Typical River Crane chub

Location:

One of the best stretches is in Kneller Park. This is found off the A305 from Twickenham going towards Sunbury. At the first set of traffic lights after Twickenham turn right down the Meadway. Park up after crossing the River Crane. The fishery is downstream from the bridge. You can also fish upstream if you prefer.

The River

It is mainly shallow but with some depths going down to well over 4ft. It is the deeper sections that have generally produced the better fish. The flow is generally slow to moderate becoming fairly quick over the shallows, whilst the visibility changes with the seasons. It is never gin clear but at most times there is at least two feet visibility.

Stock

There appears to be a good head of chub that are often clearly visible in some of the shallower swims. Although I have not caught a chub of much over three pounds, there appears to be a lot of fish in the 12oz to 2.5lb class. The average size of chub appears to be steadily increasing.There are some nice roach in the section. The best I saw was 1lb oz whilst the best I caught went 14oz. However there are plenty of 8oz-plus fish present. The dace run to a fairly good size with the odd 8oz plus fish caught.Like most rivers in the area there is an increasing carp population with a fair number of doubles present. The best I know of was just over 171b. Whilst writing this review I had a phone call from Glen Collins telling me that he just caught a 141b plus mirror carp on pole fished maggot. That weekend a small match was won with just over 17lb of chub with a second place catch of just over fifteen pounds consisting of three carp.There are also rudd, bream, eels, gudgeon, crucian carp, tench, minnows, perch, sticklebacks, the odd trout, pike and barbel present. The barbel were stocked by the Environmental Agency well over a year ago and appear to have done exceptionally well, packing on weight.Small fish can be a problem on this section as there is a very good head of gudgeon with sticklebacks and minnows.

Tactics:

Most methods work but in summer you’re well advised to use larger baits to catch the better specimens. In the summer, legering with baits such as bread, sweetcorn and meat can produce some nice carp, chub, tench and recently introduced barbel. Most successful locals tend to keep their legering tactics simple using a quivertip rod with a lightish running lead.Pole fishing is productive throughout the year. A pole rig fished over-depth and held back produces more than its fair share of fish. Using maggot on this method can produce good mixed bags but care must be taken in the summer to avoid catching too many gudgeon. It often pays to use some other bait if the gudgeon become a nuisance. However, hit it right and you could be rewarded with some very good fish.In winter I have done very well using a quiver tip rod with a small block-end feeder and maggots. Gudgeon appear to be less of a problem and I often end up with mixed bags of chub, roach, dace, barbel, perch and possibly the odd carp.This is not a one-method venue and as I stated earlier, most tactics work. The old stick float used with hemp and caster can still take some beating on its day.

Bill Rushmer