Have any Ringwood Members out there (Chris himself perhaps) ever fished the mill stream in Ringwood and if so have you any tips I can scrounge.  I was thinking of giving it a go for roach, but especially wonder what line strength to use, the Ringwood DAA web-site recommends 8lb, which seems OTT for roach (especially the size roach I catch) but then again if you do fluke a take from a barbel, 3lb line ain't going give you much of a chance

There again, why worry I never get a bite when I set my stall out for barbel, but sod's law says ....

Gary

 

 

Gary

This is about the only water on the Ringwood Ticket, that I have not fished.  The reason being is that it looks fairly narrow and I think when I went to have a look at it ( this was about 3 odd years ago ) it seemed overgrown, weedy and difficult to access.

I would go with the RDAA recommendation for the line strength if the stream is as weedy as I remember as it may well be that which snaps the line.  I would have thought there may well be some roach in the stream, the ticket book says there should be.

Chris

Chris

This is the one stretch of water my club share with Ringwood DAA and I have I have fished there without sucess on 3 or 4 occiasons over recent seasons.  Having said without sucess there has usually been a mitigator or too, like the weed which was horrendous when I tried back in July.  I was hoping the weed will have died back a bit by now.  Yes it is narrow, but I quite like narrow rivers.   I was hoping someone out there had some tips as I'm  sure it has potential and that I've been approaching it with the wrong methods.  Oh well, I'm off Friday so maybe I'll give the Lower Stour a go.

Gary

 

 

Co-incidentially this weeks Anglers Mail (17/01/06) features the mill stream on the Where to Fish pages.  Not sure it adds a lot to our understanding, beyond:

fishes better in the winter

best swims are at the Hampshire Hatches end of the stream

use bread punch with a ball of groundbait every five trots  

Never been a bread punch fan myself - always regarded it as a bit of a northern tactic, but might be worth a whirl.

Gary

 

Gary,

That's useful info, though that it fishes best in Winter is mentioned in the RDA book.

I had tried bread punch on the Stour a couple of years ago and it did attract the roach, it also had the habit of attracting the minnows too. Added to the fact it needs to be replaced frequently (at least when I use it) due to it not staying on the hook too long. I prefer maggots/cheese for this type of fishing. Though I mostly use pellets now as I have been aiming for the larger species recently (ie carp in lakes and barbel/chub on the rivers).

Certainly might be worth a try on the millstream though, if just to see how it works out.

Chris