Lee Flood Relief Channel

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Stuart Whiting

Re: Lee Flood Relief Channel

Post by Stuart Whiting »

yep I quite agree about everyone's response to fishing the flood channel,

I can remember Terry Hearn doing a feature on the channel after carp and as Ted ( lea dweller ) rightly states that's it's a fair size water and one ideally needs to do there homework on the water,

I can clearly remember over 20 years ago that you could often see the the quality roach shouls that were under and around the Bailey bridge at the junction of the old Lea and the relief channel at Fishers green,

Yet again this is another river system that was in its prime in its former years, pollution and the dreaded Black Death are heavily to blame here as I've seen both decimate this river.

I noticed that ( Tizer ) mentioned about the channel that is below Fields weir which is on the ware club ticket, this section here is not actually part of the relief as this is part of the old Lea and runs from fields weir in ware and travels all the way downstream to Amwell nature reserve and the Magna fly fishing club which is the oldest fly fishing club in the country in the days of Izac Walton :Hat:

I actually walked this stretch only last week after visiting Ted ( Lea Dweller ) and walked all the way back to st Margretts before heading back home, along the Ware club stretch I could see vast dace shouls with a few chub to about 4lb which to me was nice to see :Thumb:

Incidently whilst walking along the Lea navigation at Stanstead lock to my amazement I did actually see what I considered to be the largest shoul of baby 2 inch roach that I have ever seen from anywhere, the shoul was all traveling upstream and very very close to the margins ( bank ) of the canal,
Without no exaggeration I can truthfully say that there must of been in excess several thousand baby roach, I just just stood there in sheer amazement,
To me this is one of the very best of sights that one could ever see :cheers:

Hopefully after so many years of decimation the Lea system maybe one day return back to its former self

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Corneybury
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Re: Lee Flood Relief Channel

Post by Corneybury »

You have wetted my appetite sir, I was getting quite depressed about the fate of my favourite river, especially after seeing all those crayfish in the Mill pond. Perhaps if I keep the bait off the bottom, things might be on the up...?

Stuart Whiting

Re: Lee Flood Relief Channel

Post by Stuart Whiting »

Corneybury wrote:You have wetted my appetite sir, I was getting quite depressed about the fate of my favourite river, especially after seeing all those crayfish in the Mill pond. Perhaps if I keep the bait off the bottom, things might be on the up...?
Absolutely my freind, one could always try float fishing and slowly trot through the swims,

One piece of water that I did like was the Ware angling club section of the navigation on the banks of the Amwell nature reserve just upstream of Stanstead lock :Hat:

This particular section is the opposite side of the main tow path, which then obviously means that the general public, walkers, dogs, dog feacies and high speed cycles have all been avoided, yes you get the odd dog walker or bird watcher but one can easily accept this but not the dreaded tow path.

With the sight of all these small roach that I saw at Stanstead lock maybe things are hopefully on the up :Thumb:

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Corneybury
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Re: Lee Flood Relief Channel

Post by Corneybury »

As a member of Ware AS, this needs to be investigated, maybe with a bit of flake or sweetcorn before the weather gets too cold

Stuart Whiting

Re: Lee Flood Relief Channel

Post by Stuart Whiting »

Corneybury wrote:As a member of Ware AS, this needs to be investigated, maybe with a bit of flake or sweetcorn before the weather gets too cold
Yep definitely, bread flake with some liccy ( liquidised bread ), small lead or even some AAA or swan shot pinch onto the line with about 18" hook length and introduce a few nuggets of liquidised bread into a few selected swims or simply fish a small cage feeder with same baits :Thumb:

Put this way I was that impressed with the water quality in the Navigation and after seeing the amount of roach that I saw there aswell as having the access and opportunity to fish on the opposite bank to the tow path that I'd even consider about joining the Ware club meself and I'm from Gravesend in Kent :secret:

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