Just recently I have had some success with barbel on the Warwickshire Avon. The paticular stretch is deep and fairly fast flowing, the ideal habitat for both chub and barbel.
However barbel catches exceed chub capture by at least three to one. The average weight of the barbel is about 7lb with a large number of 'doubles' caught.
Now I find this to be a bit unusual, in that chub in my experience would at least show in equal numbers. Could it be barbel like zander are the new super species and could effect the 'eco' system of our rivers? I believe barbel roe is poisonus to predators perhaps that could be a factor.
Mind you I am not complaining the sport is fantastic, but should we be concerned that other species may suffer as a these species increase their dominance?

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I think that nature usually sorts things out so that the eco system can floursh. well done on your recent success with barbel.

The Warwickshire Avon is currently my venue of choice. Saw the biggest Zander I've ever seen there last week. Alas, it was dead. A fellow angler (who was doing rather well on the barbel, as it happened) said the lock-keeper had fished it out of a nearby lock that morning. Whether it had died through a lack of oxygen in the water or whether the lock-keeper had knocked it on the head I don't know. Or, of course, there may have been another reason. The size of the fish it may simply have pegged it of old age!

Regards,
Derek

The avon barbel certainly seem to be booming, definately in size, although I dont have the time served to comment on numbers.

Chub and barbel compete for the same food, and share very similar habitat, so it goes without saying that the increase in one will affect the other, but as its been said previously, nature will sort its self out and find a happy medium.

All I can say is be happy you arent being pestered by chub, elsewhere on the river they can be a downright pain!

7lb is a high average size, there are still stretches where 5lb is the average, although I suspect you are further upstream than my reference.

as darren says, the two species compete for the same food items and it is possible that if barbel became too numerous the chub shoals may decline especially if predators avoid barbel eggs as this would stop the process of predator mediated co-exsistance, but i would assume as mentioned above that things may find a balance.