Mill pool Broxbourne

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Corneybury
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Re: Mill pool Broxbourne

Post by Corneybury »

What gets me is the mathematics. If I saw 6 visible crayfish in approx. 10sqm of water and the pool itself is ~ 50x20m = 1000sqm, then the number of crayfish is going to be ~ 600 in a smallish pool. At least double that for the ones you can't see, and that's over 1500 in the pool itself. No wonder all the food has gone. I would have thought such concentrations were unsustainable, and that cannibalism, disease or predation would start to reduce the population. One can always hope, but until then, the Mill Pool is finished as a fishery (in my honest opinion)

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Tizer
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Re: Mill pool Broxbourne

Post by Tizer »

Lea Dweller wrote:A sad tale indeed, I have not fished much this season, even though the Lea is 50ft from my door! A number of people have licences to trap crayfish and they obviously do well, but it is a huge problem with no easy solution. Add to that the cormorant problem and it is grim in many areas.
I have said it many times on here and on other forums,The Lea valley is finished as far as fishing goes,still a beautiful place to walk your dogs though. I remember on the relief channel behind fieldes weir i bumped into two blokes lifting a big bream keepnet out of the water,it took 3 of us to lift it out and they said there was probaly 500lb of crayfish in there which they had got in 5 hours up by the weir using dropnets,they all went to billingsgate

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Tench Dreamer
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Re: Mill pool Broxbourne

Post by Tench Dreamer »

Had a look around the millpool/Broxbourne around to the conkers (The Crown) last weekend. All the anglers looked very Glum .. No fish . The millpool looked dead and the stream behind was silted up ... What's sad and tragic is the layout and features are classic .... comrants and crayfish no easy fix

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Corneybury
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Re: Mill pool Broxbourne

Post by Corneybury »

I used to love the Crown Fishery. We used to cycle up from Chingford via Picketts Lock, with the rod strapped to the bike crossbar. It was quite a long way when you are only 12. But the reward was excellent perch fishing with a worm in the morning just beyond the cabbage weedbeds on the near bank in the morning and then legering under the willows on the far bank in the afternoon to catch chub. You could also pick up nice roach and the ever- reliable gudgeon through the day. The river hadn't been canalised then and was prone to flooding, but my mates and I thought it was a magical place out in the country and well worth the ride. On a weekend day, the anglers were quite often almost shoulder to shoulder along the bank, being more crowded the nearer you got to Broxbourne station.

Now, it is a shadow of its former self. Apart from the canalisation to counteract the flooding, it is rare to see an angler, and it seems catching anything is exceptional. So, to me, the crayfish and the cormorants are not just an environmental disaster, it is the loss of my childhood which counts more, which personally is sadder still. However, I do have the memories...

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Tizer
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Re: Mill pool Broxbourne

Post by Tizer »

We cycled up from tottenham with the rods on the bike,mainly fished around hooks marsh and the north met,when we were older we got the train(got away without paying most of the time)to broxbourne

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Corneybury
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Re: Mill pool Broxbourne

Post by Corneybury »

We also took the train at the age of about 16, from Angel Road. I always liked the fact that if you sat in the last carriage and looked back down the track, the line was so straight, you could still see the lights of Angel Road from Waltham Cross. Return ticket was 3/-, but you had to lug your fishing tackle through Broxbourne station across the car park over the little river (Lynch?), which had gudgeon in it and all the way down the bankside. Don't think I'm capable of doing that now. In later years, we still got the train to Broxbourne, but not to go fishing, but instead to sample the delights of the Crown itself, where you could get a pint (or three) of Worthington E and be guaranteed a game of darts, as the pub boasted two dart boards. Happy Days!

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Ljm183
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Re: Mill pool Broxbourne

Post by Ljm183 »

As a kid I used to get the train from Stepney East to Cheshunt and then walked along the tow path to the LAA section of Kings Weir, a walk of about 2 miles. There was never anyone to take your money at Stepney East and all you had to do at Cheshunt was walk along the platform to the level crossing and then on to the tow path, the same on the way back. cant remember ever buying a ticket. The only problem was the trains never stopped at Stepney East but they slowed to about 2mph. so it was a case of line up your fishing gear open the train door and throw it on as the train went past.

That was when the old river had fish in it.

I payed a visit to the Mill a couple of weeks ago, the water was so low and clear all you could see was weed and in the clear patches loads of Crayfish. The flow was non existent with no water going over the sill from the feeder stream at the back by the houses.

I did see some nice Roach in the feeder stream but nothing apart from Crays in the main Mill section.

This is what was in the Mill last year


Image

It has been removed now.

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Tench Dreamer
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Re: Mill pool Broxbourne

Post by Tench Dreamer »

Makes me wonder what it will all look like in 30 years? There won't be many fishing memories from this section of the river. However Dads and offspring will I'm sure have memories of a weekend at a carp lake....Sad about the lea though

Stuart Whiting

Re: Mill pool Broxbourne

Post by Stuart Whiting »

Lea Dweller wrote:A sad tale indeed, I have not fished much this season, even though the Lea is 50ft from my door! A number of people have licences to trap crayfish and they obviously do well, but it is a huge problem with no easy solution. Add to that the cormorant problem and it is grim in many areas.
Yea I quite agree Ted,

The sad part that got to me was when there was the pollution spill a few years back and run all through kings weir, Barbara's stretch and all through fishers green,
I can remember those loverly big roach shouls that once resided under the little foot bridge up by the pilons and also under Bailey bridge but there now long gone and as you rightly say that a lot of quality fish got wiped out by them damm cormorants :rant:

Hence why I'm now looking at new waters further upstream on part of the Lea system that I mentioned to you about :Thumb:

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Lea Dweller
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Re: Mill pool Broxbourne

Post by Lea Dweller »

You are right Stuart, the same can be said of the Coppermill Stream at Walthamstow, I used to catch some lovely Roach fishing it, but I have been told that it is a shadow of it's former self, Sad!!

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