Forgotten Venues: Roundhay Park

Roundhay Park used to be one of Yorkshire's most iconic match venues. Sean Cameron, Darren Cox and Dave Thomas look back at its history, and question why it declined in popularity among match anglers. Have you ever fished here? We would love any memories or comments!

[@andybenstead7240]

Dave Thomas a world champion ,a brilliant angler , and a gentleman , fished at Naburn on the tidal Ouse with my dad and Dave would arrive and have a good old chinwag with my dad ,they don't make anglers like Dave Thomas anymore

[@danwenban501]

Nice one Tom would like to see more videos like this great to hear how the big names started out 👍

[@davemidgley2671]

Fished it almost daily for years in early '80's. Often walk round now & not seen anyone fishing in a long time. Remember watching Dave, usually on bend before boathouse & thinking, youre in wrong place mate, I was only a kid. Good times.

[@ukdm9116]

Any carp to ever come out of there Dave?

[@thebloyman]

Is Darren expecting rain?

[@johnblellock6283]

Was walking round last week with Polaroid’s there’s still huge sholes of red fins still good bream don’t know about anything els tho

[@pellowd]

It would be great to pair a video like this with you going and fishing it today to see what it's like

[@jonathansutcliffe-bland4655]

He'd probably get robbed 😐

[@grahamhill6479]

Does anyone recall when it was stocked with rainbow trout, probably back in in late 70's? I fished it the following day and managed to catch one.

[@daleHarrison93]

Nice place, any decent carp in their? i been tryin to find a quietish place what dont charge £20-30 a night with some decent carp in, only 10mins from me. cheers

[@gordonlinton3555]

Yes. There were originally some wild carp , caught my first carp as a kid there on roach tackle waaaaaay back.. They stocked some in the years after and they bred. Walking round last summer saw 4 or 5 basking near the surface off the dam wall. Steve Fearnley ( old timer of Leeds ASA & Yorks post, think that's who D Thomas meant when he said Ron Fearnley in the video ) has always reckoned it will hold the Yorks record. I know one guy that I see carp fishing it during summer ( he fishes it for pike during the winter ), has had 20-30lb fish. Been walking the dog round the lake for the last 10 years, surprised how few fish it. Regularly see big bream shoals down near the Island also.

[@ianjohnson214]

People fish it for Carp same one has come out 3 times this year in different pegs

[@garethhodgson1404]

Anyone remember fishing a Bubble Float for Fish on the top in Summer?!?

[@markhuckle1919]

Yes, at the boat house mainly, takes me back :-)

[@alansunter4048]

Used to fish it in my youth, on the far side is what was known as roach wall.Hell of a walk but worth it, roach ran to around a 1lb

[@Aaron.308]

There was a good bit of depth on the far side if I remember right. Roach and skimmers.

[@davidwrighton3914]

I fished it 3 times in 2017---just at the end of the wall where the canoes used to be---about 20 metres out on a small swimfeeder-under the tree--(-lots of weed to get through though0---Blanked once as it was freezing cold and on the other 2 occasions got about 8-9ib---mixed perch and roach up to about 10oz ----no walkers there as it is away from the footpath

[@fishwithivan8562]

one of my school teachers used to fish on wednesday matches called him howard robson brill angler

[@swisstony662]

whys Darren Cox got brolly up in house for ?😞

[@patrickwalker2509]

Needs decorating?

[@carolmurray7255]

He came home from pub and chucked his dinner up the wall ....as is traditionally done on Sundays before watching big daddy on box....

[@markwaterman8845]

His house roof was leaking .....

[@alfiekeyes1265]

The venue has totally changed now.

[@heyitsmetrousers4399]

The fishing’s free here now

[@bunnyblatter1]

Don’t think it’s in his house. Could be a trade show or something. Plenty talking in the back ground

[@dillanmaneny859]

anyone fish it lately ?

[@ianjohnson214]

Yes people having been fishing it over past couple of months

[@BlackCountryPiker]

Rumours of big pike there, any truth in that? I would imagine with a good head of bream and roach there it’s very viable

[@ryandigings7335]

Hi mate. we've spoke before on your video's. Can give you some info on this if you like in private?

[@BlackCountryPiker]

@@ryandigings7335 that’s very kind of you Ryan 👍. My sister in law lives in Leeds and took the in laws for a walk around here before lockdown. She’d mentioned seeing people fish it and I’d read up as much as I could on google and Facebook. Any info would be helpful on the off chance we might go up at some point. My email is [e-mail]

[@helheimbullies1122]

Hi mate, really late reply but there is a good head of pike in the up to 20lb but given the size of the water I reckon they will go bigger, I started fishing there myself recently and had some great luck for them

[@BlackCountryPiker]

@@helheimbullies1122 no worries, good luck 👍

[@ukdm9116]

Any carp to ever come out of roundhay?