ANGLER Tony Hayes had never tried fishing for barbel so he decided to join London Angling Club and try his luck at their Britford fishery.

On only his second outing to the fishery last week, he selected a swim on the main carrier and noticed some barbel in his swim. He caught his first a few moments later weighing-in at 11lb 1oz. His friend also had barbel in his swim but failed to tempt any. Bailiff and water-keeper, Stuart Wilson, said it showed that a lot more barbel have moved upstream into the fishery and some of them are quality sized fish.

Britford regular, Mark Walsh, has had a couple of successful outings to the fishery despite the difficult conditions. A few days ago he caught one of his largest ever roach, a lovely 1lb 14oz fish, which he banked from the main carrier. A few days earlier he had an evening session in a swim on the old river stretch among a shoal of chub and landed six of them, all around the 3lb mark.

Another angler who spent three days fishing the island opposite Churchill Gardens ended up with several roach between 1lb and 1lb 8oz, all caught on elderberry. Despite these successes, the overall picture at Britford and elsewhere along the Avon is one of difficult conditions with clear skies and crystal-clear water.

Sport is better downstream in the Ringwood area, where the Avon seems to have a better flow. The Ringwood AC stretch near the town is producing barbel to 12lb and chub to 6lb 12oz whilst Manor Farm is fishing well, with barbel to 14lb 8oz and chub to 7lb. Good bags of roach to 15lb a sitting from Winkton and Bisterne. From the latter fishery, barbel to 14lb and chub to 6lb have been caught. Several stretches are also producing quality dace to just under 1lb.

Virtually all lakes in the region are fishing well and there have been plenty of anglers out enjoying the summer fishing. The Snake Lake at Witherington Farm Fishery is fishing particularly well but Cottage, Sellwood and Barnmoor are all producing carp, bream and silver fish.

All five lakes at Waldens Farm Fishery are producing fish and reports from Dandy's Ford Lane fishery and Watergate Farm fishery indicate excellent fishing for tench, bream, carp and silver fish.