Davis Tackle

After what seems like weeks since we had any rain we have finally had a couple of days of rain which have raised the river levels slightly and finally provided some colour in the water after a Summer of low, clear conditions. Unfortunately this has coincided with the weed dying and breaking off resulting in testing fishing conditions on occasions. Anglers who have opted to minimise this problem by trotting for the barbel have been well rewarded with fish to over 11lbs taken on the float, along with some cracking chub to 5lb 15oz and perch to around 3lbs. 

Prior to this the barbel fishing was somewhat inconsistent with fishing becoming increasingly hard to tempt during the day, only really coming on the feed during the last couple of hours when the light levels dropped. Pellet proved a slow bait especially in the larger sizes and small baits were the order of the day with maggot and caster being the most successful options. The new Pallatrax Bloodworm boilies were the exception with a number of barbel to over 16lbs and carp to 20lbs falling for this bait fished in the smaller 14mm size.

One angler who managed to beat the conditions was Richard Booty who landed the biggest reported barbel from the Royalty this season at 16lb 2oz. Congratulations from all at Davis Tackle!

Plenty of double figure barbel have been reported since the last report with the stretch from Watersmeet, through the Pipes, down Greenbanks to Fiddlers has continued to provide the best sport with barbel. It seems that the reduced flows we have experienced all Summer have held the barbel below Watersmeet, where both sections of the river re-join after splitting at the Great Weir. Having said that there have been some cracking specimens reported from the Compound and Parlour, albeit not in great numbers. Likewise the Telegraphs and Roadbridge have also produced some real lumps  between them.

Local angler Stu Andrews, after 8years of trying and having 7 x 13lb+ fish along the way,finally cracked the 14lb barrier with a fish of 14.15. He told us that "funnily it was my old friend which you may remember i had back in June at 13.10, it was the broken/repaired tail fish, it was as fat as a pig obviously been stacking on the weight last couple of months down there and from what I hear not just that fish a lot of the big ones have, this fish will def go 15lb+ by the winter my scales were filickering between 14.15 and 15 so should go 15 easily."

 Please click on the images below to enlarge

Another unusual brace was taken by Richard Parkes who managed a lovely barbel weighing 14lbs 6oz along with one of the resident Royalty koi carp that weighed 17lb 7oz. Both fish came from the area of the Piles.

The perch fishing has continued to throw up plenty of specimens weighing over 3lbs, although none have beaten the 4lb 12oz specimen reported earlier in the year.

The biggest carp reported since the last Royalty update was caught by young Liam Fox who was fishing with Ed Gulliver and his father Nick. Apparently Liams father is a keen carp angler who I understand has never landed a 20lb plus river carp. Well Liam managed it, taking a 20lb 9oz common carp from the Pipes on a bloodworm boilie. Unfortunately the photo isn't very good, having been taken on a mobile phone at last knockings, but it is still definately worth including in this report. Nice one Liam!

Not to be outdone Nick himself has had a new PB off the Royalty, landing a 16lb 1oz barbel from the Stumps at last knockings. This is the second largest reported barbel from the fishery this year and it fell to ledgered bloodworm boilie.

The roach and dace fishing has offered consistent sport throughout the last couple of months, although the recent colder nights has slowed sport down somewhat. There are still plenty to be found below the Little Weir, particularly behind the Organics Building. A few anglers enjoyed excellent sport with large dace in Johnsons recently but, as mentioned earlier this sport has dried up somewhat.

The Royalty opened up for pike fishing on October 1^st. and whilst there have been plenty of doubles taken, none over 20lbs have been taken yet to the best of my knowledge. Livebaiting has probably been the most successful method so far but plenty of good fish have fallen to both lures and deadbaits.

Hotspots have been the Piles, Railway and House Pool. As yet the mild weather has meant that the weed has not yet died off in the lagoon off the Clockhouse making fishing this area somewhat awkward. Mind you, water flows have been so reduced that the pike have not felt the need to get out of what would normally be heavy Autumn flows on the main river!

Special mention should go to Cat (for those of you who don't know, Cat is the significantly better half of the reprobate known as Jeff Edisbury and who occasionally accompanies him down to fish the Royalty. She would fish here more often if Jeff didn't get so upset at being outfished every time she comes to Christchurch!) who, on finding herself down on the Royalty with conditions far from ideal for barbel fishing, decided to try her hand at pike fishing. Unsurprisingly she outfished Jeff, managing a brace of pike the best of which went 11lb 6oz.

Another individual who deserves a special mention is Craig Scattergood who many of you would have met last month when he spent two weeks on work experience at Davis Tackle. Craig not only proved a great success in the shop but he also turned out to be pretty handy at fishing as well. During a period when anglers were moaning that conditions were pretty tough he went fishing after work and managed to catch three barbel in a single session. Whilst this is impressive enough it should also be pointed out that he hadn't ever fished the Royalty before! Congratulations and thanks go to Craig in equal measure.