The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

A friend of mine has just moved to Kings Langley (between Hemel Hempstead and Watford) and, while enjoying a couple of beers last night, he mentioned the plentiful waters within a few minutes' walk of his new front door. Along with several stillwaters including Gaywoods Fishery and Kings Langley Lakes, there is an enticing stretch of the Grand Union Canal which incorporates stretches of the River Gade and several attractive backwaters.

So the simple question is: do any of you fine fellows have any knowledge or experience of the GUC at Kings Langley or, indeed, any of the other fishy spots to be enjoyed in the area? I understand that the GUC stretch is controlled by the London Anglers' Association with day tickets available on the bank for £4 a pop. There is a further mile south of the LAA stretch controlled by the Kings Langley Angling Society, which I believe also controls Gaywoods and another stillwater.

All advice welcome and a happy new year to one and all.

the guc and the gade and its other run offs this brings back memorys from my childhood ,it is where I first fished when I was about 10 with a 6ft round cane rod and a old reel,used to fish the guc at Croxley green with the river running behind it ,there used to be an old paper mill there with a small weir behind it ,caught my biggest ever gudgeon to this day it was just under 4 oz ,there are plenty of other species chub ,perch ,dace ,roach ,tench ,pike ,carp.
this is going back a few years the river was a free stretch and the guc was a day ticket 20p which I paid to the bailiff when he road round on his old shopping bike (the ones with the wicker basket on the front) ,you might also want to fish the river where it runs though cassiobury park its full of every feture you can think off ,deep pools ,shallow pools with over hanging willows ,2 weirs ,shallow gravel runs. There are some cracking chub in that park of the river cheese was a very good bait or dead bait a nice juicy minnow was always good for the chub and pike As for the guc I found that fishing about half a rod out near the lock gates was always good on maggot.
And if after all that it does not take your fancy you can always go on the mini railway.
I have managed to find some very nice pictures from the web:


the above is the stretch I used to fish when I was a boy ,many an adventure was had from this part of the river.
The picture below are cassiobury park ,I have found out that fishing is still FREE ,been on the website http://cassioburypark.info/cassiobury-p ... acilities/ as for the guc theres a link there for that as well. http://www.watfordpiscators.co.uk/



I don't know if there are any tff members who live near hear who could tell us what it is like now ,but this would make a great TFF day out even if it was just for the train ride

Many thanks for sharing those memories and pictures! Cassiobury Park looks like a brilliant stretch of water and one I will definitely look in to. Once I get over to Kings Langley (hopefully in the next couple of months) I'll post about what I find.

Great photos there. Wonder what the old chap in the brown coat, fishing tales could tell.

Looks like a couple of these reaches could make good fly fishing... particularly the one above the old boy in the brown coat... then the one diagonally to the right.

I used to fish the GUC stretch at Hunton Bridge regularly in the 90's, there were some cracking fish there.... as well as hoards of Gudgeon... the approach was to fish three lines, one at 3mts one down the track mid-canal and one up the far shelf....

the 3mt line was fished hard on the deck with fluouro pinkies and red squatts for Gudgeon with a tiny nugget of Amorce/Supercup groundbait

The midwater line was a rock hard ball of neat Supercup with fluoro pinkie or red maggot fished over for Roach and Skimmers

and the far line (up the far shelf) was fished with casters for the bigger Roach and the big Dog-Chub that inhabited the snaggier areas, usually with a small waggler....

Mind you that approach would have worked in the 90's, perhaps it's all changed now...... I've heard the Gudgeon are few and far between.... I'll have to get back over there for a little session....!

I going to have a session on the Gade in Cassiobury Park next Season hopefully.

T31000, yes i used to fish the gade at croxley down behind the Paper Mill, the mill was called "John dickensons" not sure of the spelling though, used to have a warm water outlet from the mill into the river, caught some mice chub there, it was called "Croxley common".
The Mill is long gone now, but i think the river is still fished, don't know how much is caught though, yes still lots of fishing in cassiobury park watford.

Jim

Hi jim
yeh thats where i used to fish and up buy the little weir ,had my biggest gudgen there to this day it was just under 4oz i also liked to fish under the wooden bridge i used to look through the cracks and see the roach and chub hidding under there.i also used to frequent the tackle shop at the top of thee hill i remember it was called paddaways.

Not sure if Paddaways is still there, at the time i was living in Rickmansworth, on the road that led from Watford, through Croxley Green, and down scotts Hill into Rickmansworth, just up the road also was the "River Colne" now as then run by The Uxbridge Rovers angling which club Runs through Rickmansworth Aquadrome, i belonged to that club for just one season but moved.
Forgot to say, my Oldest lad still fishes in Cassiobury Park on the odd occasion.

Jim