This time of the year the roach and bream are moving off the tidal stretches to their winter holding grounds in the dykes and boat yards. On the River Ant they move above Barton Board in to Neatistead Dyke which is free fishing, although this can be a bit cramped as it is limited in space. Maggot is the main bait for the roach and bream with castor picking up the bigger fish. Worm can pick up some very big perch to over 3lb from right under your feet, as they hold round your keepnet. This spot can hold some nice pike as their is lots of food fish to hold them.

Barton Staithe is a good spot to try for some nice size pike. It is free fishing and holds a good number of fish. Fishing from the bank a dead bait fished at distance is the best tactic as most of the fish are laying up after feeding in the yards, which are private, and not at there hungriest so use a static bait to tempt them.

Dilham Staithe by the bridge is another free spot. Right at the top the fish can't get any further, making it a great spot. Shelted in a cut you miss the worst of the weather. This spot is best fished on maggot and castor for the silver fish. Worm or small live baits working best for the perch. Fish 6lb line to a size 4 or 6 hook and a small bob float. Do not use a wire trace for parch as they do not take very well on wire.

Don’t worry about pike on this rig as they can shake a small hook in a couple of days. This is a good spot for pike, best fished on live bait as most are here on a feeding spell and will drop back down when they have fed.

The coal yard at Stalham is the best free spot, at the back of Richardson boat yard with parking at the side of the water. A nice change best fished the same as Dilham.

Ground bait on the River Ant at this time of the year is a good holding tactic as the water is sometimes clear. The best is a dark lake type with a high hemp content to make it active, or you can add a bit of crushed hemp to make it active.

In October the fish start to move up stream to Horning and Wroxham to avoid the salt tides. Horning fishes well in early autumn on the main river. Stick float with maggot castor or hemp and tares the top bait for the roach. The bream respond best on the ground bait feeder with corn or pellet mixed in on a night time. Heavy baiting will help to hold them so a large bag is possible with the odd big tench possible. As it get colder the fish go in to the boat yards.

Salhouse Island is the top spot. Fishing on to the main river it hold all sorts.

Big perch round your feet, big bream on a night time, with some very big river carp to over 30lb.

Top bait lob worm or small live bait for perch, maggot & castor for roach with worm or corn on night time for the bream.

Wroxham with all of it's boat yards it is a haven for silver fish seeking shelter from the salt and cold water in the main river, as the yards hold a more even temperature. Fishing between the two bridges can be very good when the water is coloured, with big roach, bream and some very big perch being the main species, with a few big tench showing after dark. All the bread being fed to the ducks attracts a lot of small fish which attracts the pike and perch. Live bait and worms work well for the perch with deads working best for the bigger pike.

Belaugh is another good spot for some autumn sport with some good roach and bream fishing to be had. This spot holds some fun pikeing with a lot of small fish and a few big female pike after Christmas.

Coltishall has a nice stretch of bank which is easily accessible and can have some nice autumn sport. By the pubs is the home for some of the biggest perch on the river with fish to over 5lb caught this year.

Horstead Mill is a lovely pool with a lot of different species and some big brown trout to 4lb a possibility.

In the summer the fish move on to all parts of the river. Ant Mouth has a good head of bream to 8lb which respond well to feeder tactics. Worm, maggot and corn are the best bait fish with a 14 or 16 hook to a 44g open end feeder with a river or bream ground bait.

Ant Mouth to How Hill has a good head of bream and roach. The roach respond well to maggot and the bigger fish coming to caster fished on an 18 hook or two maggots on a 14 or 16. The stick float or pole working best.

How Hill to Irstead Staithe, has always been a hot spot for bream on a night time as Barton Broad narrows, funnelling all the fish past you. Fish at night on feeder with worm and maggot to get the best results.

Turkey Broad has a good head of fish mainly roach and rudd.

Neatishead can be good for roach and perch but only on a evening as in day time this is a turning basin and very busy.

Barton Broad has a very good head of rudd around the margins with good roach and bream in deeper water.

Fish on the waggler with 3lb line to a 16 hook with maggot and castor for some good sport. The drop off between the posts holds pike waiting for fish to pass over them from the shallow water. Lures which work down to 4 to 6 feet fished from shallow to deep water work well.

Up stream to Wayford has lots of small spots to fish with roach and pike taking shelter under the trees which line the river. Wayford to Dilham is the same but the narrowness of the river makes it hard to fish in day time.

Sutton Broad is a lovely place to fish in late June. There are a lot of swallow tail butterflies working the reeds. There is a good head of fish with some good bream on the broad. Pikeing to be had on surface lures round the margins or on wobbled dead baits like smelt or roach.

Thurne Mouth to Ant Mouth has some of the best day time fishing on the river as it has colour all of the time. Fish on the feeder to catch bream. Chopped worm works well or on the stick float with maggot, castor or hemp and tares to catch the roach.

South Walsham Broad has some of the biggest bream with fish to double figures possible. Best fished at night with a big bait like worm or corn fished over a big bed of breadcrumb ground bait. Ranworth fishes as South Walsham. A good spot for bream at night especially when the fish move from Ranworth Broad on to the river to feed after dark.

Horning has a lot of species with the river turning up some nice tench to 12lb after dark. It has a good head of bream which feed day or night and lots of roach. The entrance to the dykes hold a good number of pike at this time of the year, waiting for the smaller fish to come out of the dykes to feed on the river at night.

Salhouse is one of the best spots on the river to catch a carp with fish to 35lb. Most caught by accident by bream anglers fishing at night over big beds of breadcrumb and pellets. It has a good head of roach and a very good head of perch with most fish over 1.5lb up, to 3.5lb. Best fished on lob worm or small live bait. Fish a size 4 or 6 hook to 6lb line and a small bob float.

Wroxham with all of the people feeding the ducks bread is a good spot for roach and bream, and as most of the cottages have fishermen all season who put ground bait in, it attracts a lot of fish with some good tench at night. With all of the small fish, it holds a good head of pike. Try a lure to catch them as they have learned to catch the small fish as they are put back.

Colitishall Common has the biggest perch on the river with fish over 5lb. Lob worm or small lives are the best baits to catch them. Horstead Mill fishes well in the summer months as the water is well oxygenated with some good trout to 4lb. A nice change.

The spot next to the bridge is a small spot best suited to two anglers the bridge holds lots of roach and perch with some very big resident pike.

Our top tips for fishing for the roach would be with an open ended feeder filled with a light ground bait with hemp and castor mixed in it. The best hook bait would be red maggot on a size 16 hook with a 2.6lb hook length to a 3lb main line. Fish back under the bridge and let the flow carry the ground bait down stream and it will build the swim as you fish. If you are getting lots of small perch try a piece of corn on the hook and you should start catching more roach.

If you want to target the perch, chopped worm in the feeder and a worm on a size 14 hook with a 4lb hook link to 5lb main line. You need to fish heavier for them as there can be some vey big perch under there. We have had them to 4lb 6oz from this spot. Drop shotting works well here too.

If you want to fish this spot for the pike a simple running ledger rig works well, baited with a sea dead bait like mackerel. Fish a 15lb mainline and a set of size 8 snap tackle close to the bridge stanchions.

There is a little less flow here and you can fish a waggler float along here. If you fish over depth and let the bait drag along the bottom you can catch bream especially in the evening or early morning. Use a size 14 or 16 hook with worm maggot or corn, and fish half way across the river. Every couple of casts chuck a small golf ball size ball of ground bait in on the same spot that you are fishing. This will help attract more fish to the spot. It is worth trying close to the bank with a lob worm occasionally to see if the perch are patrolling close to the edge.

The pike are best fished for here with a lure as there can be a lot of boat traffic making it impractical to fish a float fished bait for them. Try a floating lure that only dives down to 3 or 4 feet as this will avoid the snags that are on the bottom. Jointed ones about 4 or 5 inches work well. Fish a 15lb mainline with a wire trace.

This spot is private to the cottages from the bank but the boat yard and the pub side is fishable from a boat.

This spot has the deepest water in Wroxham. Day time fishing can be hard due to the high boat traffic. It is best fished in the evening when the boats have slowed down. We find that it is best fished in the feeder with a dark river ground bait in a open ended feeder, mixed a little stiff so that it reaches the bottom before it breaks down. Use a 40g feeder to hold bottom. Fish a size 16 hook and a 6lb line to a 4lb bottom. Early season it will have some good bream shoals as well as roach and perch. Good baits include maggot worm castor and corn.

Pike fishing is best done on a ledged dead bait rig with a back lead to sink the line and keep it away from the boat traffic. Use sea dead bait like a small mackerel or smelt. For best results use a 15lb line and a size 8 snap tackle. Lures that dive down to 2+ meters are best as well as spoons. Perch pattern lures and silver spoons work well here.

This covers the small broad and the two dykes that run off it the same applies to the rest of the dykes in Wroxham.

This spot holds good shoals of Roach Rudd and skimmer bream. Best fished on the float as it is still water and has no flow. Use maggot with sweet corn for the bigger fish. We normally use a 3BB float 18 hook with a 4lb line to a 3lb bottom and fish on or near the bottom, or use a pole with a small float 3lb line and a 2.6lb bottom with an 18 hook. Use a lake type ground bait with a few maggots mixed in the ground bait as an extra attractant. Add it to the swim after every forth of fifth fish, in a small ball the size of golf ball to help hold the fish in the swim. If the water is clear feed two spots so you can alternate them and this will let the fish settle and hold them in your swim longer.

If you want to fish for the perch try fishing the float with a section of lob worm on a size 14 hook and 3 or 4lb line fished straight through to the hook

There is a small spot that has bank access and a slipway on the broad by Wroxham Sailing Club. A small charge is made to use the slipway and for car parking.

Feeder fishing is by far the most productive way of fishing here as you need to fish at distance for the bream, about 35-40 yards.

Evening through to early morning is the best time.

Use a crumb feeder with a light ground bait mix with corn mixed into it. Try not to put castor or maggot in the mix as there can be lots of eels in this spot. A cage feeder of 30g is normally fine here. Use a 4lb mainline to 3lb bottom with a 14 or 16 hook. Don't fish too light as there has been tench from this spot in the last couple of years, the biggest going to 12.2oz. Sweetcorn works well on the hook for the bream, with maggot and castor for the smaller fish.