The Royalty Fishery

[chris k]

Hi guys,
I'm new to barbel fishing and I've decided to give it a go. My to nearest waters are the Royalty and Itchen. I plan to fish the royalty this saturday, however ive been told it gets busy
at the weekend. What I want to know is it too busy to even bother at the weekend ??? I looked at the free section of the itchen but seems to be a lot of public walking around, which I dont fancy as I will be by myself.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

There is nothing wrong with the free stretch of the Itchen below Gator's Mill, even with members of the public around it is still perfectly safe to fish there alone.

I think some decent Barbel have come out of that venue as well in the last year or two.

As for the Royalty I always find it best to fish there mid week to avoid the crowds and I never fish there during school holiday periods either.

 

[graham472]

Be at Davis tackle before it opens at 7.30am to avoid the rush.Does get busy at this time of year due to traditional holiday weeks.You could allways think about Throop fishery.Not that far from the Royalty and much more river to fish.Tickets from Davis tackle or Christchurch tackle.

 

[Judas Priest]

Throop has a bigger diversity of available water and much more to go at. Tickets as has already been posted.
In this weather I would park at School House and walk downstream right hand bank. There's some lovely swims down there although a bit of a walk.

 

[Chris Hammond ( RSPB ACA PAC}]

Throop has a bigger diversity of available water and much more to go at. Tickets as has already been posted.
In this weather I would park at School House and walk downstream right hand bank. There's some lovely swims down there although a bit of a walk.

I always liked the Blackwater bit in summer. (I think that's what the locals called that beat?) I used to park up on the layby on the dual carriageway.) There's an old concrete pipe outfall somewhere near the twin trunk tree that you walk through. Whenever I visited there that particular spot was always alive with big chub. I photographed a nice 11lb barbel just up river from there a few years back for a lad who had no camera with him too.

Mind you, it must be ten years or more since I fished there. It's probably completely different now.

 

[chris k]

Cheers guys, I'm leaning towards the Itchen or Throop. Does the Throop get too busy at the weekend or is it not too bad ??

 

[Judas Priest]

Not overcrowded at all except around the access points. Look downstream of the school house bend area and there's plenty of space. Personally I'd travel light and roam around.

I'd look for weed, which isn't a problem on there, and the fish will be under or very near to it, and don't assume the fish are all on the shallower areas.

Don't get me wrong, the Royalty has some superb fish of all species but it does get busy at this time of the year and the chance to move swims is quite limited unless you go down towards the road bridge area. I like the Royalty for its history and the chance to fish swims I've read about since being a child, plus my mate just happens to own the Royalty View guest house situated within casting distance.

 

[chris k]

Judas,

I was thinking of just taking my spinning rod and my Avon rod. Do you know if a Link Ledger setup would work on the Throop ?

 

[mick b]

I live just up the road from the Itchen and as Peter says the Riverside Park is as safe as houses for anglers, mind you on a busy Sunday the nationalities of those fishing makes it more like a meeting of the United Nations!
Its also the only place I've ever seen Asian ladies fishing.

Best thing about being there are the lovely young things out doing their jogging
No seriously, there are some very big fish in the section, far bigger than those reported in the press, with all that food is obvious really.

Also be sure to try the 'bread basket', I've lost a few there whilst trotting bread for roach, yes I know barbel are not supposed to eat bread but when you see the 200 odd duck feeders that go there every Sunday you'll realise why its bread or nothing!
NB EA bailiffs visit the place very regularly so don't take any Trout or Salmon and it you haven't got a licence you'd be wise not to go.

Try a weekday evening pint at the Swan and go for a walk after, THEN you will get to see the regulars and where they fish, and importantly where they have pre-baited :wh

Not a barbel angler so this is all good info.
.

 

[frothy]

Hi fella, how did you get on Saturday (Itchen?) I've had some cracking fish there over the last week. May of seen you down there Saturday...

 

[chris k]

Hi Frothy,

Yeah I was down the Itchen Saturday and loved it. I was fishing to the right of the pub directly opposite the bit of road where you drive out to rejoin the road. There is a double swim if you step over the barrier with a tree in the middle. I blanked that day but saw some cracking fish in my swim. Maybe if if I had taken my float gear I may of had something. But it was my first time trying for barbel and chub and i just dont think i was fishing it right. But i'm definatly coming back to try it again a week on Monday.

 

[Judas Priest]

Chris
Apologies only just caught up with this again.
Your Avon rod will be ok for Throop ( use the quivertip) and link ledgers are the way I fish it. You see folks chucking great feeders and leads in to the place and wondering why they don't catch anything. Adjust your shot so it just about holds then you can twitch and tweak it around the swim as they'll often grab at a slowly moving bait rather than sit watching one nailed down.
Don't forget to try flake as it is something they don't see that often and it's not all boilies and pellets in catching fish.
Travel light and try lots of areas.

Good luck if you do go on Throop and let us know the outcome.

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

Great advice from Judas as usual.

Good luck Chris.

 

[chris k]

Thank-you Graham and Judas. Sorry for the daft question but how do you tell when link ledgering you shot is just holding bottom ? And I take it the bait can only trundle so far as you have the bail arm closed ? Thanks.

 

[Judas Priest]

Not a daft question at all Chris.
I cast/ under arm flick the bait out, let out line until it sinks and letting a bow in the line, when you raise the rod gently or twitch the line the lead should just move and trundle a short way til it holds again. This is achieved by subtly altering how many and what size shot you use.

Don't always use a link either. A lot of the time I fish straight through with the shot pinched on the line, think of it as float fishing but without the float
Normally I'll start off with a couple of swan shot pinched on and if I require more then I switch to the 2 & 3 swan size shot you can get nowadays as I find the single size 2 or 3 holds better than using 2 or 3 single swans, a well known angler once explained about fulcrums and all that to me and it did make sense and it does seem to work.

If you ever get the chance to observe a riverbed in clear conditions notice the slightly darker spots, these are the small depressions in the bed where the food naturally holds and where the fish expect to find it. If you get the balance right your bait should trundle along until it stops in these areas.
The general idea is to get your bait to behave like the free offerings as they trundle around the swim rather than being static and unnatural.

 

[chris k]

Thanks Judas all makes sense now. So basically you just watch to make sure the bow in the line moves when you lift the rod and if it doesn't you take away shot. Is this also similar to rolling meat then ?

 

[cg74]

JP, two good informative posts there, I'll just add; if the flow is low use thick line, this will aid in the movement of your bait.

 

[chav professor]

Another little tip... the Royalty seems to be at its quietest on a sunday. Perhaps its one of those days were every one gets the same idea...(it will be too busy, so don't bother).....

 

[Judas Priest]

Rolling is casting upstream and trying to get the bait trundling parallel to the bank sometimes even walking it downstream as it approaches.
This is more when you are sat in the swim and searching it out. Rather than sticking a bed of freebies down and plonking a static bait on it this searches the swim for the fish.

 

[chris k]

So i take it you would be touch ledgering while the bait is trundling down and would you have the bail arm open or closed ? And would the rod tip be pointing at the bait following it as it moves down the run ?