford Toll Bridge, go right down until you come out of the woods. It’s first peg below the metal fence opposite the first of the first of the two confluences with the Evenlode. You have bushes and trees on your inside and catch them right off the rod end and they are BIG. You’ll see it clearly on Google Earth.

Be warned, it is a bit of a hike though.

[TF_jwb]

Where did you end up Paul?
Medley fished hard, wind in your face.
But the channel and folly fished its head off.
Match was won with 35lb+ of nearly all roach on the top end of the channel, 2 pegs below the rainbow bridge. I was second and had 45 hybrids for 30lb from further down the channel, lowest weight on my section was 15lb.
Top on Folly was 18lb.

[ajbParticipant]

Hi everyone, new to posting after reading for ages.
Sounds good John, take it the channel will be in next week! We (me, my dad and Richard Norris) had a go at Radley – fish everywhere, despite the horrible wind. Mostly roach/perch but chub starting to show richard had 1 4.5+ and got bit off by another, I had couple of smaller ones.
Just hope the river stays good for the next few weeks

[TF_Waggler]

I won our match at Sandford today with 22-12-00 of roach on the waggler. Got bit off by an angry chub and all. Great fishing at the moment

[Paul_T]

I ended up fishing just above Donnington bridge on Saturday. The river was hardly moving, and I had the wind in my face all day. That wasn’t so bad, it was the hundreds of rowers and canoeists that made the day a real struggle. I don’t think I managed one full trot of the swim before I had to reel in for a boat. For those of you that haven’t fished it for a few years (like me) they have now concreted the bank so it has become a race track for mountain bikers. God knows what the matches are like there now because with the combination of boats & bikes I think anyone mad enough to get the pole out of the holdall will have it smashed to bits within minutes.

I fished for 3 hours and ended up with 104 fish, but only 37 of them were roach, the rest were bleak. So it was a bit of a disappointment if I’m honest. I couldn’t get through the bleak despite only feeding hemp & bombing a rig down with a 2g olivette on. Ho hum.

Next day I fished the Grand Union Canal at Cooks Wharf with my mate Darren. Was a gorgeous day and I ended up with 114 roach for 17lb 9oz and my mate weighed 11lb 8oz. Not bad considering I hadn’t fished a canal for 4 years! Reminded me of the good old day BC (before commercials). I’ve got the bug back so hope to be out again soon.

Andy – nothing wrong with the bike. Just got the bug back after a long lay off.

Katarino – I agree Eynsham can be a cracking venue, but a bit of a hike. It’s also a long journey for me, but I have fond memories of it having won a West Middlesex Winter Lge round there many years ago with almost 25lb of roach from about 5 pegs below the lock. There were a lot of chub lost that day by other anglers, and the bream peg on the big willow didn’t produce.

Well done to the rest of you guys winning or framing on the river this weekend.

Cheers, Paul

[Andy GParticipant]

Good to see you back Paul. Plenty of opens on Lizard 1 through the winter if you fancy it.

[Roach802]

Hi everyone,Katarino and Paul T – Sorry to bother you but myself and a few friends will be fishing some were along the Eynsham stretch in a couple of weeks..It will be the first time any of us have fished that part of the Thames..Could you please answer me a few questions if you dont mind..I Need information on parking,day tickets,good pegs if poss..Thank you

[TF_Waggler]

Come and have a dabble with us Paul. We still got plenty of matches left on the Thames until the end of the season. Go to http://www.littlemoreanglingsociety.co.uk

[TF_Katarino]

Roach, it’s on the Alliance Ticket, I think you can get day tickets from local shops so I won’t mention I’ve NEVER been checked there….

Parking: is a bit of a sod now, the old lock keeper used to let you park by lock but the new guy can’t/won’t have it. It’s apparently to do with fact that the access road is owned by the (mad imo) old woman who lives in the cottage by the entrance. She might have pegged it since I was last there but don’t count on it, I was never sure she was actually human. Park on the grass verge on the Eynsham side, it’s not a bad walk.

Hot pegs: The ones on the high bank where the first stream comes in on the far bank are normally great through autumn/winter. You’ll get 4/5 of you on there. If you don’t mind a walk then the first Evenlode mouth as described above for Chub or the second one for Bream (and Tench!) but these pegs are a hike. Check them out on Google Earth.

[Roach802]

Katarino,Thank you very much for your help its much appreciated..
Just a few more questions,The pegs on the high bank,If you were fishing them would you Waggler,Pole,Stick,Feeder..We have fished the Medley 3 or 4 times over the last couple of months and really enjoyed are selves(apart from the wind) with cracking nets of Roach on the pole with hemp but I really fancy running a wagg through for Roach/Chub..That peg with the long walk sounds great but there would be two of us so not sure if we would get in there because sounds to be just one peg?? Oh and if you fished the pole would you ball it in???Sorry to ask so many questions..Thanks Again 🙂

[TF_Vince8]

Waggler. Seeing Littlemores website brought back happy memories! Fished all around Sandford as a kid in the 60’s and was a junior member. Particularly remember the school holidays sat in the weirpool off the main river, when the level was so low. All we used as bait was the weed off the weir!

[Paul_T]

Andy & Waggler – thanks for the offers of matches. I’ve actually done my back in after the trips this w/e so I don’t think I’ll be fishing for a couple of weeks! 🙁

Roach802 – there’s not a lot more that I can add to Katarino’s comments. I haven’t fished Eynsham for maybe 6 seasons so it may have changed lots.

The pegs on the high bank aren’t too far of a walk from where you park. That’s the section where I had my WL success. I balled a pole line with GB & joker & caster, feeding caster over the top. Initially caught on bunches of blood, then red maggot, and finished on caster. There were so many roach in that section that you could probably have caught on a fag butt on the hook!

Andy Rodgers was 2 pegs above me on the day and fished waggler & topper all day, but his roach were tiny and he weighed about 17lb. So if you fancy fishing rod & line you have the option in that section(providing it’s flowing and they’re not holding it back in the locks). The far bank looks really inviting for chub, but all I could catch on the wagg were minnows despite feeding it all day. You might have better luck with chub.

The proper chub pegs are downstream of this secion. I remember going through a wooden gate into a semi-wooded area. Some good chub pegs were just thru the gate and you had a load of tree branches in the water on the inside line that screamed chub. I think you’d need to be proper geared up to get them out! However, it has been many years since I visited so it may not look the same anymore.

Good luck & let us know how you get on.

[TF_Katarino]

Roach, tbh as Paul has said you catch it right and it doesn’t matter.

3 mates of mine (2 of whom live up that way) fished the high bank pegs in winter a couple of years ago and had 36lb (Stick), 37lb(Waggler) and 39lb (pole), nearly all Roach. The guy on the stick was downstream end peg but is the lesser angler of the 3, I’d have had a decent bet against the others if it had been me. I fished it on Saturday evening before the Turners match a couple of years ago and had 14lb of everything known to man (Roach, Chub, skimmers, hybrids, Dace) on the stick in a 2 hour stint without even trying.

I’ve fished the pegs for 20+ years, on a poor day you’ll have 8-10lb, an average day 14-20 and a good day 30-40. I even fished them in Summer with a groundbait feeder and sweetcorn (all I had) on a boat holiday a few years ago and had a Skimmer a chuck. They are bankers and the whole stretch is sadly under used mainly because of the walks.

Rgds the Chub peg there are others either side but the one below the gate is much the better. Up to you.

[TF_Katarino]

@Vince8 wrote:

Waggler. Seeing Littlemores website brought back happy memories! Fished all around Sandford as a kid in the 60’s and was a junior member. Particularly remember the school holidays sat in the weirpool off the main river, when the level was so low. All we used as bait was the weed off the weir!

Bloody hell! That takes me back! Summer of 1976 and Pershore Weir on the warks Avon. We had huge bags of Roach fishing the weed on 6 Swan Balsas shotted at half capacity because of the foam.

[TF_Waggler]

Vince8 keep an eye on the website next year for some good news on the weir pool(hopefully)

[Roach802]

Katarino,Thank you for your reply.Myself and a mate fished Eynsham on Saturday and what a day we had.Fishing the high bank swims as you said,I started on the waggler with caster and hemp and had a roach or dace every cast,Then come in on the pole line (after balling in 6 large balls of groundbait) and once again good roach up to a pound every put in..We finised after about 6 hours with me having 29lb and my mate with 25lb..Great bit of the Thames with every swim looking brillant,We will certainly be going back soon.On the way back we spoke to the lock keeper about the weir and he said that from November onwards you can fish it,Anyone got any information about the weir???Thanks again :).

[Paul_T]

Thanks for the update Roach802, sounds like you had a great day. I might have to get up there myself now sometime soon!

[TF_Katarino]

You’re welcome Roach.

Re the weir, once he knows you the Lock Keeper will let you fish it in summer ~shh

It’s ok but by no means the best weirpool on the Thames, my mate Mark has had a Carp to 8lb and some big Perch out of it. There a hundreds of Skimmers on the tail but strangely for a Thames weir it doesn’t seem to hold a proper Bream shoal.

If you’re hell bent on fishing a weir without buying a Thames weir permit, I think Kings Weir (on the North Oxford book) and Clifton Hampden (ODAA) are better but both are long hikes, particularly Clifton but it used to be good for Barbel in the dim and distant and doesn’t get fished much.

[Roach802]

Hi Katarino/Paul,

Just thought I would let you know about a very strange session me and two friends had at Eynsham at the weekend..

First we fished the high bank pegs as last time and struggled big time,Fishing waggler line and pole at 11m with caster,hemp,maggot we must of had about 8lb between us???

Couldnt believe it!!!,Then me and a mate left are gear with are other friend and went down to the chub pegs through the woods..

Found the peg/pegs after the metal gate and trotted with maggot/caster down to the snags,All we caught after about 2 hours was the same as the high bank pegs,A few Roach in the 2/3 oz range and chub even smaller??

Just wondering what your thoughts are on why it was so bad after only two weeks ago when we bagged up???

Cheers..

[Paul_T]

Hi Roach,

I’m no expert on this at all, but here’s my theory for what it’s worth, it could be completely wrong!

Two weeks ago where I live in Chesham on the monday and tuesday we had really cold rain before this mild spell. My mate Dave White is married to one of the Thames lock keepers and she used to run the Eynsham lock (not anymore they have moved house)but I know that they used to hold back water in the locks, then let it go after a few days to give the river a bit of flow. My theory is maybe the said cold water was released prior to your days fishing? It’s a bit of a stab in the dark. Cold water would have put the roach off, but then maybe I would have expected the chub to have a go instead?

JWB mentioned the wind off the meadow at Medley which all but killed the fishing on the river there 2-3 weeks ago. Perhaps the wind was also wrong for Eynsham and put paid to your sport?

I’m cluthing at straws here a bit! Would be interested to hear other theories though from anglers that fish it regularly.

[TF_Katarino]

Only just noticed this.

Any influx of cold water always seems to kill the Thames stone dead, I’ve been in 30 peg sections blank on what looked an OK but very cold pushing river.

TBH when it comes to winter fishing unless it’s a match I really want to fish I pick and choose when I bother. Wait for the mild spells, a south westerly wind, fairly low air pressure and you’ll catch well every time. If it’s fining down after a flood at the same time then the sky is the limit. If it’s cold clear water and a north or easterly wind it’s mostly not worth bothering.

Talking of floods, as the season is nearly upon us, don’t forget some of the slacks at the back of Thames locks can be superb and a polite chat with some lockies will get you permission to fish off concrete where you normally wouldn’t be allowed. The guy at Chertsey will kick you off without mercy if you don’t ask, but if you do he’ll make a big show of umming and ahhing before always saying yes.

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