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River Lea Day Ticket

Garry Howell

Senior Member
Hi, looking to try to get back on the Lea after many years away, anyone know of any day ticket stretches on the upper Lea? I will probably buy a season ticket that gives access to the Fishers Green stretch next season - but to many commitments already this season. Thanks in advance.
 
There is a free stretch at batford on the upper .....fishers green and KW super tough but fish to 16 to be had can get a day ticket on the Weir itself and probably best bet this time of year due to the water levels
 
Day tickets on the Lea by Stanborough lake also a free stretch above Marford farm, Verulam water at Wheathampsted.
Half price Verulam tickets from 1st October also gives access to Fishers green.
 
Hi men,

The half price ticket is worth it if you want action , with a lot of barbel on both their upper stretches . Winter becomes a bit hit of miss on the free stretches , with the fish moving around quiet a bit , one swim we fished had about 5-6 barbel under it , a week later we could not find them at all.

Hatter
 
Hello, sorry to jump on an old thread but I am interested in the free stretch above Marford Farm- does anyone have any details regarding where it is specifically? I live 90 miles away so would like to know where I was headed when setting off!

Thanks,
 
Hi men,

TBH , i would not travel 90 miles to fish it . I know someone who had a go at what they call the horse field / stables stretch a couple of weeks ago and lots of the cover had been removed . But if you still want to fish , the center of Batford going out towards Wheathamsted , over a small roundabout , and there is a small layby on your right at the top of tge hill. Park there and hope the fence , someone will wander over for the money . Access is limited for cars , but by joining up above and below that bit its all free , google earth is your friend . Youtube with the nash boys also has a few pointers .


Hatter
 
Its a summer venue and mostly under 2 feet deep with little cover so if you are thinking of fishing there before the end of the season its probably not worth it. The free stretch runs from the centre of Wheathamsted downstream to the Marford boundry,a wire across the river (1/2 a mile).The kids fish between the buildings in the village from the road. There are areas to park by the houses on the right hand side looking downstream and walk across the fields.But its honestly not worth the bother of a 90 mile journey.This time of year the fish drop into a few swims,with cover. Even on Marford only a 2 swims are Barbel productive in winter that's why they have a 05.50 winter draw for those two pegs.
 
Hi men ,

I never like putting people off , as there is always a chance , as i know a few spots where there are normally some fish . As Mark says its really better if you fish it in the warmer weather , then at least you have a longer day to wander around . Lovely little river , living on borrowed time , so pop over and have a try.

Hatter
 
Dave, Carey was asking about the shallow Free fishing stretch above peg 19 on the short walk upstream. Both of our club stretches are a lot deeper, with plenty of cover especially on the long walk. Our club benefits from the Fishery work done in the past by Keith speer and the team they had. They planted all those massive rush areas, diverted the river and cut the width in half making it deeper and faster. The club also pumps all of its silt out every year so keeping depth. Nothing has ever been done on the free stretch so its wider, shallower, very open with little cover. That's why our stretch holds the two best Barbel swims in the country and is so busy every day of the season.
 
Dave, Carey was asking about the shallow Free fishing stretch above peg 19 on the short walk upstream. Both of our club stretches are a lot deeper, with plenty of cover especially on the long walk. Our club benefits from the Fishery work done in the past by Keith speer and the team they had. They planted all those massive rush areas, diverted the river and cut the width in half making it deeper and faster. The club also pumps all of its silt out every year so keeping depth. Nothing has ever been done on the free stretch so its wider, shallower, very open with little cover. That's why our stretch holds the two best Barbel swims in the country and is so busy every day of the season.

Right, sorry about that then!
 
Dave, Carey was asking about the shallow Free fishing stretch above peg 19 on the short walk upstream. Both of our club stretches are a lot deeper, with plenty of cover especially on the long walk. Our club benefits from the Fishery work done in the past by Keith speer and the team they had. They planted all those massive rush areas, diverted the river and cut the width in half making it deeper and faster. The club also pumps all of its silt out every year so keeping depth. Nothing has ever been done on the free stretch so its wider, shallower, very open with little cover. That's why our stretch holds the two best Barbel swims in the country and is so busy every day of the season.


“The two best barbel swims in the country “
They are very prolific yes but having to do a draw at 6am to go and sit on a roped off platform isn’t my idea of barbel fishing-yes you will catch a lot of fish.. but you will catch the same amount of fish in swims 1 and 2 at Cromwell weir the difference being the majority of them will be doubles ...also at Cromwell you can fish all night...
With regards to marford farm and I’ve said it before the best thing veralum could do with that stretch is shut down swims 8 9 10 11 for a whole season and get those fish on the move .. those fish are pressured beyond belief ...they should take a leaf out of Andy tredgitts book the guy who runs kings weir there was a particular swim on the members stretch there that has done a lot of fish this year and it was getting hammered so he shut the swim down.... good fishery management in my book the barbel in the Lea have got enough to deal with..what with predation / spawning etc without getting hammered by anglers
.... imo the best barbel swim in the country is called the river wye
 
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Hi men,

Terry , the difference is that its a big varied club with all sorts of abilities and expectations of a days fishing . Many that go there are average anglers who want the chance of a barbel , so in effect not all out and out barbel anglers , so the club is catering for the whole membership . At the moment the otters have not damaged the stocks , but i fear they are on borrowed time , as it is a little shallow well stocked bit , iv seen places like this before .


Hatter
 
Mark I’m with you that it’s on borrowed time and I fear it will go the same way as the colne.. the point I was trying to make is it is a very very pressured stretch of water and the mentioned swims span about 200 yds at most and I think it would be in the best interest of those fish to shut those 4 swims down for a season .. I have personally witnessed some very bad barbel handling and I think the club should be educating the membership on this ... it is a very well looked after fishery but saying that in the last season I was a member they had cut enough vegetation down to take 10 years off the life of the planet
The long walk side of the fishery is a very pleasant place to fish and very natural but the short walk is like a circus and more akin to a commercial carp fishery
 
“The two best barbel swims in the country “
They are very prolific yes but having to do a draw at 6am to go and sit on a roped off platform isn’t my idea of barbel fishing-yes you will catch a lot of fish.. but you will catch the same amount of fish in swims 1 and 2 at Cromwell weir the difference being the majority of them will be doubles ...also at Cromwell you can fish all night...
With regards to marford farm and I’ve said it before the best thing veralum could do with that stretch is shut down swims 8 9 10 11 for a whole season and get those fish on the move .. those fish are pressured beyond belief ...they should take a leaf out of Andy tredgitts book the guy who runs kings weir there was a particular swim on the members stretch there that has done a lot of fish this year and it was getting hammered so he shut the swim down.... good fishery management in my book the barbel in the Lea have got enough to deal with..what with predation / spawning etc without getting hammered by anglers
.... imo the best barbel swim in the country is called the river wye

I heard that after the closed season last year they were more spread out than they had been before. Others will no doubt know better than me but I’m not sure they’d move anyway, it’s not like they don’t see bait going in on the other pegs, it’s not just the hot pegs that are busy in the warmer months
 
That says everything Dave there is no pellet raining down on top of them every minute of the day in the close season so they became more spread out
 
The club wanted to install some floating islands, as successfully used on one of the stillwater fisheries. This would provide much needed overhead cover and would certainly spread the Barbel around a bit.
The EA refused permission.
Incidentally I always trot there putting out a ledger at dusk, when there's enough darkness time to justify it. 6.00pm off time means effectively Nov/Dec.
I often fish away from the "hot" swims and have never, as far as I recall, failed to catch at least one Barbel in the darkness. Usually 3-5. Even out of swim 1, in low water, which means about a foot deep.
 
That says everything Dave there is no pellet raining down on top of them every minute of the day in the close season so they became more spread out

I’m sorry, I didn’t explain myself properly, I meant that they were being caught away from the hot swims more often last summer than previous summers. They were more spread out than they had been at that time of year.

It’s not just those swims that see a lot of bait - In the summer it’s busy most days on a lot of the other pegs and when you think of the competition in 10 and 11 it can’t be just about where they can get anglers bait easily.

I could be wrong, you and Paul and the two Marks on here would probably know better. I used to fish the long walk once a week all season but rarely the short walk. I’ve fished 9, 10 and 11 but a couple of times is enough
 
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