Feedback & Reports

6 barbel to 8lbs 6oz and 7 chub to 5lbs 1oz. All caught on pellet.

An early overnight frost didn't omen too well for this visit to Courtfield but, after a biteless session before lunch, I returned in the afternoon to fish Legg Meadow and managed to net 4 barbel in the afternoon/evening including a brace of 8s. Went home well pleased with this outcome. Thanks again to Don for running such a fantastic fishery and for being so helpful.

River seemingly back to difficult conditions today with 5 barbel and 5 chub being caught. Fish came from various parts of the fishery. One chub, caught in the Woods, was a PB for its captor at 5lb3oz.
Overall, the stretch was beautiful and provided some good (and some challenging) fishing over 4 days. Don was really helpful and definitely put us on to some spots that we might not of fished otherwise. Food at the Royal Spring Inn (just up the road opposite the fishery) is highly recommended for a spot of lunch. However, the biggest thing to note if you are visiting, is to take lots & lots of terminal tackle if you are fishing anywhere other than Legge Meadow. Some areas seemed to claim your end tackle every cast!

Fish were in a bit more of a feeding mood today. A total of 18 barbel and 2 chub were caught. 15 of the fish came from within the Wood and included fish of 10lb4oz and 10lb8oz and also a PB chub of 5lb3oz for the captor.
The other fish came off Legge Meadow and included a PB 10lb10oz barbel for its captor. Yet again groundbait/pellet was the winning combination but to be honest given the previuos days results, we were now concentrating on this method.

Morning was very slow again - same as previous day. However the evening improved somewhat. 9 barbel were caught with the best a 11lb7oz PB for its captor. Don had just turned up to check on our progress and witnessed the fish and added to his reputation of being a lucky charm on the stretch. 7 of the barbel were caught in Legge Meadow, the other 2 were caught in the Boat pool in the downstream half of the beat. Again, groundbait/pellet was the successful bait.

First of 4 days on Courtfield. Loveley stretch with plentry of variation and pegs to fish from. The ownwer, Don, met us shortly after we arrived and gave a really useful introduction to the top half of the fishery pointing out many of the fish holding features etc. really nice guy and his knowledge of the stretch ceratinly paid dividends over the 4 days.
Fishing itself was really hard going with only 1 barbel and 2 chub caught between us. We tried a variety of area & swims during the day but all fish were caught during afternoon/evening and all on groundbait/pellet approach

All 4 of us decided to fish the top end of the fishery near to the Waterworks for 3 reasons:
1. We were carrying quite a lot of equipment( Big mistake)!! The problems of transporting it through quite wild overgrown tracks and over a fence with a style into the wood was simply not an option on a very warm day.
2. One of our party had recently had knee replacements.
3. The second parking option at the big tree midway along the main road verge is simply that, a verge "very tight for our transit van" and extremely exposed to passing traffic we didn't feel comfortable leaving our vehicle there all day (Security concern).
Don the owner was very helpful and full of information spending a lot of time explaining the swims to each of us individually and a wealth of knowledge he has too, so a Big Thank you to Don. Unfortunately the fish weren't interested and the fishing didn't live up to expectation. Bright sun and no colour in the river didn't help.
I fished the bay swim and it looked great. Started off targeting the far bank and mid river feeding 4mm halibut pellets through an open ended feeder and 8mm pellet on a hair in various combinations of short and long hairs, tails, hooks and size of pellet. I only had 2 bites all day, both were savage takes and almost certainly Barbel. They both took me into abrasive rocks on the bottom which instantly broke my 15lb braided hook lengths.
I then went on to lose 4 more feeders in a snag about 30 yards down stream 1/3 of the way across. I had no more bites and ended up with a blank. My mate A fished the new swim next to me upstream. He managed to catch 2 Barbel around 8lb and 3 Chub about 4lb. D fished the first swim and didn't get a bite all day.
T I believe fished the Single Alder swim and managed a Barbel in excess of 8lb and 3 Chub. All four of us were very disappointed in the lack of bites but did enjoy the location and scenery. On a different day things may have been completely different. I personally would not fish the Bay peg again, (I couldn't afford to)! We all feel we should have travelled light and fished the wood beat pegs. We shall put this trip down to experience and learn from it.

Arrived at 7am on a cold clear morning. Fished Legg Meadow until midday without success and on the move when we bumped into Don. Incredibly helpful 15 minutes with Don sent us into the Wood stretch. Over a 4 hour period between 2pm and 6pm we had 8 chub to 5lb and 5 barbel to 9.5lb. What a session, all taken on pellet. Already making plans for 2013!

Barbel 6lbs and 7.11lbs in Legg Meadow. Lost small Chub by having line frayed by last barbel in rocks. Many thanks to Don for all his advice over our 4 days fishing. As two OAP's over 70 we found the going and the swims difficult but the Barbel fishing is superb.

C S - 1 inch minnow. Lost 2 barbel by being broken off in rocks Legg Meadow
R S - Barbel 5.2lbs lost another in rocks in Legg Meadow.
Don most helpful.