River Roding

[Tench Dreamer]

Great init bigoll....I love the idea of having a rove down there. To be honest , having had a good look from above. I can see that at the Nature reserve end i only saw about a third of it. Next time Id hop down across that bridge behind the David Lloyd centre and take a rove northwards....

Travelling light too...

Not quite sure where you mean when you say "Roding valley park".

Many thanks for all the info bigoll....

Cheers

[Bigoll]

No problem! I get 99% of my fishing leads off forums like this one, so feel I should give something back occasionally. Just as long as my favourite swims don't get full up.........!

Roding Valley Park is essentially the open space on the opposite bank to the nature reserve and David Lloyd. It contains the lake, sports pitches, open grass and the like. It's easier to walk through that than the reserve side as you wander north, and the vegetation is a lot less jungle-like, at least after you get past the lake it is.

[Tench Dreamer]

Thanks again bigoll, where youve described is where Im gonna rove....when the rain eases abit! when I get time!!

[The Tuesday Swim]

There a few parts of the Roding I have fished, the upper reaches more successful than the lower. The part by the A12/North circular looks excellent, I've only fished it once in the winter to no avail.
Below that past Heron ponds by Ilford Golf course is another great stretch, (large carp I have been told) again not really fished it properly but on one occasion I did catch a few chublets.
The main problems is getting access to some of the lower reaches, not so much along the river bank but more often than not the areas are fenced off by Thames water or private land.

The short stretch by the A12 looks like a Crabtree classic chub swim

[Ian.R.McDonald]

The Roding was wiped out by a serious chemical pollution in the late 1980s, but has been "clean" as they say for several decades by now. Much of it looks ideal for chub, dace and roach.

I remember going up the week after with my Dad and being amazed (and saddened) by the size of the dead fish- huge chub

the stock of fish used to be huge with roach over the 1lb and big Perch on the stretch we used to fish

[GazTheAngler]

I still think it suffered another dose of pollution in the 90's after it had come back from the late 80's one as the fishing went downhill again.

Was the 80's incident the tanker crash at charlies browns roundabout? I think there have also been some agro-chemical incidents farther up stream as well over the years.

Gaz

[Tench Dreamer]

There a few parts of the Roding I have fished, the upper reaches more successful than the lower. The part by the A12/North circular looks excellent, I've only fished it once in the winter to no avail.
Below that past Heron ponds by Ilford Golf course is another great stretch, (large carp I have been told) again not really fished it properly but on one occasion I did catch a few chublets.
The main problems is getting access to some of the lower reaches, not so much along the river bank but more often than not the areas are fenced off by Thames water or private land.

The short stretch by the A12 looks like a Crabtree classic chub swim

I know where you mean Tad and have driven past it many times. Loooking at it from above on Google maps I see the river curves under the north circular and then into what the map calls Roding Valley park and then back under the road, up along past Tescos towards where I was yesterday at Woodford.

All looks very nice

Crabtree it cetainly looks Tad, what with this and the area described yesterday, weve discovered what could be some very nice small stream fishing.

And all for free. Im presuming that its coz its Local authority parks...Bit like Hackney Marshes ....Thats another thread!

[Bigoll]

Went for a fish on the Roding this evening and caught........two floats in snags, pneumonia and a lighting bolt up the backside. True to its flashy reputation, the calm, clear wade-able waters of 4 days ago have transformed into a muddy torrent. Many of the places I'd stood fishing on Saturday are now under 2-3 feet of water. I had a bash anyway but the flow was too fast, the currents too whirly and the torrential horizontal rain from the thunderstorms quickly sapped my enthusiasm. Hopefully this weather will change at some point so we can get some decent days of fishing in!!!

[Tench Dreamer]

Thats fishing bigoll.....Been there( snaggs etc, so so many times!).

Im gonna be off me fishing zone too School holidays etc. However Ill be down the Roding later in the year . Its close enough for short session/ travelling light/ catch what you can fishing......My favourite

Thanks again bigoll( and others,) might see you down there one day. Ill be wearing a flat cap and fake barbour coat

( far bank of David Lloyd centre me thinks)

[GazTheAngler]

John,

I've only fished the Woodford to Wanstead section twice and blanked both times. It was very shallow and a bit urban.

The stretch which starts a Debden looks great but i keep blanking there too, perhaps bigoll can tell me what i've been doing wrong. I have ledgered maggot and lob there to no great effect.

Still I may well get up there come October.

Gaz