Feedback & Reports

Unusually we all struggled today on Whitehouse. We have fished this beat lots of times before and always managed to catch barbel. The rain further up the river the day before put the fish right off the feed, even though the river didn't start rising till late afternoon we only had 1 small barbel and a few chub between our 4 rods. But it's still a pleasure to fish this wonderful river even in the harder times. Thanks W & U Foundation.

A new venue for us all, the barbel didnt show in the numbers previous catch reports had indicated, perhaps we should have concentrated more on the angling than the hearty breakfast prepared by RH on the banks of this lovely spot. Anyway BIG lessons learnt I think for the next time. We will be back! Our returns for day quite a few chub, mostly to pellets, 4lb 10z a PB for its captor one of many in the 1lb - 4lb range. Last but not least the barbel, only 2 landed 4lb & 5lbs, and one of the lessons the writer of this report will take away, don't turn you back on your rod even for a second whilst engaged in this hobby we all love, the 4lb barbel had it in the river in seconds to be precise. Thanks to T for retrieving it. Finally to all you wonderfully patient and understanding people at the W&U Foundation, especially Adam, my apologies for stalking you all weekend, 1st Class service as usual, a real credit to your organisation.

8 barbel caught between three of us to approximately 7lbs - don't weight any of them unless they look near double figures. Also a small chub caught, and plenty of fish topping throughout the day. All fish taken on pellet from slower water, sometimes leaving the rod in for up to an hour before it went over. The fish were all in immaculate condition, from immaculate surroundings. Lovely day - thanks for all the advice and help at the WUF.

One barbel about 8lb and 2 Chub between two of us.

Following the previous days heavy rain we fished whitehouse for the first time. It was unseasonably cold (13c), drizzly with low cloud and the river was carrying a little extra water but not coloured. The fishing was tough, I managed a barbel and 2 chub and my friend a barbel, but best was only 3 1/2lb. Next day we fished Backney, the rain had finally stopped and it was warmer. Overnight the river had risen a couple of feet, was highly coloured and pushing through like an express train. We struggled to find many fishable spots but eventually settled in acouple of swims near the bottom of the length. My friend had 2 barbel around 6lb, I had a barbel of 7lb14oz, a 3lb chub and to my surprise a 13lb 9oz common carp. All fish were caught on 8 or 10mm hallibut pellets, meat and boilies were also tried without success. I would like to try both fisheries again under more normal summer conditions and Backney in particular was a lovely tranquil spot. Many thanks to all at WUF, the maps and directions were excellent. You are providing a great service and we'll be back next year.

Like all of us waiting for the rain to arrive and found we were lucky with a foot of water on the river! Started to fish at the top end of the field in the deep slower water. Was bit slow to start catching chub most of the day and ending up with 12 chub from 2lb to 4lb followed up with 4 barbel between 5lb and 8lb loosing 2 (with a shake of the head) all caught on the meat and pellet! However my fishing buddy done much better catching 10 barbel all between 5lb and 8lb and loosing 2 also! caught steady on pellet! even with the 20 or so swans feeding infront of us!

1 barbel and a few chub between three of us. Very hard and the river as low as I have seen it.

A nice fishery with the river a little low. However the fish were very hard to find and only a couple of smallish chub. Many canoeists were a real pain, swimming off the croys and a couple capsised in my swim.

Greeted with very low water conditions, and relatively bright skies. Fishing proved very difficult with only 3 barbel and 10 chub being caught.
Hopefully fishing will improve when there is a decent amount of water in the river. Nice to see that there are a few more swims marked, but would be better if flat fishing platforms could be introduced.

Another early Saturday start found K.B and myself on the road towards White House for a return trip hoping to find the river in better condition than a month previous. Arriving around 7.30am we were pleased to find that the river was up compared to are last visit and carrying some colour. Trying likely looking swims and giving them a couple of hours before moving on showed that the day was not going to be one of the best we have had on the river and when in the early afternoon the opposite bank was the venue for a well attended match this did result in the number of swims available to fish being reduced. By the end of the day I think the catch was down due to the angling pressure from the other bank. Sunday was another early start and with Middle Hill court the venue hopes were up for a better days fishing. Having read previous catch reports we fished the areas that had done well and indeed the fishing was much improved on the day before with both of us getting amongst some nice Barbel with the average weight up on White House. Over the weekend are tally for Barbel reached 40 fish to a top weight of 8lb 13oz.

The only concerning thing that I have to report is that nearly every Barbel and all of the couple of Chub that we caught had Argulus or the Common fish louse on them. I don't pretend to be a marine biologist but having checked on the enter-net I strongly belive that this is what they are. I don't believe there is much anyone can do to eradicate this crustacean but we took great care in removing every one from the fish we caught, I really do hope that this is not going to affect the fish in the amazing river.

Many thanks to the WUF. Top job done by all involved.