River Lee
Hertford, Hertfordshire
Hertford is a much overlooked fishery. But that’s understandable, as it flows through a popular park which isn’t too conducive to remote, private fishing. All too often we turn up excited at a new venue and choose the romantic looking swim only to be greeted with a blank – never to return.
The old Lea at Hertford is this type of fishery. The angler in you will naturally choose the pretty weir, the far bend, or the quaint tree lined swims above the weir. However, these swims are very shallow and the fish often small.
This however comes with two pieces of good news. If you haven’t caught a Dace for a while, these are your spots to fish – especially above the weir. Some of our senior members love Dace, and this alone could make your day. The second piece of good news is that the weir holds plenty of tiny barbel who feed with the gudgeon and minnows. Not many rivers hold barbel and Dace these days, especially in a spot so public. That’s good news for the future.
A word of warning though, pike love a retrieving dace…
These swims mentioned above are also the natural choice because they are at a comfortable level with the water surface, and it’s obvious that they are regularly fished.
If you want to get into the bigger fish, you will need to ignore the picturesque swims mentioned earlier in the review and try the uglier exposed swims with overhanging branches. Big barbel and chub lurk here. You will also find decent perch and plenty of pike that gorge on the dace.
There are plenty of swims like this around the common, and Hertford has more fishing bank than any other of our River Lea fisheries.
The depth is nowhere near what it was, even in flood. The banks are high, so you will need a long landing net. There are a few opportunities to get lower down the bank. These parts of the river are also narrow. With the lack of flow and overhanging trees, silt build up is common, and the mounds of silt quickly form colonies for signal crayfish. Here is where you will find the bigger fish too – lurking in the deeper holes around tree roots, waiting for the signals to show. Popped up baits can work well in these areas.
Remember, you will need to be able to land the fish and return the fish, and you may need to get your feet wet. You will also need to get back up the bank!
This is why reports of catches here are mixed. Often the fish are where you don’t want to go. Big chub, barbel, and perch – along with the odd brown trout (4 reported from one member this season) will all lurk in these spots.
For those that like to take their family with them, there is plenty for non-anglers to do at Hertford. A few football pitches, a cross country track & green gym, a supermarket, and a few pubs and bars. Hertford is a lively town and worth a visit.
So, although the days of Hertford match fishing is now gone, the Old Lea at Hertford is still a gem – it’s just changed a bit. There aren’t many places you can park up to, catch dace, barbel and trout – so we would like to look after it and ask our members to keep us up to date with their catches. The fisheries committee would also like to hear from local people who would be interested in becoming an additional fishery keeper for this venue.
Aqueduct Fishery is a very isolated fishery (You will need to walk nearly a mile from the nearest car parking spot), and often fishing can be limited because of the shared rights on the opposite bank, which is popular with anglers. However, it is a very well looked after fishery, with a few swims dedicated to private fishing from the opposite bank.
Although only 300 yards in length, the angling is divided between the Old River Lea, flowing downstream from King’s Weir, and three swims on the Lee Navigation from Aqueduct Lock. The Navigation hasn’t produced much fish in the last few years, and angling is mainly done on the Old river for Barbel and Huge Chub. Trout are occasionally caught on the gravel beds, and good bags of silverfish can be caught at both ends of the fishery in slightly deeper swims.
Fishing is hard, but our regular fishery keeper can help put you on your first Barbel or Huge Chub.
Rye House - Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire
The River Lee is earning a good reputation for big perch and chub, and this stretch looks a great spot to attack these species with lures, spinners and drop shot techniques. It has a nice slow flow though, so a slow trot is also worth a punt.
It’s a wide stretch of canalised river, so lure fishing was our choice, as we could cover plenty of water.
There are some good features for drop-shotting, including a concrete bridge with a water inlet and extra depth, which is lair for predators.
Often, perch over 4lb are caught only a 10 minute walk upstream. Also a 35lb catfish was landed in a local weirpool. This river is full of surprises.
Traditionally, a canal style match venue, this fishery still has regular catches of Bream, Carp and Tench in the summer months. The Roach fishing has suffered though, due to cormorants.