Hi all. This is my first thread and hopefully the first of plenty. I am moving to London from Chicago and I was hoping people could please point me in the right direction as to how to hit the ground fishing. I fish for salmon,steelhead,all trout and am willing to give some saltwater fly fishing a go. The closer the better, but quality is desired
Thanks

No replies yet so I will get it rolling. I did it the other way and learnt my fly fishing in london... There isnt much!Then moved out.
A stocked stillwater called Syon park which can be done on the Tube...always great bringing a bag of rainbows back in a rush hour tube carriage.
No salmon (yet) but do look up the Wandle a small army of volunteers have restored this from open sewer back to a wild trout fishery in the middle of some very urban landscapes in south London. If your living in the capital it is a worthy cause to get involved in, and the chance for some wild trout on your doorstep.
The Wandle Piscators
No doubt you will get more helpful responses, but it's a start!

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I know people tend to slag of Walthamstow - but the fishing and quality of the fish can be excellent and normally challenging.

Your welcome to come along with me one day of you fancy it?

Also it may be worth popping in too O'Rileys to find out about any outings he has planned.

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This Seasons Blog

You have my sympathy - I moved from Kelso to London in '79 and lived within commuting range of the City for 25 years.
There are sad apologies for real trout fishing within an hours drive - there's good trout fishing within four hours drive as long as you don't start the drive after noon on a Friday.

But it's not all bad news - I've seen film of Chub being taken on fly and they are quite common - there are lots of Pike to be chased, some of which run up over 20lb.

Have fun and stay flexible.

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Plusnet/Madasafish > Liars to the internet community

and you could try carp on the fly at the Walthamstow reservoirs

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cumbriafishingfestival.co.uk

Well first off, get yerself a rod liecense, then i would point you to this fishery , because im biashttp://www.hallifordmere.co.uk/ day tickets are cheap and its a bootifull fishery in summer, full of wildlife and insect life, and its a tough fishery at times you need to have yer fishing brain in gear, its catch and release only unless you want to take a couple but you have to pay extra for that its situated just outside greater london ,but not far from the m25 Browns and bows only with some coarse fish too, 4 lakes, 3 are trout one is pike, although lakes 3-4 are one at the mo due to high water, best on west and southerly winds , northerly can produce but east is a right ****** as i found out the other day, the fish are putin in perfect condition and range from a couple of pounds to double figures, ive seen big buggers in there although i believe to top fish at the mo is around 9lb mark, ive had 6lb brown and a 7+ bow out this yearand its got a bara touch expensive but a bar never the less
If you want pretty easy fishing theres Albury waters, near you would be syon park, just put on a blue flash damsel and you will be into fish Gaz

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If in doubt, get the montys out

Intelligence is relative to your environment

Welcome to the forum and welcome to England.

First things first. London is a huge urban sprawl, much much bigger than any other European city. It takes a while to get to grips with it when traveling, especially driving. The point is where you live mainly dictates where you fish.

If you are planning to live in West or South West London. You can drive out to the chalk streams of Wiltshire, Berkshire and Hampshire (and where you fish is dependent on money simple as that). Lots of people and famous rivers = expensive. This is also probably the nearest sea trout and salmon fishing via the lower Test.

If you live South and East. Then Kent is your destination. The rivers are small far apart but lovely. Then there are some big reservoir fishing like Bewl and those in Essex.

In the North there are a couple of rivers with long long waiting lists and then general small still waters for trout.

Inside of London as people have said you have Syon Park a pretty and old estate lake ........ but you have to duck as the planes land at Heathrow airport. Then there is Walthamstow ......... man this is ugly. Lastly there is the Thames (no flyfishing, all coarse) and the Wandle which has lots of fly life and fishing.

So some questions:
Where, roughly, are you planning to live
Are you going to drive
Are you looking to fish reasonably local
Are you going to travel a bit
Also: on a budget, ok to spend a bit, don't care I want to fish and fish the best.

But join the Wandle Piscators for some good trips and PM me for any further details.

In summary the fishing is:
Small stocked waters - inside and around London
Small trout streams - 1 - 2hour drives from London
Reservoirs - 1 hour drives from London

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Carl

http://www.wandlepiscators.net/
http://teiseangling.co.uk/index.htm

TOMORROW THE TRENT COULD BE YOUR FISHERY! When are YOU going to JOIN THE ANGLING TRUST?

Best advice of all is,

STAY AT HOME - DO NOT MOVE TO LONDON - SERIOUSLY!!!!!

Biased as I am, I can only echo what Pom and Carl have already said... if you're looking at South London, conventional wilderness fishing the Wandle ain't, but we've got concrete canyons aplenty, and some surprisingly rural stretches too.

Also some really great blokes (like Carl and others) who organise trips further afield to Wales, Austria, Slovenia: check out The Wandle Piscators for a flavour.

If you're looking more South East, the Cray is also on the way up, with its own Trout in the Town project, thanks to the guys at Thames 21 and the Wild Trout Trust.

Hope to meet you in due course!

Theo

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theopike.com
wandletrust.org
urbantrout.net