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Hertford
and the The Meads
Location
Hertford
is about 10 miles north of the M25 and to the west of the A10. There is limited car parking around
the town. For the best access to the river try the car park at bottom
of Marshgate Drive. The car park is the far side of the river but is
often full. Alternatively, drive through town and over river bridge and
follow sign
for the swimming
pool.( Hartham Lane). Park as far as you can then walk off to towing
path below the town shopping centre but above the marina. This is a
fee paying car
park.
Description
Folly Bridge is the upper limit of the LAC
fishery and this section can be accessed from the town but as parking is very
restricted in the town it is best to use the parking at Hartham Lane by following the signs for swimming
pool.
From the bridge to the
spill weir at Mill Road the river has a gentle flow for
most of the time and fishing with a stick float or pole is very popular. It
is weedy in Summer and British Waterways has made a lot of the bankside permanent
mooring for narrowboats. Main species
in this section are roach and bream but there is always the possibility of
a large carp, barbel or chub.
Dicker Mill with platforms hidden in reeds.
The next section (Dickers
Mill) down to the lock is very slow moving, if not still, even when the
river is in
flood
and is well suited to small club outings when such conditions prevail elsewhere.
This is an all year round venue but in the summer the are large numbers
of good carp resident under the boats moored upstream of the lock. Best bait
for these is sweet corn. This section is also good in the early part of the
season for quality roach to hemp and breadpunch plus occasional tench.
The tow path is narrow so if possible use one of the 12 permanent platforms
situated
along
this
'canal' pound.
Downstream of the lock
is the Meads section which use to have 120 purpose built fishing platforms.
A number of these are now unusable and unsafe. BW agreed to remove
them but to date very few have been taken out. So please take care. This
section normally has flow and is inhabited by a large shoal of
good
bream. Big carp
can also be found in the cutting just below Hertford Lock. Roach can be
found in the weeds beds in the summer whilst in the winter it is a popular
pike fishery. In addition to these there are some chub to be found in
many of the swims (especially where there are
trees on the far bank) whilst all the swims have perch that normally live in
the nearside marginal weed. Some of these are in excess of 3lbs!
The Meads section is one
of the more picturesque parts of the Lee and well worth a visit. There is a
fair walk to some of the swims as access is only from either end. However
there is a good tow-path that is very suitable for trolleys.
The New River is private fishing controlled by
Palmers Green AS.
Section Tips
- The best method for the bream
on the Meads stretch is to use large pieces of flake fished on a feeder
rig with liquidised bread as ground-bait. Best pegs are normally at mouth
of Beane (or Old Lea).
- Caster is a good summer bait
on this venue, especially for roach.
- Chopped worm fished in the
marginal weed are excellent all year round for the perch.
- The Dicker Mill section is
a good stand-by venue in the winter when the rest of the river is in
flood. Never go without breadpunch. Make use of the platforms provided
to get you and your tackle off the towing path.
- Hemp is an early
season bait for most parts of this this venue.
- The fishing in
the area of the allotments and cottages is limited and please take care
not to upset the residents along this section known as the 'folly' section.
Try a lightly shotted waggler over loose-fed maggots or
caster
and hemp.
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