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Loddon or Kennet?

D

Dave Darby

Member
After moving up to East Anglia to chase the Wensum barbel 6 years ago(bad mistake), I've decided to move back to Berkshire. Now being out of the area for sometime and not knowing what damage the otters have caused my question is:

1. If you could only have one permit, what would it be? A Reading & District, Twyford and District or a Thatcham permit? I'd fish Upper Benyons on the RDAA, St Pats on the Twyford and Rainsford Farm on the Thatcham.

Other recommendations appreciated.
 
I'd get an rdaa permit (will I have one) some nice barbel in the Loddon as well as the benyons. However never fished the others.
 
I would go for the RDAA Permit. Then you can fish The Kennet and Loddon on this ticket. Thatcham have lost there Padworth stretch apart from 3 swims. Twyford Have The Pats Thames and Loddon and a stretch of the Blackwater but no Kennet stretch and can be a little heavy handed with the chain saw IMO. It would be RDAA for me.

Regards Ray Thorpe.
 
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Ray, have Thatcham not got an agreement to fish the CALPAC Padworth stretch of the Kennet ?
 
Dave Johnson said:
Dave, why not enquire about the early bird option with T&DFC and wait for your RDAA until a bit later.
Dave
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Hi DJ.

Early bird with tdac?
From that, I can assume that you're saying fish TD in the summer and get a RDAA permit for winter?
Should never have moved to East Anglia!

Dave
 
Many thanks to both Ray and Colin for the info. :)
 
Dave Darby said:
After moving up to East Anglia to chase the Wensum barbel 6 years ago(bad mistake), I've decided to move back to Berkshire. Now being out of the area for sometime and not knowing what damage the otters have caused my question is:

1. If you could only have one permit, what would it be? A Reading & District, Twyford and District or a Thatcham permit? I'd fish Upper Benyons on the RDAA, St Pats on the Twyford and Rainsford Farm on the Thatcham.

Other recommendations appreciated.
Click to expand...

Dave

I have had both the Thatcham and RDAA. Both are good tickets and offer some lovely parts of the Kennet, RDAA does give you Loddon as well. I have always preferred the Kennet over Loddon. The RDAA gives you more river but is more expensive, but still good value for money. However if you want a quiet setting in (what I personally consider) the best surroundings, you cant beat the Wasing ticket. I have had a cracking season on the Wasing this year with multiple sessions producing 2+ doubles.

Thanks

Matt
 
Matt Painell said:
Dave

I have had both the Thatcham and RDAA. Both are good tickets and offer some lovely parts of the Kennet, RDAA does give you Loddon as well. I have always preferred the Kennet over Loddon. The RDAA gives you more river but is more expensive, but still good value for money. However if you want a quiet setting in (what I personally consider) the best surroundings, you cant beat the Wasing ticket. I have had a cracking season on the Wasing this year with multiple sessions producing 2+ doubles.

Thanks

Matt
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You've had a what on the Wasing Matt!? Wow.

Btw, did I say how handsome you look in your photo? Because you do. Just saying that's all.
 
T&dfc

I am the Chairman of T&DFC so obviously a little biased.

For Info however, we do offer the best value for money if you intend to fish after 9pm, or in many cases, after 5pm in the winter as you will have to buy an additional night fishing ticket in the case of RDAA.

In January, we will run our usual early bird offer where, as a new member, by buying your 2014-2015 ticket early, you will receive a permit allowing you to fish our waters up to the end of the 2013-2014 season also. In the case of stillwaters, this runs to 15th June.

And, in answer to Ray, the only time the club or contractors thereof have taken a chainsaw to the riverbank was last season (i.e. 2012-2013) when a couple of fallen trees were removed from the river Loddon at the request of members.

I am also an RDAA member for some 10 years or more and will confirm that if you wish to fish the River Kennet during the day then they offer superb waters too
 
Hi men,

Ian , lovely stretches that me and Sue never fished enough , but you never know ;) . RDAA is good value with miles of water .


Hatter
 
Having fished all the waters I can only offer this

The TDFC have some great waters and as Crooky says you have the opportunity to fish through the night more than RDAA unless you buy a night ticket. It has some tough Loddon stretches that hold few but good barbel that generally come out at night.

The Wasing for me was often busier than RDAA waters and in general the fish are smaller. Its far more costly. You may want to feel part of an elite club though.

The RDAA has a vast array of waters including many Thames sections very underfished and has also a lot of Kennet and the Loddon stretches you can fish till 9pm in the evening without additional expense. Personally I have never purchased a Night ticket as I rarely fish beyond 9pm in the winter.
 
Personally speaking I base it on locality. Living in Maidenhead I could never justify regularly driving over the Loddon to fish the Kennet, which would be at best another half an hour further on up the road. The Kennet is a living legend, but rivers are living things and the fish populations vary like everything else and I think that the worth of the Loddon has been proven many times over in recent years. They all take time and dedication of course.
 
One final thing from me, I Have fished all the stretches on Thatcham, Reading and Wasing. All are lovely places to be, and you will catch good quality fish on all of them (if you put the time in). Thanks Matt
 
This is such a difficult choice. I am a friend of Ian Crook, Ian Tucker and Will Barnard and have fished the Loddon, St Pat's and The Kennet.

Years ago I was a member of Twyord and am still a member of CSAS, who have a stretch of the Kennet at Ham Bridge. I toyed with the idea of joining Wasing, but as I live in deepest Sussex, could not justify the expense.

In your position I would join both RDAA and Twyford and just go for it!

Regards,

Hugo



 
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