Details
POSTCODE: SY3 8HQ
The County Ground provides good fishing to the tip and pole for Roach, Dace, Bream, Chub and the odd Barbel. Good, comfortable pegs and easy access means this has been a popular competition venue in the past, with the Quarry now taking centre stage as match numbers have fallen in recent years. Excellent Pike fishing can be had on the lower section, near to the car park, through the winter months with the middle section providing some excellent sport through the summer to the roving Pike angler fishing lures. Some mild winter days can bring excellent results too. The upper limit offers a presently unlocked potential for the adventurous Barbel fisher.
There are a host of features along this long, sweeping right-hand bend in the river that forms the top part, or neck, of the large ‘Horseshoe’ which encircles the whole of the town centre. The County Ground Itself is also of a similar shape, the river carving round through 180 degrees before squeezing under the Welsh Bridge. When Sabrina is in flood, the County Ground can easily be covered with over 6 feet of floodwater, and likewise on the car park!
Roughly divided into two parts, The car park section and the upper/showground or Mountfields section. The dividing line between them is formed by the hedge and kissing gate passing to the left of the Cricket Pavilion and pitch (roughly the 3 o’clock position in the picture).
The upper section enters over a shallow, clean gravel bed with a shallow beach on the opposite bank. From there on it deepens on a long glide before entering the ‘bend’. Typically around 50 yards wide, it curves around to the County Ground with a variety of swims on offer. Once into the County Ground you will find firm, roomy platforms provided for the angler at regular intervals, however after floods the area may become slippery just ‘behind’ the platform. Please be careful.
As the river cuts around the bottom of the County Ground it deepens once more before passing alongside Smithfield Road and heading towards the Welsh Bridge. Angling below the car park is very limited.
Shrewsbury town centre is within easy reach just across the Frankwell footbridge and Riverside Shopping Centre. The town has plenty to offer. Over 700 shops, a host of high street names, shopping centres, pubs, hotels and B+B’s, restaurants, Tudor buildings, Museums, The Theatre, Sightseeing, in fact, plenty to offer someone wishing to spend a little more time here. NIGHT FISHING IS PROHIBITED