As anglers look ahead to an exciting summer of fishing, those in South East England really are truly spoiled for choice with venues and places to fish!
Whether you’re looking to explore great value fishing clubs or exclusive carp fishing, season rods on the rivers or day ticket access on canals, there’s a spot for everyone.
Clubmate is dedicated to making life easier for fisheries and anglers alike. With our hassle-free system it’s never been easier to track down the best places to fish where you live and buy your fishing tickets online. Here are some excellent fisheries to track down in the South East and South of London.
Legendary Crucians and Cracking Variety: Godalming Angling Society
Godalming’s crucians are legendary- but there is much more here, too!
Nationally renowned for its amazing crucian carp, Godalming Angling Society needs little introduction for its phenomenal head of genuine crucians to specimen size. If you want to bag a PB crucian, the Marsh Farm complex and Johnson’s Lake simply have to be on your list! Where else in the country might you catch the crucian of a lifetime on a day ticket? Away from those famous fish, the tench fishing is also excellent, whether you try classic float or feeder tactics.
That said, in addition to the crucian carp headlines there is also so much more to the club on its other waters- and for anyone in the area, full membership is well worth looking into.
Broadwater Lake has carp to 30lbs+ and some excellent perch to over 3lbs. Bramley has a fantastic mix of coarse species, including grass carp. For river coarse fishing, the club also has a whopping eight miles of the River Wey and some cracking chub, barbel and pike- along with no waiting list at present!
Last but not least, don’t forget the excellent trout fishing at Rowes Flash, situated in the gorgeous Winkworth National Trust site, with memberships to Winkworth Fly Fishers also available.
Just head to www.godalminganglingsociety.co.uk for further info on all the fishing.
Something for Every Angler at Reading & District Angling Association
With an excellent variety of season and day ticket coarse angling, besides specimen carp fishing near London, Reading and District are one of England’s biggest and best fishing clubs. Whether your main interest is in classic river fishing or lure and predator angling, it would take several seasons just to check out the swims available!
A cracking Kennet Barbel, just one highlight of many at Reading DAC!
For those in the London and South East area, memberships offer solid value and exceptional variety. However, there are also plenty of club waters that can be sampled at just a tenner for a day ticket. So where do we start?
For classic river fishing, the River Kennet, River Thames and River Blackwater are all available to explore. Various stretches cover most of the main coarse species, with some excellent roach, chub, perch, pike and barbel. The club has long worked to safeguard sport in the face of current challenges and now helps nature with its very own stocking program, using brood fish from the river to ensure tomorrow’s sport besides today.
Another must visit, especially for the roving lure angler, is the Kennet and Avon Canal. There are miles of water to explore on this famous waterway, which has exceptional perch, in particular, along with good winter pike. It also offers excellent mixed coarse fishing, with good catches of tench and bream to the pole or waggler.
Over a dozen lakes and pits complete the club’s portfolio for full members and their guests. There is an astonishing amount of water here to put it mildly, from gravel pit piking and carp fishing to excellent all round pleasure fishing. Add a lively match angling and events calendar, plus amazing value junior tickets, and you have one of England’s finest fishing clubs! Find out more at www.rdaa.co.uk
Ware Angling Club
Moving just north of London, near Hertford and Bishop’s Stortford, this friendly angling club offers excellent mixed sport and some great places to go fishing just to the West of Essex. At just £100 for a full adult season ticket and £20 for a junior, it’s a club worth contacting the club to be added to the list of members each season- with new members added in June each year.
Ware AC’s well-named “Pretty Lake”- a pleasure angler’s favourite.
Regardless of your favourite fishing style, there is something for every taste. The River Lee and River Stort Navigations offer some excellent chub, bream, perch and other species- with the Stort recently stocked with 500lbs of quality silvers. There are also quality perch and pike for the roving lure angler.
As for stillwaters, the aptly-named Pretty Lake is a carp and pleasure fishing treat, with stacks of roach, rudd, bream and carp in its attractive two acres. Or in contrast, Tumbling Bay Lake is a large and mysterious gravel pit that presents both challenges and opportunities, with large carp and pike haunting its depths for the dedicated angler!
Last but not least, two other complexes bring welcome variety and scope to explore. The Turnfield Consortium complex has a good head of carp and pike, both running well over 20lbs, along with excellent all round pleasure fishing. Meanwhile, Ware AC membership also offers shared access to Fishers Green Consortium- which represents a rich mixed bag of stillwater and river fishing at Waltham Abbey.
A friendly, well run match calendar completes a club where you’ll never be stuck for fishing ideas- and all for no more than £100 a season! Get in touch with the club without further ado to make sure your name is on the next membership intake, with full details at www.ware-angling-club.com
Peaceful fishing, and a Piece of History, at Wasing Fisheries
For the angler looking for the very best in carp and coarse fishing, the Wasing Estate has some truly magical settings to enjoy. These are not busy day ticket venues, but an altogether more immersive experience, rich in wildlife as well as exceptional fishing, for its members.
Wasing waters have atmosphere and excellent carp.
Consisting of several syndicates, the fishing here is renowned not only for its tranquillity, but its appearance on the British Record Fish list! “ The Wasing Parrot” – tamed on Oxlease Lake at over 68lbs in 2016, claimed the record as the biggest ever UK certified carp, while the other syndicate lakes have yielded incredible coarse fish, including double figure bream and tench, and numerous specimen pike.
Not that the fishing is all about stillwaters, because Wasing’s Enbourne Syndicate boasts a fantastic four miles of the River Kennet. Known for it’s beautiful waters and a fabulously rich, natural setting there is currently no waiting list for new members either!
For full details on all the fisheries, take a closer look at https://www.wasing.co.uk/fishing
Conservation and Epic Carp at SWS Fisheries
Established in 2021, SWS Fisheries have already creating an impressive reputation for their beautiful Kentish lakes, where sensitive management ensures that nature thrives as much as the impressive carp and coarse fish.
Members love the classic English carp and nature friendly approach of SWS
Larkfield Complex has several pits brimming with mystery and some truly awe-inspiring British carp. Featured in various fishing books, its waters are places to both relax the mind and quicken the pulse!
Meanwhile, the fabulously rich and weedy Castle Lake offers majestic old school carping, while Conservation Lake has some of the most peaceful fishing in the South East.
Joining up is by referral from an existing member or from your own fishing club. Access isn’t instant, but spaces become free every season, so get yourself on that list if you dream of amazing fish in settings to die for! Nor is this just a carp angler’s heaven, with superb tench, pike and other species providing year round sport. Head to https://swsfisheries.co.uk/ for further information.