Favourite ever fishing spots

[crofton blade]

Here's a question to get everyone thinking a bit.
If you could only fish three spots for the rest of your life, where would you choose? One on a river or stream, one on a commercial and one on a natural lake.

I'll go first,
1. River- on the River Don at Oughtibridge, north of Sheffield. Stick float for Grayling, brown trout, the odd chub, perch and one day maybe a barbel.

2. Natural- Ferry Meadows near Peterborough. Big bream fishing, the odd roach, perch, hybrid all on long range feeder and groundbait tactics.

3. Commercial- Decoy Lakes near Whittlesey. Either Beastie or Elm strip lakes. F1 and carp fishing at its very best. Mainly pole and feeder tactics to suit what's best on the day.

[suggsy]

River
Would have to be nidd at knaresborough , birkham woods . Fishing waggler for dace
Reservoir
Doe park . Pole for the roach and skimmers
Comercial
Toms pond . Pole for the ide

Yer can keep yer carp 😁😁😁😁

[stiglet]

River : River Swale Leckby Palace Farm ,the swim just above where Cod Beck enters the river ,loads of Barbel,Chub and Dace . Sadly its a syndicate water now.


Natural : Sand hutton Gravel Ponds ,loads of big Almost Black Bream ,odd carp and loads of Tench .


Commercial : This one is difficult but possibly Tollerton ponds ,plenty of bream and tench ,not just carp ,and great owners whwn Chris & bev owned it .

[shaunshaun39]

river- a peg on the swale on helperby ac stretch in the village, darent say the peg nos or ill never get in it.
natural - southfield reservoir, can be moody and i blanked there this year but also had 50 lb of slabs only last week
commercial - wholesea grange nos 2, a great smallish carp fishery, ive won so many matches on here, but perfect for any style you prefer to fish

[dannymac]

Nostalgia for me...
River: Calder at Wakefield, deep river silver fishing at its best.
Lake: Welham lake near Malton before they stocked the carp many years ago it just held a huge head of massive tench. Estate lake fishing at its best. Used to go as a youngster with my dad. Remember catching 19 tench for 105lb. Best days ever.
Commercial: If you can call it, Fleets dam as a junior, Friday night matches using modified emstat frame feeders fishing an early version of the method. That’s when I thought catching carp was fun. (Nearly 30 years ago)

[rayner]

Thinking back, the only way I can fish these places now.
Boat fishing Whitby.
Reservoir Ully or river Don close to my home, undecided.
Commercial where I fish now, Kiveton Waters.

[blademanx]

River. Lady Pitt Farm River Trent full of barbel and chub.
Lake. Harlesthorpe Dam. Quality bream and roach
Commercial. Lodge Farm fishery. Stuffed with fish and the hardest fighting carp you'll ever catch on the top pond.

[BOF]

A simple question, but boy is it tough

River:-
Top of the nostalgia stakes would be the river Cherwell, near Kidlington in Oxfordshire. Anyone who started their angling career as I did, by reading "Mr Crabtree goes Fishing" would recognize the kind of river it is, complete with "flood" banks 2ft high, and weird shaped "Pollarded" willow trees.

The next in the nostalgia stakes would be the lower Swale, from Topcliffe down to Myton on Swale.
For most of the Chub and Barbel anglers in Yorkshire who were fishing it back in the 1970-90's that would be a no brainer.

The Nidd just creeps in here as my time on it overlapped with my Swale trips a little. It was magic from the late 60's through to around 1985-ish.

Now we come to the more modern venues, top of the shop for its current catches is of course the Trent.
Fish it NOW ! Do not put it off. Those massive Barbel only have a limited life span, and unless my biology teacher was way out, the very big ones are getting toward the end of the Golden Years.

The Natural lakes:-

What is a natural lake? By definition virtually nothing in modern times deserves that title, certainly nothing in West Yorkshire and not much in the north of England. All the venues we fish nowadays have been artificially stocked, dug out, or altered to fit someones needs or ideas of landscaping. Many were dug for gravel extraction, or as feeder reservoirs for canals or water companies. The only "natural"-ish spots that I can think of are places that have arisen from subsidance, eg Lowther and the other lakes and ponds in that area, Eric's Willows lake, but there are park oe estate lakes in and around our towns and cities that although they were created for landscape purposes, are now sufficiently established they deserve inclusion such as Roundhay Park, Chellow Dean, Kiplin Hall, Queen Mary's ponds etc. If we were to include the gravel / clay pits that have been allowed to "mature" then of all of the 1000's that are scattered across this country I would pick Korda lake in the Colne valley, next door to Savay.

Commercial lakes:-

I will freely admit to putting this off till last because choosing just one of all the great spots that have grown up in the last 40 years is almost impossible. Yet it has to be done and I will choose Pool Bridge Farm, which narrowly wins out over Tyram Hall, and I can hear the howls of derision from here, Drayton Reservoir.

[bobj]

When I was a kid in Yorkshire I loved fishing Addingham * and Doe Park (Denholme). That was better than 50 years ago. And not one pesky carp, ever.

*Never did manage a grayling...

[BOF]

No Carp eh? Well you can't have everything bobj,

BOF

[stealth]

Nostalgia first..

The tidal river Tees at Yarm before they built the barrage. Stick float heaven for big nets of dace & roach.

The Trent, Burton Joyce, again stick float for roach & chub.

Nowadays, the big canals, Stainforth, New Junction, Aire & Calder & Mexborough - summer on the Tees at Yarm for roach on the whip, hemp & caster. The Swale at Salmon Hall when the level & colour is just right for running a big stick/bolo through for those fickle roach.

Nostalgia again..

Local club stillwaters queing up for a peg at midnight on 16th June for a net of crucians, or an estate lake full of roach & skimmers.

Nowadays, a couple of local stillwaters, club & day ticket waters for roach, bream, skimmers etc.

Nostalgia again...

Commercials, absolutely no affinity with commys stuffed with nowt but carp & F1's, with one exception.

Winter sessions on the Oaks at Sessay, not a carp bait in sight, again my target is the healty stocks of Ide, roach & skimmers.

Can you see a pattern to my fishing/species preferences.