Coarse fishing near Bournemouth

[JohnClarke]

I'm treating myself to a 4 day fishing break in the Bournemouth/ Christchurch area in July. If anyone knows the area could you advise me on places to try? I'm attracted of course to the Royalty and Throop, but I'm wondering if I've chosen the wrong time of year? If the rivers are low or it's hot and bright am I right that prospects might be limited, except perhaps at dusk? I'm not really a barbel specialist, more of a general coarse angler. I see that you can get day tickets for Christchurch harbour, which includes coarse fish as well as sea trout and mullet. How would the coarse fishing there compare with Throop and the Royalty?

Also, if the rivers are not in good shape I guess my 'Plan B' would be lakes. The ones I know of are Hordle Lakes and Orchard lakes. I'd appreciate any views on which might be best for general coarse fishing, particularly roach, rudd and crucians.

Thanks

 

[Mark Wintle]

Certainly the Stour offers roach fishing on hemp and tares in the heat of day, as well as the more usual chub and barbel. The Harbour has mostly dace with plenty of roach and some bream, as does the day-ticket lower tidal Stour (less dace on the tidal Stour). It's challenging fishing but fishing with bread and groundbait will catch mixed bags that include mullet as well as the dace and roach. If I fish the Avon it would be on private stretches though there are quieter bits of the Royalty.

 

[terry m]

John, check out the websites for Ringwood and District Anglers Association, RDAA, and Christchurch Angling Club, CAC. They will give you some insight into availability of day tickets in the area.

Good luck with your break

 

[JohnClarke]

Thanks, both of you.
Mark, that all sounds encouraging. Can I check what you mean by 'challenging fishing' in the harbour and lower tidal? My reason for saying this is that I have a bad back and have to fish sitting, which really means ledgering or float fishing quite close.

 

[Mark Wintle]

It's challenging in that it's tidal which means the constant changes to level and flow can make the fishing erratic, with the fish feeding avidly at times and not at all at others. Mullet can be tremendous sport but can be elusive and frustrating, missable bites and fish that can be difficult to land. Legering with bread and a cage feeder with liquidised bread will catch mullet and bream.

The Harbour includes long walks, close on a mile mostly. Parts of the tidal Stour are more accessible though it should be noted that last summer there was a large increase in water traffic ie boaters etc.

 

[peterjg]

How about Hatchets Pond? Years since I have fished there, was good for tench.

 

[108831]

The Royalty and Throop can be challenging,but if your after chub and barbel that is how it is going to be,the harbour is lovely fishing and mullet are our version of bonefish,I would be pleased to be limited to the Stour from Throop mill to and including the harbour...

 

[JohnClarke]

It's challenging in that it's tidal which means the constant changes to level and flow can make the fishing erratic, with the fish feeding avidly at times and not at all at others. Mullet can be tremendous sport but can be elusive and frustrating, missable bites and fish that can be difficult to land. Legering with bread and a cage feeder with liquidised bread will catch mullet and bream.

The Harbour includes long walks, close on a mile mostly. Parts of the tidal Stour are more accessible though it should be noted that last summer there was a large increase in water traffic ie boaters etc.

Thanks Mark, a mile is much more than I can manage, so I'll stick to the tidal Stour. A shame really because I saw some videos on Youtube where they were catching small sea trout and bass on spinners which quite appealed. But maybe this would work on the tidal Stour as well?

 

[108831]

Highly unlikely to get bass and sea trout in the tidal Stour,though you see sea trout crashing about occasionally,even above the tidal,I wouldn't even have that in mind,you catch some trotting maggot on the marshes...

 

[dorsetsteve]

Lots of Sea Trout at the Royality fall to maggot feeder in winder, pain in the backside.

 

[steve2]

A friend of mine caught a near 11lb Bass from the Royalty a few years back. We were illegally night fishing.

 

[JohnClarke]

Lots of Sea Trout at the Royality fall to maggot feeder in winder, pain in the backside.

Is 'winder' a typo for winter? That's interesting, I've wondered about fishing the Royalty. If you're not after barbel what are the other options there? Is maggot feeder a good approach?

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Is 'winder' a typo for winter? That's interesting, I've wondered about fishing the Royalty. If you're not after barbel what are the other options there? Is maggot feeder a good approach?

The Royalty is a very mixed venue with some good bream, roach, perch, chub and pike as well as the more-targeted barbel.

A maggot feeder approach will bring most species to the net, as will casters, corn or even bread although the barbel seem to be more selective regarding baits.

 

[108831]

In fact barbel fishing on the Royalty has been hard for a while now(according to people I know down there),so fishing for other species might be favourable...

 

[Peter Jacobs]

In fact barbel fishing on the Royalty has been hard for a while now(according to people I know down there),so fishing for other species might be favourable...

Totally agree on the difficulties of barbel fishing on the Royalty but it seems that the majority of the angler who fish there still try to target them.

That, in my view, is a real shame as there are so many more species on the fishery that you can be missing out on some great sport by restricting yourself to barbel baits and methods.

 

[Mark Wintle]

I'd be wary of a maggot approach on the Royalty in summer unless you enjoy catching 4" dace non-stop; casters (combined with hemp feed), on the other hand, may give you a better chance of decent fish.

 

[no-one in particular]

When I fished the royalty a few times back in the 80's or 90's there were two halves, we could never get on the expensive half so we fished the other half, always full up unless you got there first and dashed to secure the one or two good swims. Never did any good on it, I cannot remember getting one fish although did see some big shoals of mullet up there once in the shallows. We found better places to fish along the Avon to be honest.

 

[steve2]

When I first fished the Royalty back in the 1960's it was a mad rush to get a swim and shoulder to shoulder fishing. We then found Throop and what a pleasure that was so much more quiet and peaceful. I remember the first time I fished there being shown round by Ernie Leah the fishery Bailiff.

 

[108831]

I fished the Royalty late 70's early 80's found it brilliant,caught lots of roach,dace,chub,bream,along with the occasional barbel and mullet,on both stretches,I had a day with an old mate in the late 90's whilst holidaying at Ringwood and had six barbel,two chub and four bream,which I thought was brilliant,that was along greenbanks...I think???

 

[no-one in particular]

We found several stretches all along the Avon that were better than the royalty, From memory, Winkton, The Queens Head, Bistern, and around Ringwood. However, none of it was prolific, I think it had gone past its best by then. A river I wouldn't mind going to is the Bristol Avon saw some big catches around Bath once, it may be better than what the Avon is now.