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Warwickshire Avon barbel

L

Lee Williams

Senior Member
Hi gents what's the earliest captures you know of, of barbel from the WA. A mate of mine is convinced there were none or next to no barbel in the river in the 80s and is adamant there was a stocking in the very early 90s.

My mate had the first I ever saw in 91, and a well known match man Johnny Rourke had 100lb of small ones in a match at Marlcliffe 92ish Twyford Farm threw them up in numbers in the mid to late 90s. Any early recollections ?
 
I used to live in Offenham in the late 60's & reckon there was some stocking done at the Fish & Anchor back then. Very unsure about the first captures. Moved away in the '70's & havene't fished there since, which is a shame. I've had a Google with no luck but it must be somewhere in the old Severn River Board records.
Hope the memory is intact enough to have this right!
 
I hooked one in 1987 in a match at Twyford Farm, I'd heard of barbel coming from Fladbury a few years before that.

Personally, I don't believe barbel colonised the river from the Severn as claimed - stocking occured at some point, either legally or otherwise.
 
Lee Williams said:
Hi gents what's the earliest captures you know of, of barbel from the WA. A mate of mine is convinced there were none or next to no barbel in the river in the 80s and is adamant there was a stocking in the very early 90s.

My mate had the first I ever saw in 91, and a well known match man Johnny Rourke had 100lb of small ones in a match at Marlcliffe 92ish Twyford Farm threw them up in numbers in the mid to late 90s. Any early recollections ?
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Lee - if I remember rightly, I think it was Cleeve Prior that John Rourke had that 100lb of fish, and not Marlcliff. I read somewhere a while ago, that barbel were in the Norton Corner area (just up from Twyford), in the late 70's - which wouldn't surprise me. The one I hooked in '87, was a decent one for the time, 8 or 9lb, I saw it, but didn't get it out.
 
I thought it was Marlcliiff too where he caught them, opposite the mouth of the Arrow. It was a bit of a revelation at the time!
 
Either way we have evidence of fish from 87 onwards, would be interested to know when they were pu tin, legally or illegally.

Also the Tench that showed in the Evesham area I fished Evesham and walked lots of matches from 87 to 92, and never heard of or saw one, then in a club match in 92 a guy caught 5 Tench at Common Road below railway bridge, after that, odd big tench have been caught every summer in matches Lee Edwards of Wales had two last week.

Another strange phenomena is that the weekend when all the bloodworm goes in, in August, is that Evesham from the bridge in the town to the end of the match length becomes barbel soup for two weeks there are a lot caught, some in matches, some by anglers in the know who knew when and where they are.Barbel can only move between Evesham and Fladbury weir, and I think they cover a lot of ground till they find areas of food and settle in an area till there's none left and it stops going in.
 
As far as Barbel inhabiting the Avon from the Severn, it would seem quite feasible that they entered the Avon from the Severn at Tewkesbury, here the two Rivers meet as one, and any Barbel would have a easy run up stream.
Also I have seen Salmon, well a Salmon at Pershore weir a few years back, and the only way that could have got into the Avon was via the Severn at Tewkesbury.
 
Lee Williams said:
Either way we have evidence of fish from 87 onwards, would be interested to know when they were pu tin, legally or illegally.

Also the Tench that showed in the Evesham area I fished Evesham and walked lots of matches from 87 to 92, and never heard of or saw one, then in a club match in 92 a guy caught 5 Tench at Common Road below railway bridge, after that, odd big tench have been caught every summer in matches Lee Edwards of Wales had two last week.

Another strange phenomena is that the weekend when all the bloodworm goes in, in August, is that Evesham from the bridge in the town to the end of the match length becomes barbel soup for two weeks there are a lot caught, some in matches, some by anglers in the know who knew when and where they are.Barbel can only move between Evesham and Fladbury weir, and I think they cover a lot of ground till they find areas of food and settle in an area till there's none left and it stops going in.
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Lee - they can't mate, Charlton weir is in the way, unless there's a flood.
 
Lee Williams said:
Either way we have evidence of fish from 87 onwards, would be interested to know when they were pu tin, legally or illegally.

Also the Tench that showed in the Evesham area I fished Evesham and walked lots of matches from 87 to 92, and never heard of or saw one, then in a club match in 92 a guy caught 5 Tench at Common Road below railway bridge, after that, odd big tench have been caught every summer in matches Lee Edwards of Wales had two last week.

Another strange phenomena is that the weekend when all the bloodworm goes in, in August, is that Evesham from the bridge in the town to the end of the match length becomes barbel soup for two weeks there are a lot caught, some in matches, some by anglers in the know who knew when and where they are.Barbel can only move between Evesham and Fladbury weir, and I think they cover a lot of ground till they find areas of food and settle in an area till there's none left and it stops going in.
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I caught a tench from Bathurst pool, when I was 15ish, circa 69.
 
Neil Smart said:
As far as Barbel inhabiting the Avon from the Severn, it would seem quite feasible that they entered the Avon from the Severn at Tewkesbury, here the two Rivers meet as one, and any Barbel would have a easy run up stream.
Also I have seen Salmon, well a Salmon at Pershore weir a few years back, and the only way that could have got into the Avon was via the Severn at Tewkesbury.
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Getting over either Bathurst or the Mill Avon weirs would be a fantastic feat.
 
Chris Guy said:
Getting over either Bathurst or the Mill Avon weirs would be a fantastic feat.
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Where the Avon meets the Severn, there is a clear run right through to Nafford and Eckington weirs, both would be perfectly navigable, and Nafford has a 'cut' that circumvents the lock and weir all the way to Pershore, which is a small drop weir, or was but now its a bl88dy turbine, but with a fish pass. I thought Bathurst was a Bristol Avon weir Chris.
All the other weirs are smallish too, no problems. The Mill Avon Weir is not the main River.
 
John Care said:
Lee - they can't mate, Charlton weir is in the way, unless there's a flood.
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Considering the number of floods when weirs flatten out I don't see that to be a problem John. Tewkesbury weir on the Severn often 'disappears' , surely Barbel being such strong fish with an urge Salmon like to spawn in the headwaters will eventually overcome, it only needs a few.
 
Neil Smart said:
Where the Avon meets the Severn, there is a clear run right through to Nafford and Eckington weirs, both would be perfectly navigable, and Nafford has a 'cut' that circumvents the lock and weir all the way to Pershore, which is a small drop weir, or was but now its a bl88dy turbine, but with a fish pass. I thought Bathurst was a Bristol Avon weir Chris.
All the other weirs are smallish too, no problems. The Mill Avon Weir is not the main River.
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I know the Mill Avon is not the main river, I fished it as a boy, into my teens. It has a Weir that's non navigable.
Bathurst is the Avon Weir and was always known as Bathurst, way back when. And I still can't see barbel getting over either.
Did anyone ever catch barbel from the Severn/Avon confluence, up to Bathurst in the mid/late 70's? I certainly never heard of any.
Illegal stockings of barbel was rife in the late 70's too early 80's.
 
Barbel were being caught from Evesham weir (Weir Meadow caravan park) and Pershore Weir in the mid 70's and from the Arrow at Wixford about the same time......I know because I had them!

The were also Officially stocked by the (then) NRA into the river Alne....
 
Lawrence Breakspear said:
Barbel were being caught from Evesham weir (Weir Meadow caravan park) and Pershore Weir in the mid 70's and from the Arrow at Wixford about the same time......I know because I had them!

The were also Officially stocked by the (then) NRA into the river Alne....
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Lol

Do you know if these Avon fish were legally or illegaly stocked.

I had my first ever whiskers from the Arrow at Wixford the weir outside the Fish pub. 4lb 14oz. Summer of 88
 
Without doubt, just like the Wye, anglers transferred numbers of barbel from the Severn into the Avon, in 1971 when I took part in the River Severn barbel population study with Liverpool university, we were hearing of the odd barbel caught off the Avon, so don't underestimate the barbels colonisation instincts and the ability to drop downstream from the middle Severn in numbers, they were catching barbel off Kempsey to a decent size by 1973, the Teme was producing barbel at Knightwick by 1974....I say all this to substantiate those colonisation instincts in the barbel, so in answer to your question I would say there were some illegal stockings of the odd net full of barbel from the Severn, but I truly believe that ultimately the barbel population in the Warks Avon came naturally, but as I also said, I know the Alne near Wooton Wawen was legally stocked with mature barbel.
 
I remember fishing Barton around 1993 with a stick float and caster. Catching some lovely roach (remember them?) and chub when on several occasions I hooked and lost something decent. I was quite young then and didn't associate the river with barbel but have no doubts looking back that they were the culprits. Seems that there was already a good population present to those in the know.
 
Don't know about remembering them, but Lots of roach in the WA currently. Boom time.

Had over 30lb good fish to 1.13 from
A "popular" place.

Numbers of 40lb+ bags from another stretch by pals including at least 3 over 2lb.
One even better than my 2lb 2oz last season.
 
Graham I'm not for one second doubting you, but have you got a pic. 30lb of roach is some bag and as a canal angler who catches 15 to 20lb of roach from Birmingham canals I would love to see this bag of fish. Sounds like fish porn. I had a bag of roach in the winter of 2007, from outside the Mailbox in Birmingham City centre, various respected anglers estimated it at 30 to 40lb with probably 10 over a pound that day. Sadly when an online storage site called Vox went down I lost all my canal pics from that era including a 1.12 roach from a canal in the slums of Birmingham
 
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