It doesn't seem five minutes since I last sat down, scratched my head and tried to put words to the pictures we have been sent, the catches that have been reported and the tales we have been told in the shop and over a pint in the local pub. Apologies if this report is somewhat brief but as soon as I have this finished it I will be setting off for my annual weeks gudgeon fishing near Ross on Wye.
The barbel fishing over the last week or so has had some people singing from the roof tops whilst others haven't been able to buy a bite! The best barbel of the season was landed by Ron Brook who freelined a pellet in the House Pool and landed a cracking fish weighing 15lb 2oz. Unfortunately Ron had a problem with his camera and so had to resort to his phone to record a picture. I've seen this and Ron is trying to get a copy of it for the next report.
Another angler left with a smile on his face was Scott Mosley who, over a couple of days fishing with his mate Arran Morgan, managed to land chub to 4lb 2oz as well as barbel of 7lb and a magnificent specimen weighing 14lb 2oz a new pb for Scott by some margin! Arran also got amongst the barbel with fish of 4lb, 7lb and 9lb 12oz. Between them they also shared a haul of 15 bream, all over 7lb in weight.
Looking through the reports I see that the Throop bigwigs have been once again sneaking back onto the Royalty for a bit of action with Fishery Manager Chris Allport landing five bream to 8lb 4oz and two barbel, best 6lb 8oz from Telegraphs, whilst "Happy" Brian Willson managed to land a fantastic 12lb 12oz barbel from around Mugs Hole.
Can't you just see the joy etched across the face of the georgious little fun bundle that is known as Brian Willson, RDAA Bailiff?
Royalty regular Ken Thomson has been having a fair bit of success concentarting on the upper sections of the Fishery and was finally rewarded with a superb 13lb barbel. Interestingly he reported seeing over a dozen barbel moving about in his swim as he was carefully baiting it up.
It was great to see an old face back down fishing the Royalty when Chris King came down for a session which culminated in him landing a 10lb 2oz barbel from near the Nursery.
Other reports we have receieved include Mark Short who landed a 7lb barbel as well as a couple of chub including a fantastic specimen weighing 6lb 12oz. Keith Quinlan had a nice bag including a 7lb barbel, a 5lb chub and a 6lb 8oz bream.Keith also told us that he had landed a brace of barbel weighing 9lb and 10lb 3oz earlier in the season which I had missed off the report, sorry about that.
Ahmed Salem had three barbel out which, to be honest, wasn't a surprise as he works hard for his fish and certainly earns his fish. What was a surprise was that none of them were doubles as they weighed 3lb, 5lb and 9lb 11oz. Alan Rexstrew had a nice brace of barbel weighing 6lb 9oz and 6lb 7oz along with a 5lb 9oz chub from Trammels.
Pawel Blaszczyk was pleased to land barbel to 6lb 9oz as well as a cracking chub of 5lb 9oz.
Local angler Jed Place was twenty four hours away from doing an amazing "double double" when he landed an 11lb 8oz barbel from the Compound on July 3rd. Why a double double? well if any of you have ever looked at some of the old classic pictures displayed in Davis Tackle whilst waiting to be served you may have noticed this picture:-
If you look carefully in the top left corner you will see that Jed landed his previous Royalty PB on July 4th. 1974. Well 36 years and 364 days later he has managed to equal this with another 11lb 8oz specimen. Why he couldn't wait another 24 hours to make a great story brilliant is beyond me!
Earlier in the season Jed was fishing with his great friend Richard Allingham who landed his first ever barbel from the Compound at 4lb so I just had to include the picture. Well done Rich!
To bring to a close the Jed chapter of this report I couldn't resist including three shots from the first week when Jed was fishing with his two brothers Chris and Andy. You may have wondered why I went on about the torrential rain at the start of the season, well perhaps these pictures of Jed's brothers attempting to fish might help explain why.
In the rush to get this report out I may have inadvertantly missed out a catch or two for which I apologise in advance. Any missed will be included in the next report when I get back from my fishing trip.
Cheers