Davis Tackle

Welcome to the latest Royalty Report which was delayed somewhat as I have been away for a weeks stillwater gudgeon fishing and so am only now getting up to speed with what has been happening on the Hampshire Avon at Christchurch. Incidently I spent the whole week getting soaked with torrential rain and high winds and so expected to return to a refreshed river that had benefitted from such a lot of rain. As we wended our way back through Ross on Wye, around Marlborough and down on towards Salisbury in decidedly wet conditions it was something of a shock to find Christchurch bathed in glorious sunshine which, apparently, had been the case for most of the week. Typical!

On learning of the conditions, I was pleasantly surprised to be informed that the fishing had continued to be very rewarding with lots of barbel, chub and bream being reported from around the fishery. Indeed, if anything, the barbel fishing had actually improved with several fish reported over 14lbs, including a seasons best of 14lb 12oz caught from the Parlour by either Mr Gowler or one of his party (We have been promised a photo so hopefully we will also get the name of the captor at the same time). Probably the best overall catch fell to John McGough who had thirteen barbel in a session which incuded a couple of doubles. John was fishing with his mate Phil Nixon who also managed a double or two from the same area. Other notable barbel landed included a 14lb 1oz barbel from the Roadbridge which was caught by Kevin Rockhill on a halibut pellet and a 14lb 10oz specimen caught on pellet from Fiddlers by Mr Ronbrooke of Milford on Sea.

I mentioned in the last report the stunning improvement in the quality of the fishing in the Parlour which has resulted from the Fishery Management reverting to the traditional weed cutting pattern. Well not only has it continued to produce double figure barbel after double figure barbel but it has thrown up some superb chub fishing, along with some cracking sea trout and carp. Someone actually came into the shop yesterday and said that they didn't think there were as many chub in the whole of the Royalty as they had just seen in the Parlour! Amongst them apparently are several that look over 6lbs with a couple that, in the words of those who have seen them,dwarf the others. Two anglers that enjoyed their Parlour session were David Self-Pierson and James Russell, both landing doubles, one of 10lb 9oz, the other 11lb 14oz.

Richard Booty also had a couple of barbel from the Parlour, best 12lb 4oz although he reported watching a dozen good barbel mooching around! Likewise Lord Jez Brown and his Knight-errant Danny Hannibuss had a good session with Jez managing a brace weighing 12lb 7oz and 13lb 9oz whilst Danny landed a brace of 10lb 14oz and 8lb 2oz. I am expecting photo's from the gallant pair and will hopefully be able to include them in the next report. Another angler who had a great session in the Parlour was Mr Drinkwater who fished 6mm pellet over hemp and groundbait. He landed six barbel to 11lb 12oz along with a 4lb chub.

Martin and Paul Kirkpatrick from Reading had a great couple of days fishing the Parlour and the Compound with Martin landing the best fish of the trip from the Parlour at 13lb 4oz on luncheon meat. Martin also had a 12lb 2oz barbel from the Parlour. Paul landed double figure barbel of 10lb 14oz & 10lb 2oz on meat as well as chub of 5lb 2oz and 46lb 4oz and a 6lb 12oz bream.

Royalty regular Nick Gulliver took his son Ed for a session after the barbel in the Parlour and Ed managed to outshine his father landing his first ever barbel - & new PB  - weighing 12lb 10oz. On seeing the photo most people will notice the justifiably huge grin on Ed's face. Personally I couldn't help but notice that he is wearing his Davis Tackle T-shirt; he'll go far that lad!

On the main river there are still good shoals of barbel around Watersmeet, Stumps, Pipes and Fiddlers with smaller groups of barbel spread around the fishery. Martin Kilpatrick landed a 12lb 2oz barbel from the Top Weir on a pellet whilst Ken Thompson of Highcliffe landed three barbel to 11lb from the Stumps using bloodworm boilies and halibut pellets. Ken also had five barbel from the same swim the week before although his best on that occasion went 9lb 10oz. Rob Darwin had a nice catch from the Pipes taking three barbel weighing 13lb, 11lb and 7lb, the former being a new PB. Mick Burbridge and Greig Redmond both landed doubles on their trip down with Mick's weighing 10lb 6oz and just beating the 10 pounder landed by Greg.

Royalty regulars and all round good eggs Jeff Edisbury and his long suffering partner Cat were down from Bright*n for a few days fishing and managed a couple of barbel despite the blazing sunshine and their general heat induced apathy.

Another regular, Stuart Andrews fished well away from the crowds and was rewarded with a 10lb 2oz beauty. Great photo as well!

Other Royalty regulars whose names consistantly crop up in these reports are brothers Ahmed and Khalid Salem who have again been amongst the fish recently with Khalid landing doubles of 10lb 3oz and 12lb exactly and Ahmed with an 11lb 3oz example.

 Craig Scattergood, who many of you will recognise from his time on work experience in Davis Tackle, landed a new pb from the Top Stile at 11lb 9oz. Unfortunately the picture isn't the greatest as it was taken on a mobile phone when the light was fading fast. I doubt Craig was too upset as a few days later he upped his pb to 12lb 2oz with a really good looking barbel from the Pipes which he got a cracking photo of. Nice one Craig.

Another angler who did his work experience with us was Jack Pollard who, despite being primarily a stillwater carp angler, spent a session on the Royalty and landed a six pound chub along with his first ever barbel.

Julie Horsley from Nottinghamshire fished upstream of the Pipes using a Mainline Pulse mini boilie wrapped in Pulse paste to temp this 10lb barbel.

Pete Cronin popped over from Bournemouth to fish the Pipes where he landed barbel of 10lb 7oz and 5lb 5oz. Both fish fell to ledgered pellet. Stuart Holden, a R&DAA member from Gillingham, Dorset fished Fiddlers and landed three Bream to 6lb, four Chub to 3lb, one Eel about 2lb and four Barbel with the best going 12lb 4oz. All fish were caught on pellet and trundling meat. Stuart described his session as a great afternoon and evening.

It has not only been the barbel that have been coming out on the Royalty with bream to just over 8lbs being reported as well as plenty of perch in the 2-3lb bracket. Trevor James fished the House Pool with hair rigged sweetcorn and landed a cracking 21lb 2oz mirror carp. Mark Nash fished the mouth of the Little Weir and was rewarded with a lovely roach weighing 2lb 2oz. It is great to see that the roach are actually making something of a comeback on the Royalty and lets hope we see more fish of the quality of Marks specimen as the season wears on.

Bradley Evans, son of Royalty View guest house owner Mel Evans, fished for perch above the Boathouse and landed a 3lb beauty. Great photo Bradders! but get your hair cut for gawds sake.

All in all, sport on the Royalty has been excellent. Let's hope it continues!