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River Medway

M

Michael Hardinges

Senior Member
Hi

I am moving to East Grinstead for a year, someone said that there is Barbel
and chub fishing quite near on the River Medway.

Can't find out much about it, any help would be much appreciated.

Please PM if you prefer.

Thanks
Mike
 
RTWAS - Royal Tunbridge Wells Angling Society Would be a good starting point if you're in EG,...don't discount the Sussex Ouse either. ( Ouse Angling Preservation Society ) http://www.ouseaps.co.uk/
All the best
DT:)

Ps Not sure how far you want to motor, but the river Mole is not that far from EG, ... Plenty of small clubs , .....Horley, Carshalton,Brockham, Dorking and Leatherhead for instance.
If you don't mind a 20 minute ( I jest! ) trip down the M25 to Wisley, http://www.wadaa.co.uk/ is a great club with loads of fishing on the Wey.
 
Rtwas prob best bet IMO, but you wont be on your own !
To be fair they have enough water to find a decent spot and good chance of barbel. I recall had 26 chub (over a few weeks) before my first barbel there.Fordcombe is a small and intimate stretch which can be very satisfying.
Ashurst weirpool always used to get hammered,, but they are there.

Have the crays invaded yet ?

Alternatively Haywards Heath AC
Sx Ouse,perhaps smaller than Medway but very pretty,good fun and they are def there.

I work nr East Grinstead and often fish a quickie after work.
 
Ps
I never had anything decent from Ouse Preservation stretches.
Mostly tidal and somewhat featureless.
I may have been unlucky as Dave may know different.

5 Anglers on the Anchor Inn stretch (wierpool), 2 sessions around this Christmas,not 1 bite amongst us.
 
hi Michael

I live just outside East Grinstead and thinking of joining either Dorking AS for the Mole or RTWAS.
Have been a member of both over the years.
Let me know if you want to meet up for a beer or a trip down the river ...also Wickhams Tackle in East Grinstead is a great source of info..see Mick.
 
Yup. They are anything but prolific but they are in there. IIRC there were several thousand fingerling barbel stocked back in the early eighties and I spent far too many hours trying to see if any had survived in the last two years before I moved down here to Dorset in 2004. I caught a few, none were particularly large, but they were there.

I've never had one upstream of Uckfield mind, although I did catch one in the town centre one evening. :D
 
I wonder how many of the Uck barbel were washed into the Ouse during the floods of 2000 Nigel ? Must say that although I have driven over it many times on my way to Pevensey I have never given the little river serious consideration .
Until you mentioned the barbel stocking program of the eighties , the only two things that grabbed my attention were the Uckfield flood events and the dubious accolade of the river having specially designed signs to prevent the vandals adding the odd letter !:D

http://markwadsworth.blogspot.ca/2011/09/river-uck.html

http://www.theargus.co.uk/resources/images/431486/
 
Tracking down what was already a low head of barbel certainly became more difficult after the 2000 floods but one or two spots still turned up the odd fish. One in particular is about a mile from the infamous River Uck sign. :)

Now you've got me thinking of an event I'd put to the back of my mind. I was back in the area about four years ago for my mothers funeral and after everything was done and dusted I popped down to the river for a few minutes quiet contemplation, running the events of the day through my mind. Bugger me if a barbel didn't roll right where I was staring into the water. Something I'd not ever seen before or since on the Uck.

I stood there stunned.

If I was of a less rational nature, I'd have taken it as some portent as opposed to the sheer coincidence it actually was.
 
Nigel, the last time I saw a barbel roll was during a five day stint on Somerley a couple of years ago. It turned out to be a productive trip, except for the one blank day, ..which happened to be the day I elected to fish where I spotted the rolling fish!

As for rationale, .. l'm a believer in white feathers and angels on my shoulders, .. oh, and lucky pants !
Nice post btw
 
Thats real interesting stuff about the Uck.
More overlooked by me than actually fished over the years.

Personally I am a little dubious about lots of fish " getting washed downriver in floods"
Was the Sx Ouse actually stocked time ago, anyone know ?

I hear a few good fish in the Arun ,,,if you have the time and committment.
Bit far from EG perhaps.
 
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