Gloucester and Sharpness Canal

The Gloucester and Sharpness Canal is exactly that: a canal, not a handful of stocked lakes with a fishery gate. The full waterway runs for 16.5 miles between Gloucester and Sharpness, with the Canal & River Trust as navigation authority. For this guide, though, the venue is the season-ticket-controlled towpath length from Monk Meadow to the former railway bridge at Purton Lower.

• 1 lake: Monk Meadow to the former railway bridge at Purton Lower
• Fish: bream, roach, pike, perch, zander
• Tickets from: Season-ticket listing range; category prices require confirmation — £22–£30
• Find it: Gloucester · GL2 5LE

Based on how each lake is set up — not a ranking.

The Gloucester and Sharpness Canal is exactly that: a canal, not a handful of stocked lakes with a fishery gate. The full waterway runs for 16.5 miles between Gloucester and Sharpness, with the Canal & River Trust as navigation authority. For this guide, though, the venue is the season-ticket-controlled towpath length from Monk Meadow to the former railway bridge at Purton Lower. That boundary matters more than the canal’s headline length when you’re sorting out where to fish.

There’s a cracking spread of coarse fish to get interested in. Bream and skimmers feature in Angling Trust competition reports, and roach are also confirmed in the canal. Reported predator catches include pike, perch and zander. That gives the water a broader appeal than a single-species venue, whether your interest is silver fish or predators. There are no checked stock weights or catch guarantees here, so don’t turn up expecting a promised lump or an automatic PB.

Getting the permission bob on is the first job. Lobbys Tackle sells the Gloucester Canal Season Ticket, which authorises rod-and-line coarse fishing on the specified towpath length. Fishing rights beyond the former railway bridge at Purton Lower belong to the Dockers Club at Sharpness. In other words, following the canal farther south doesn’t mean your ticket follows you. Keep the permit boundary in mind rather than treating the whole Gloucester-to-Sharpness waterway as one ticketed venue.

Buying online still involves a little faff before you reach the bank. You need a Lobbys Tackle account, and the ticket must be collected in store. Purchasers provide their name, telephone number, address and email for the club, then complete the remaining permit-book details before fishing. The recently listed price range is £22–£30, but the individual ticket categories need confirming. No reliable current day-ticket price is confirmed, so a casual one-off session needs a phone call rather than an assumption.

Access needs the same bit of care. The supplied location points to the canal at Hempsted, near Gloucester, rather than a single fishery entrance. GL2 5LE was used for a fishing-event access location in 2016; it isn’t a confirmed present-day arrival point for every session. Think towpath fishing, not a lakeside reception setup. Keep public access clear, including if you’re considering a bivvy, and check the managing club’s position before planning any night fishing.

Finally, pick your fishing position with the navigation rules in mind. Lock chambers are out, and you must stay at least 25 metres from lock approaches, water points and swing or lifting bridges. Fishing near overhead powerlines is prohibited too. An Environment Agency rod licence is required from age 13, separately from the fishing permission. For ticket questions, Lobbys Tackle’s published help number is the fishery—a useful call before loading the gear.

Good background reading. Most of it is a few years old, so treat it as a starting point and ask on the day.

Videos linked by the fishery

• Our read

  Checked Sept '26 — “Proper canal fishing rather than a lake complex, with bream, roach and predators all in the mix. The Gloucester Canal Season Ticket covers towpath coarse fishing from Monk Meadow to the former railway bridge at Purton Lower—not the whole canal.”

This is our own summary of recurring public feedback and the venue details we checked, not a copied customer review or a promise you’ll catch. Feedback changes, so we keep it separate from the Tackle Index score.