The snow we had at the end of last week unsurprisingly slowed down the barbel fishing on the Royalty, particularly on Saturday when conditions were difficult to say the least. Of the barbel reported that day the largest weighed 7lbs and was caught by John Papadopoulos of New Milton on rolling meat. Anglers fishing the slacks made reasonable catches of silver fish although bites weren't exactly frequent. By Sunday the water temperature had stabilised and even started to creep up again as the day wore on. The best barbel reported weighed 15lbs 2oz and was a new PB for Roger Smallbones from Trammels on rolling meat. Other barbel reported since the last report include a lovely 12lb 2oz barbel taken by Eddy Widdup from Trammels on rolling meat, the same tactics used by John Papadopoules to take a nice barbel weighing 8lbs 2oz.
The weather continues to remain mild and the water temperature is still rising. Most fish continue to respond best to a moving bait with luncheon meat proving the most successful over the last week. With temperatures rising it may well be worth tweaking this method and trying rolling pellets in the last week of the season.
