Me and Throop (or Throop and I)

I've had a couple of "conversations" via various messenger apps with some acquaintances who query why I bother with fishing "a place like Throop Fisheries" so often. After all it's always crowded and well past its sell by date (slight contradiction there methinks).

Well, me and the Stour, Throop in particular, have a bit of history.

I was introduced to fishing by my uncles on the lower Stour way back in the late 1950's. Into the early 1960's, still in short trousers, I expanded my horizons when I used to make the relatively short walk and later bike ride down Yeomans Road from my home in Castle Lane to Throop.

I have distant memories of Ernie Leah, the eponymous Throop Bailiff and certainly remember the New Weir when it was "new".

I had my first barbel from what is now Beat3 (was Littledown Estate). My first chub came from School Bridge from the same swim I much later had my first ever 7lber on the float. First proper roach and perch both came from the Mill Pool.

Most of my uncles had fished the Stour and Throop for years including for salmon and sea trout. Amongst many successes, one of them had what we believe is still one of the biggest recorded salmon from the Stour at 30lbs+. In fact he is "still" down there now and will be for ever more :wh

I fished Throop regularly right up to 1988 when family and career took me to London and further afield. Occasional visits were then restricted to 150 mile round trips and the odd family visit.

Having had the opportunity to take early retirement, my wife, a Poole girl, and I both decided that back home to Dorset was the first choice. We finally made that move in July last year. The fishing wasn't necessarily the most important thing but I didn't protest too much.

So this last season was the first for many years I've been able to concentrate on a proper effort on Throop, and in particular for the chub. 99% of all my chub fishing is with a float rod and centrepin in hand. In that mode all is well in my world.

Thanks to Ringwood & DAA and indeed the small band of members for keeping the fishery in such stunning condition, much appreciated. God willing I'll be back next season, and for a few seasons more, it's trotting heaven!

Here's a slide show of some of the highlights of my Autumn/Winter chasing the marvellous chub within Throop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSD2ww6iTVM

Well done Neil,

Some great fish there, the Stour is a special place, but you have to fish it to know it.

Hope next season brings you more PB's.

Ray Daywalker Clarke said:

Well done Neil,

Some great fish there, the Stour is a special place, but you have to fish it to know it.

Hope next season brings you more PB's.

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Ta, I had a wander around the Corfe Mullen area last week, nice!

Neil Maidment said:

Ta, I had a wander around the Corfe Mullen area last week, nice!

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No Poaching now

Fine write up Neil. Many thanks for that. I have never fished there, must give it a go sometime. Pete.

Hello Neil, I fished the area quite a bit in the 80's and 90's and my brother and I had a couple of trips to Throop but we did not catch a fish. Mainly I think not being able to get in the good swims, (not early risers) and not knowing the water very well. However it is a very interesting looking stretch, lots of variety of swims. We mainly fished the Hampshire Avon but one memory that always has stayed in the mind is seeing about 10 Kingfishers perched in one tree on Throop, really something that, never seen the like of it ever again.

That is an impressive listing of superb Chub.

If that is a river that is "past its sell by date" then I actually have to pity the people who said that.

The river might not be the easiest of options, particularly in the winter, but then that is what makes your catches so brilliant . . . . . .

Great angling by anyone's imagination!

Stour salmon record is 48lbs 8oz; plenty of '30s' in the long distant past and the average weight was over 20lbs up until the late 60s which is when the rot set in with the dredging.

Enjoyed that Neil. A few of us used to book a cottage in Wimbourne for a couple of weeks in late summer/autumn each year during the late 60's and early 70's to fish Throop. It was so quiet and peaceful in those days, quite a contrast to the Royalty. I'll always remember it as place where you could catch somewhat larger chub than we were used to on the Colne Loddon and Kennet and that it was knee deep in 'bootlaces'............

Great achievement Neil, well done. We used to live in Ringwood many years ago and I used to fish Throop a lot then. I often fished the stretch upstream (forgotten what its called now!) for roach and bream. It seemed to go on for miles and hardly ever anyone there so it was quite simple to avoid the "crowds" if you wanted to.
Turning my attention to trout for a while now. I quite like fly fishing.

Cheers Robert

Mark Wintle said:

Stour salmon record is 48lbs 8oz; plenty of '30s' in the long distant past and the average weight was over 20lbs up until the late 60s which is when the rot set in with the dredging.

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Interesting. Both of my surviving uncles, together with various other local "OAPs" mg:, have been approached for assistance in a project looking for validation, information and images relating to salmon from the Stour and Avon, particularly Throop and Royalty.

If you are able Mark, can you point me to some of the sources you have?

Thanks.

Neil Maidment said:

Interesting. Both of my surviving uncles, together with various other local "OAPs" mg:, have been approached for assistance in a project looking for validation, information and images relating to salmon from the Stour and Avon, particularly Throop and Royalty.

If you are able Mark, can you point me to some of the sources you have?

Thanks.

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I can't remember his name off the top of my head but I have had dealings with the same person for this project. Ashley-Cooper's A Ring of Wessex Waters is the most authoritative on local salmon but all the old records disappeared long ago. At one time each salmon water, including Throop, had its own log of catches.

Mark Wintle said:

I can't remember his name off the top of my head but I have had dealings with the same person for this project. Ashley-Cooper's A Ring of Wessex Waters is the most authoritative on local salmon but all the old records disappeared long ago. At one time each salmon water, including Throop, had its own log of catches.

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I'll check with Mick next time I see him. I think Ron's salmon, from Nettlebeds, was 36lb or 38lb, I'll check that as well.

Tony Timms is the person doing the research. The Fishing Gazette had weekly reports from Throop etc. and even in the handful of copies I have from March/April 1960 & 1961 there are reports of salmon of 35lb, 29lb and 19lbs from Throop. The logs are always the best records because they were done at the time and witnessed by the keeper whereas human memory is all too frail, the sad part being the records were chucked away or lost long ago. Many of the Stour salmon anglers were not local but came down from London and with the bulk of the best catches in the 50s and 60s the captors are in the main long dead. I can remember Wally Francis fishing the Beamont Cup circa 1974 and telling us of his salmon catches. The Frome catches were far greater with Robert Hardy-Corfe getting 7 over 40lbs including 2 over 40lbs one morning with 5 over 20lbs in the afternoon of the same day!

I use to take my annual holiday to Throop in the 60’s and 70’s, even went there for days out, a round trip of over 250 miles. I haven’t fished it since apart from one day 5 years ago. Must admit while the fish were still there it wasn’t the place I remembered and just didn’t feel right to me. It had become just another day ticket fishery.
Like they say it not always good to try and relive the good old days.

I have lived in Bournemouth and Poole all my life and I know what a great fishery Throop is. I had a season ticket in the late 80's and early 90's, catching my first Chub , Barbel, Bream and Tench from there ( the Tench from the Mill Pond ). In the 1991 season I had two 6 lbs Chub , when 6 lbs was a massive Chub and I caught more Barbel from Throop than any other section of the Stour.
I haven't fished at Throop for many years , I fish higher up the Stour where it is more difficult but very quiet and anglers are a rare sight , but I have great memories of Throop and the chub I used to catch there. Your photo's prove the chub are still there to be caught too !

Mark Wintle said:

Tony Timms is the person doing the research. The Fishing Gazette had weekly reports from Throop etc. and even in the handful of copies I have from March/April 1960 & 1961 there are reports of salmon of 35lb, 29lb and 19lbs from Throop. The logs are always the best records because they were done at the time and witnessed by the keeper whereas human memory is all too frail, the sad part being the records were chucked away or lost long ago. Many of the Stour salmon anglers were not local but came down from London and with the bulk of the best catches in the 50s and 60s the captors are in the main long dead. I can remember Wally Francis fishing the Beamont Cup circa 1974 and telling us of his salmon catches. The Frome catches were far greater with Robert Hardy-Corfe getting 7 over 40lbs including 2 over 40lbs one morning with 5 over 20lbs in the afternoon of the same day!

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Saw Mick today. He was a little unsure of the name but he and a few others of similar vintage have had conversations relating to the Stour and Avon salmon, particularly the 1950's and 1960's.

Ron's salmon was from the mid 1950's and weighed in at 40lbs 08oz on a big Devon Minnow from Nettlebeds. He was fishing with another local - Jack Colegate. One of the tasks on my "to do list" is to wade through the many biscuit tins, sundry boxes and albums containing God know's how many photographs and notes. There are so many memories in those boxes it could be my life's work mg:

Hello everyone,
Thank you all for taking an interest in the record 48.5lb salmon for the
Dorset Stour. The project I have been researching for the last couple of years is to name all the record salmon for the six rivers of Wessex. I have completed them for the rivers Avon, Frome, Test, Itchen and Piddle but the Stour fish is a mystery.
The first mention of this 48.5lb fish is in an article in Anglers News October 1952
by the man who controlled the fishing at Throop Fishery Stanley William Tomkins he states that the record for these waters being 48.5lbs caught some years ago. It is from then on mentioned in Owen Wentworths great little book and Mr Ashley-Coopers ring of Wessex Waters.
Despite intense research by myself and a lot of contacts friends etc there is no sign of this fish.
Some facts are that up to 1922 the record was 40lbs caught by his Lordships keeper Donald Cameron who tragically died some years later when the hatch he was lifting in the weir collapsed and he drown. To confuse the issue further in the Woodbine records for 1960 S Tomkins is recorded catching the record at 48lb from Throop. Mr Tomkins died 1962.
I knew Ron Maidment and that wonderful fish of 40.5lbs is new to me.
The largest salmon that I can confirm as fact is a fish of 41.5lbs caught by Bert Ashby, I have 2 photos of Bert with it. One of them is with Bob Olley the keeper. At present I do not know the date of capture of Mr Ashbys fish.
Thank you for listening to my ramblings any help you can give I would be very grateful.
Tony Timms
Royalty Fishery

A fish I hadn't spotted before is in the 1973 Woodbine Angling Yearbook, p. 301, and is listed as a salmon of 43-8-0 from the Stour in April 1962, caught by W G Rodway of Wareham.

Hi Mark,
Fascinating does it say where caught because Lord Malmesbury has the records from 1955-1965 for Throop and he told me the largest salmon recorded in these 10 years was 36lb again by Bert Ashby.
Thank you for your help in the past on this Stour fish and today
Tony