Radley — Sandford Lane to Nuneham Railway Bridge (AOAA) ~3 miles

River level

The lowdown

• This is proper open-bank river fishing, so expect to walk, look and nick a swim rather than settle into numbered pegs.
• The stretch runs from Sandford Lane to Nuneham Railway Bridge, giving you around three miles of Thames bank to explore.
• The river is generally on the slower side here, with deeper swims mixed in with more comfortable glides and marginal vegetation.
• Keep an eye on the crease and the edges. Those slower margins and bits of cover are the sort of places coarse fish can tuck into.
• It’s a mixed coarse venue, with chub, roach, bream, perch and pike reported for the river venue.
• Trotting should be well worth a look where the flow is steady, especially when you can present a bait neatly along the crease.
• A feeder approach suits the deeper swims and slower Thames sections. Keep it tidy and let the river do a bit of the work.
• There’s enough variety to change things through the year: search the edges and cover when fish are close in, then look to deeper water when conditions push them off the margins.
• Sandford Lane is the stated access point and parking reference. Nuneham Railway Bridge gives you a clear downstream landmark.
• No permanent swim reservations are allowed, so be prepared to move on if another angler is already settled. That open-bank approach keeps things fair and flexible.

Methods: A nice all-round coarse setup: trot the steady flow for roach and chub, or switch to feeder work in the deeper swims for bream and other Thames staples. Fish the margins and cover when the river is carrying a bit of colour, and keep moving until you find signs of fish.

Access & tickets

Get an Alliance coarse-fishing permit through its online shop, and carry the official digital permit as proof of membership. The checked shop does not list a public one-day ticket.

Fish the club names

chub, roach, bream, perch, pike

Key rules

• Anglers must hold an official current digital A&OAA permit before fishing.
• An Environment Agency rod licence is also required.
• All fish must be returned live, apart from permitted livebait provisions.
• A maximum of three rods is allowed where covered by the relevant EA rod licence.
• Dogs must be kept on a lead on Alliance waters.
• Fires, littering, drugs and excessive drinking are prohibited.
• No swims may be permanently reserved.

Where it is