Does anyone fish the ingrebourne, are there any chub around or anything really? I always drive past it (near the optimist pub in upminster) and walk past it at the hornchurch country park and always wonder if it's worth a go- any one know of any good little spots or deep spots. I'm gonna go for a walk sunday and go on the hunt!

I've heard a afew rumours and stuff about big chub but does anyone know the best places- and how far does it go?

Theres fish in there for sure! Around the hacton lane area, in the summer at least, you can see shoals of small chub and roach with the occasional bigger roach popping out in the corners where the flow slows down and the water can get a fair bit deeper, perhaps 3 or 4 feet, if not more. The problem with most of it is that its overgrown completely to the point you cant effectively fish it. I have walked about a mile or maybe two of the river from the hacton lane play park down to the old wooden play area near tescos, we didnt catch anything but im no river angler! There are a few decent spots on it where other rivers join it and longer, weed free, sections but the majority of it is reedy or fast moving, very shallow water split up with deeper spots at corners and such. A lot of rubbish in there too like old bikes and bodies (there really was a body in there at one time if you remember the news headlines )

I dont know about big chub but i reckon you could find them up to a couple pound if you were *really* lucky but the average sized fish we used to catch as kids were roach and chub of a few ounces but ive seen bigger fish, perhaps getting on for 3/4 of a pound (0.75lb not 3-4lb!)

In the summer its well worth getting your polarized glasses on and going for a walk, the fish tend to stick to the far bank especially where you have a slight bend with the far bank having a deeper run of water. Spend 5 or so minutes watching and your guaranteed to see a shoal of fish if you look closely. If you park in the metal play area carpark (we always called it the metal park) and cross the road and go upstream you will see a lot more straight stretches of water but with a lot of reed. If you keep going there is a weir pool of some size that could be worth a bash and even further up there are decent looking stretches of straight, fairly slow and deep water. If i were to bet money on any stretch it would be there. You will know you are there when the path goes up a hill with the river to your left and trees to your right. There is a sewage/water pipe over the river and trees overhanding the far bank, thats the spot! Banks arent great there though!

Thanks for the info mate, might go have a look today.

Itll probably be pretty fast and coloured giving the rain. Its the same river that runs past dovers corner roundabout, so if you're off shopping you can generally guage the flow further down by glancing at it as you go over the red bridge to tescos.

Come to think of it we did fish there once, there were 4 of us though and we werent paticularly skilled, but there was a nice run of weed with a clear gravel patch down the middle and something big swam through there! Easily a few pounds if not more so it werent no roach! Could easily have been a chub.

Unfortunately the reeds have really taken over though but i dont think anyone would say anything if you went over and cleared a patch to fish. Theres a gap in the fence on the red bridge where you can walk in alongside the river.

Theres also another spot where we saw a load of fish, on the small roundabout where tescos is there is a path just past the ferry lane exit, i think theres a bench there. If you follow that path it takes you along the river (though its a long way down and you cant fish it) and at the end the river widens and a few years back there were probably 10-15 decent roach or chub there feeding on the bread we were chucking in. It was amazing that such a small river could get that wide and support fish of that size and quantity. doesnt help much for catching them as the river is about 15ft or more down but you might be able to get an idea of the fish that inhabit that stretch. This was in the summer though and i think the reeds may be overgrown now.

the ingrebourne has barbel in there ! i have seen quite fair size ones there.
My wifes family lived (until 2 years ago) back garden back onto the river.
But i amnot shure if it is possibel to fish it. the depth is low and the fish would see yu comeing a mile away. So in real terms except in the winter its not really fishable ! not in Harold wood area.
look for the bridge opposite tylers common on the rail side (harold wood).
this could be an area to fish. (harold park area ) harold court road could be fishable where the bridge goes over the river... the otherside of the road is offcourse Tylers common...(sort of) Its free !!!!!! nobody owns any part of the river as far as i know...

Went over the Ingrebourne today further upstream than the Hacton Lane area and had a blinding afternoon manging to extract 7 chub including 4 net jobs, largest below. Beware though you need an extending landing net handle (which i didnt) lucky my son came over and scrambled down the bank to net 2 of em or i would have struggled.
Dunno about barbel in there the most bizarre capture i have seen was by a kid with a net who scooped out a 1oz brown trout fron the weir that Shads mentioned, near Hacton Lane!

Nice one mate- well done. Will defiantly have a butchers now!

If you don't judge your fishing by size and numbers there plenty of fish in this river. You would also be surprised by how many other small streams hold uncaught fish.

Wow, didnt expect you to do that well!! Ill have to use that as a reason to get some exercise i think!

Nice catches, interesting to know about the trout to That was unexpected!

Shocked me as well only expecting the usual fish up to 3ozs and made the schoolboy error of not havin my landing net set up when hooked into the first dog
Great news is that out of the 7 fish I reckon 5 of em were from different year classes so they are breeding really well and as long as some numpty on the Bates ind est dont release any noxious substances into the river its looking good for the future.

Nice to know they are breeding, i think its a pretty difficult river to live in as a fish, in the summer it can get very low, almost cutting the deeper pools off from each other with only an inch of water between them and in the winter it can easily flood the fields and have all sorts flowing through it. Not to mention the chemicals that end up in there and then the bird sanctuary area which no doubt holds lots of herons and such!

good news though

Guys,

Sorry to seem a bit dim but where exactly is this river?

Gaz

If you look on google maps and type in hacton lane, it should pinpoint you right on the bridge that goes over the river.

It runs through hornchurch country park right out to the thames i believe near rainham and goes right up into upminster. You can park in the country park near the tescos in hornchurch and walk down the hill towards the metal play park and you'll walk right along it. Or park in the play park at hacton lane and its about 20 yards away! If you park there just exit the carpark and walk towards the road bridge and look down

It might not look like much, in fact, it *doesnt* look like much, under hte bridge its about two inches deep, but follow it downstream or upstream and you'll see its potential!

Im not a river person but its my favourite little river as i fished it as a kid and virtually never failed! Only small stuff back then but it made me happy enough!

i have been doing a bit of scouting on the river , not many fish to report near tesco's but maybe they are just hard to see,although did see 1 fish probably bout 6lbs that slipped into the depths before i could get a good look at it ,i rekon it was a barble or chub but cant say for sure as only caught a glimpse of back half of the fish.

had a look near hacton lane and saw plenty of worn banks with line and floats in trees looks like the locals have been getting a bit of action ,and did see plenty of chub and small fish darting about the sandy bottom.

i really liked the look of the place and rekon its a hidden gem.

The funy thing is, a few years back i was fishing near tescos, just inside the bit between the old A13 road and the little bridge that comes off the big roundabout, and i swear i saw a barble... I can be sure either but it didnt look like a chub and it was big!