River Roding

[Richard Crimp]

Its looking better for this weekend. Passingford bridge is counted by location as the upper river and we have 9ft at low level and 2.5-3 miles upstream still in bdac river we have 12ft but the weir at passingford mill might have something to do with this...

This summer Andy I'm going to badger you for a day out on the Roding in your neck of the woods, our end is beatiful, but it rarely has much depth of water either! It's such a shame, as you end up being restricted to the few deep areas that every predator within a mile knows about, including a number of less than caring anglers...


Richard

[Tench Dreamer]

It suffers from heavy predation Gaz, the chub are still there, so are the carp and the dace, but it's often like fishing a ghost of a river. There's quite a few mink, the cormorants are ruthless, egrets, herons, mitten crabs etc. etc. the scant few fish are beleaguered by outside pressures! Plenty of minnows though, and I saw one that would challenge the record, seriously!

I like fishing the place, but it's more of a wading walk through than a productive days fishing, hence the photographs of this wonderful looking river!


Richard

That's how I've always felt in the stretch that I know M11debden to woodford . Beautiful unspoilt river .. Not many fish but a natural venue , so I'm not that bothered . After all I don't mind sharing the minnows with egrets and kingfishers. .... Mind you a minnow would be nice

[Andrew Banham]

The river is holding around the 0.80m Mark at shonks mill. There is rain tomorrow hope its not too bad, i would like to use my bobbins instead of starting at rod tops if i go out saturday. I am on 2 blanks from the last outings but i am using big baits and if i can get the river half right i have a chance. I tend not to use maggot as i want a hook to go with my 8lb hooklength. If the river is up i,ll have to stay with the swims i know if the river is low less than 0.60m then i will fish somewhere new.

[Andrew Banham]

Steve i dont trust weather forecasts however if its right you could catch the river just right. PM sent.

[Andrew Banham]

Hi all. Fished today in a swim in mitchells farm area which i have not fished for about 25 years. I fished bread and hair rigged luncheon meant. I got over the river about 3 pm and there was a slight flow and some colour but not too much. After a hour the luncheon meat bobbin jumped up a couple of inches, i waited 20 secs and pulled the bobbin down to move the meat and it shot up and i lifted into a solid fish. It broke the surface and was a huge perch, it dived down and pushed my barbless 8 hook out of its mouth. I was annoyed i messed it up big time. As the Sun was going down i changed from bread to a lobworm which was half dead and got no bites. On the floor was a small lobworm i put this on the hook with the half dead one and after 5 mins the bobbin hit the rod and the bait runnner kicked in i lifted into a smaller perch. Took some photos and weighed it on my reauburn scales 2lb 10ozs.. didnt get anymore bites and never had a touch on breadflake. Left at 19:30. Got back to my van and the power steering belt snapped so i limped home still very happy i had avoided another blank

[Andrew Banham]

I had 1 bite from a cray. I think they kept hidden with those big perch around. I would have liked a chub, roach or dace but not a touch on breadflake and cheese. Crays love bread i have caught lots on bread.but the swim yesterday they must have been hiding in their burrows.i have booked my birthday off so i will be back later this week.

[Richard Crimp]

Nice perch Andy, as for the one that got away... the sly devils like to break our hearts often enough!


Richard

[Tench Dreamer]

Drove past the river M11 today....much lower ...best get that quiver tip rod out ... Me hopes!maybe one of them big Perch will have been washed down stream to the Stretch I know abit .

[Andrew Banham]

Cheers Steve and Richard. TD i have seen a perch sitting behind spawning chub waiting for the eggs in fast shallow water so they are good swimmers. You need crayfish in the river for perch to grow large. Watching the trailer for catching the impossible no.9 two perch find a adult crayfish out of his burrow the crayfish knows its in big trouble and one of the perch goes behind the crayfish and eats the crayfish. You can see this on youtube. We have minnows and gudgeon but only had 2lb+ perch since the crayfish come down the river after the 2003 pollution at fyfield. Would,t mind a little rain to keep the river coloured. Good luck if anyone gets out this week.

[Andrew Banham]

Nice one steve . 3 chub and 1 perch well worth a couple of hrs. The crayfish are laying low at the moment .