The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Ah yes, but a bit of crust makes good fun to watch!

Hi all
The green floating weed is a pain in certain areas. I didnt see any last season in Ongar. There is a weir at castles top end and the Cripsey Brook enters at the bottom end so this might make a difference. About 10 years ago in summer the sluice broke at Passingford weir lowering the water over a mtr and taking all the floating weed away and the fishing improved and the deep swims just under 4 mtrs became around 2 mtrs. I was unaware what happened when i informed the EA and asked if they could keep the same level and got a e- mail telling me they had repaired the sluice to original spec and in a couple of weeks the floating weed was back.
Stay Safe and Alert

Hi All
I went over Castle,s bottom stretch of the river yesterday for a late afternoon/evening session. The level station at the weir indicated the river was steady, however it was low. I started on bread punch but the Roach were tiny so I changed to casters. I had to wait a while and fed hempseed. I caught 13 Roach not very big. I also fished a lobworm over chopped lobworm and casters and caught a pike of about a pound. At 8pm I fed loads of chopped lobworm and casters into two areas. I hooked a Pike with lobworm and he bit through the line. After 5 minutes the same Pike or another one bit through the hooklength again. The pike I caught was hooked in the scissor and the barblees hook fell out once he was in the landing net.This was my third session and I have used my landing net on each session. I wont be going out for a couple months now due to work and home commitments. Goodluck anyone who manages to get out.

Hi all
Went out today over Castles top end on the river Roding. The rain started at 11.30 and didn't stop until 15:30 and lucky I had my oval brolley. Another member Bailey didn't even have a rain coat only a hoodie and got soaked but carried on fishing until he could not feel his hands. The river was low and rising and I was lucky enough to catch a 5-6 oz perch even though leaves and small bits of branch were snagging my lines. There were even leaves going through at mid depth level. I had 3 bites on lobworm and 1 bite on maggots. Now no fishing until after the 2nd December

Andyac wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 8:29 pm resized-20201031201308-2.jpgresized-20201031201351-2.jpg
Hi all
Went out today over Castles top end on the river Roding. The rain started at 11.30 and didn't stop until 15:30 and lucky I had my oval brolley. Another member Bailey didn't even have a rain coat only a hoodie and got soaked but carried on fishing until he could not feel his hands. The river was low and rising and I was lucky enough to catch a 5-6 oz perch even though leaves and small bits of branch were snagging my lines. There were even leaves going through at mid depth level. I had 3 bites on lobworm and 1 bite on maggots. Now no fishing until after the 2nd December

I’m pretty sure you will be able to go fishing locally.

I remember a gravel run above Ongar that I fished in the 70s. Welly deep and it was difficult to see the bottom for the 4-8 oz roach over about 10 yds of river. And the chub lower down that clearly knew we were there but far too chilled to be fussed to move away from us.

Ian.R.McDonald wrote: ↑Sun Nov 01, 2020 9:55 am I remember a gravel run above Ongar that I fished in the 70s. Welly deep and it was difficult to see the bottom for the 4-8 oz roach over about 10 yds of river. And the chub lower down that clearly knew we were there but far too chilled to be fussed to move away from us.

I once spent a sunny spring afternoon in a field at Fyfield, picnicking and suchlike with my girlfriend of the time. I was torn between two distractions, her and a shoal of roach.

Whilst my memory has faded in many ways these days, fortunately I can remember quite vividly that very pleasant afternoon... and the roach (which were without fear and only an arms length away) went to over two pounds with absolute certainty.

Certainly the difference of water quality on the upper reaches and the dreadful smell of the water around Wanstead was huge. The minnows that survived lower down must have had stainless steel internals to avoid being poisoned. There was a pet fish wholesaler further up at Woodford and in their outfall you could see and sometimes catch some very tropical stuff

Hi all
Bdac had a small stretch of the Roding at Fyfield and the Roach we caught were just under 2lb with the average about 12 ozs and none under 5ozs. This was around 1998 however in 2003 a septic tank was fly tipped while the owners were on holiday in the Rodings and killed everything upto Shonks mill were it was finally diluted. In Stanford Rivers Carp, Tench , Chub 6lb+ and Barbel 5lb+ that were stocked at Gudgeon size were removed from the river by the bdac bailiff and burned. I haven't got much history on stocking in High Ongar however the EA dont stock Minnows and there are loads in the bottom stretch perhaps their size or numbers stops them being totally wiped out or as Ian said they can tolerate pollution better than the other fish.

Andyac wrote: ↑Mon Nov 02, 2020 8:40 pm Hi all
Bdac had a small stretch of the Roding at Fyfield and the Roach we caught were just under 2lb with the average about 12 ozs and none under 5ozs. This was around 1998 however in 2003 a septic tank was fly tipped while the owners were on holiday in the Rodings and killed everything upto Shonks mill were it was finally diluted. In Stanford Rivers Carp, Tench , Chub 6lb+ and Barbel 5lb+ that were stocked at Gudgeon size were removed from the river by the bdac bailiff and burned. I haven't got much history on stocking in High Ongar however the EA dont stock Minnows and there are loads in the bottom stretch perhaps their size or numbers stops them being totally wiped out or as Ian said they can tolerate pollution better than the other fish.

The roach I saw at Fyfield were in about 1985-6 at a guess. Most were in the range you talk about but a handful were absolute stonkers.