Fred, ... the Lugg is the first river anyone coming from the Severn to the Wye valleywould "hit"........Lugg mill, on the Worcester road to be exact, so i suppose it is the logical place for anyone with a bucket of small barbel to stop off at.
Thats presuming nature didn't do it's own bit....does the Severn estuary have the "windows" for natural stocking? .....i don't know.
All i can say is that i and a band of friends fished the Lugg a lot on warm summer nights,during the early to mid 70's,mainly with lob worms, loads of chub, eel etc but the barbel came later.
I will have to have a good chat with my old Lugg/Wye mentors, in case i'm getting it wrong, but i don't think so.