The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Hello,Not been on here for a while,(just in case I make a mistake)Do any of you remember the L.A.A water ,Brampton pits,When I lived in Tottenham/Edmonton,I seem to remember a coach picking up a load of anglers on a sunday morning (up near Don's Of Edmonton)and taking them to Brampton .I always remember being told(but I don't remember who it was,how weird is that)that it was a special place for the tench and bream,I moved down that way a few years ago and as Brampton was nearby I had to investigate,so I joined the LAA,Can you imagine how excited I was on the way there?...........Anyway it was proper overgrown like raiders of the lost ark,little paths leading to overgrown swims,bridges that had almost collapsed ,happy days,................It was so over grown that you could hardly move from swim to swim because of the brambles etc.................................I was piking and pike thrive on neglect,but although there was a gate you could easily get through the bush's to fish it,and it didn't take long to realise it had been visited by the wrong type,I found traces ,floats ,line etc and even found a baited deadbait rig out there(which I got out with my first attempt),I was a told that the place had a good depth of water but the deepest I could find was 5ft,I think it had something to do with a new golf course that was just the other side of the path,some of the little bays had completely dried up and no matter how much noise I made when walking round I could not spook anything,I had about 12 trips over there in that winter and had one 8lb pike,I e,mailed the LAA and asked why they had let the place go downhill and if they didn't want it anymore give it up,never got a reply...................................Seems they have give it up,the new owner must be a millionaire,must have been working on it for a year or more already,he has taken out whole islands and is making it a lot deeper ,I think it is going to be full of carp one day and cost a fortune to fish but at least it 's not been filled in.......Shame,I took 6 pics today of the work in progress but even one of them ,it says is to big!!!!!!

I visited Brampton around ten years ago and found it exactly as you describe. I didn’t fish it though as I wasn’t too keen on the parking arrangements, the track looked like it was used of an evening by the local hoodlams, beer cans everywhere along with some other unsavoury items. I rather liked fishing Hemingford Grey and there were some other very overgrown LAA gravel pits up that way that looked full of promise but time didn’t allow me to do anything but have a look round....

I had exactly the same experience about 8 years ago in the summer. I was so disappointed. I ended up fishing the river, that was ok and saved a poor day. Hemingford Grey was also not as I remember but there was a forty year gap so it was to be expected. The LAA appears to operate in name only. Not for the members and certainly not for a lot of their waters.

They finally sold it in August 2018.

They have invested a lot in 2 of their other stillwaters - Stollies and Bures. As of last month they are now investing a lot in developing the 3 waters at Glemsford, which were getting increasingly difficult to fish.

Historically the focus of LAA seems to have been on rivers and they do seem to own, rather than rent, the fishing rights on many of their stretches of river. Frankly, I think the problem until recently was that they were rich in waters but not in members and cash. Things seem to be improving though. The latest development appears to be allowing other local clubs access to stretches of river in return for them maintaining them as fishable - this is the case with one stretch of the River Beult.

That said, the governance of LAA remains a bit of a mystery to me. Though that may be because until this season I was an associate members via another London angling club.

Happy days,Found out how to do it,Thanks for the replys everyone,For those of you who remember what the place looked like before,you can see the differance

Tizer wrote: ↑Wed Feb 12, 2020 11:08 am Happy days,Found out how to do it,Thanks for the replys everyone,For those of you who remember what the place looked like before,you can see the differance

Thanks Tizer. Someone is certainly splashing the cash. Frankly, if LAA continue to use the money they got to improve the remaining stillwaters, it will have been a good deal.

Phil