The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

DaceAce wrote:Oxford area has some good fishing though you need blinkers to ignore the rowers, not that they affect the fishing but can make life difficult, especially at Donnington. More info from Fat Phil's tackle shop in Abingdon Road, Oxford. Best affiliated club to Oxford DAA (they have Medley to Iffley - see their website) is Littlemoor AS at £10 per year which is the one I get even though it's a long drive for a day. Parking around Oxford near the river not always easy and I do some long walks.

In the Reading area some free fishing but also Reading DAA have plenty of good water.

This year the floods have dominated the Thames and made it largely unfishable this winter - I last got on it at Oxford on 14th Nov when the Maidenhead flow was 69 cumecs and just fishable, currently 173 cumecs. I use the rowing clubs websites like Maidenhead rowing club which has a link to Isis (Oxford) level as well as these give a better idea of flow than the EA sites which are hard to predict as the Thames has, automated weirs that trim the level unless it's very high. On other rivers it's easier to know what's happening like the Dorset Stour - if it's up 3ft it's up 3ft, but on the Thames they sometimes drop the level before a flood. Coloured water on the Thames usually means bream, possibly roach and barbel. If it's clear then more likely chub or perch. Float angler though I am, feeder fishing is often the name of the game on the Thames and it makes a pleasant change.