Tigger, eat your heart out!

[lutra]

I've had them mixed in with the average sized adult ones Brian in the normal glides. Funny though as when I have had one i've usually had another next trott as though there's been a shoal of them turned up. I've never had more than the two though which has always surprised me as I would have thought being so young that they would be naive and easy to catch.

No, never found the big numbers you would expect of them either Ian. Just a few spots in miles and miles of barbel thick river thats maybe good for a handful on a good day. Nothing like the numbers of small chub you can catch.

[Anderoo]

That sort of fishing is great fun. JV44 and I joined Reading and District Angling Association at the weekend, after a long walk for the first recce we ended up at a lock cut catching perch, dace, chublets, roach and gudgeon all from the same swim (he was poaching).

 

It is great fun, as well as the little barbel I also had trout, dace, chub, perch, bleak, roach and gudgeon

 

Despite the joking I am genuinely really pleased with that little barbel - it's only my 3rd ever barbel but more than that it's a barbel from Oxfordshire, something I thought I would never see! Who cares if it wasn't quite as long as the float

[Steve Walker]

Got out this evening to trot the upper Thames. Nothing over half a pound, most a good deal smaller, but lost count of numbers. Many! Mostly dace, also roach, chub, perch, minnow, a gudgeon and a trout!

[Tigger]

Got out this evening to trot the upper Thames. Nothing over half a pound, most a good deal smaller, but lost count of numbers. Many! Mostly dace, also roach, chub, perch, minnow, a gudgeon and a trout!

 

 

You sure it was a gudgeon Steve....maybe this thread could lead to the smallest barbel comp lol.

[Steve Walker]

I got my hopes up! Was a good sized gudgeon, actually!

[Tigger]

I got my hopes up! Was a good sized gudgeon, actually!

 

 

Never mind Steve, better luck next time .

[Steve Walker]

I must confess, I did choose a swim in the area I've heard that the little barbs the EA stocked have been caught...

 

It's a nice trotting swim, but it's probably a better feeder swim. It's very deep for that bit of river - most of the river in that area is ~18 inches to 3 feet, this swim is a good 8 feet. It's also got an unusually big difference between the fast surface current and the slower water at the bottom. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the water at the bottom is flowing up in a back eddy.

[gozzer]

It reminds me of a match I fished some years ago. It was on the R Nidd, at a venue that had been kind to me over the years. At the weigh in, I walked up to meet the scales and a very excited club secretary had just weighed in about 15lb, and asked what I'd caught. Oh, I've got 4 barbel, 6 chub, and about 2lb of dace, I said. "You jammy ****** you've done it again", was the reply. We got to my peg and I lifted the net out to reveal, 4 barbel, 6 chub, and about 2lb of dace for a total of less than 3lb. None of the barbel were more than 5 inches long.

I've had plenty of small/tiny barbel over the years, but that's the most I've had in one catch.

 

John.

[arbocop]

That sort of fishing is great fun. JV44 and I joined Reading and District Angling Association at the weekend, after a long walk for the first recce we ended up at a lock cut catching perch, dace, chublets, roach and gudgeon all from the same swim (he was poaching).

 

I think know where that is. i used to fish that too. I always thought it would throw up a big perch - but it never did.

[arbocop]

Has the area been recently stocked, or do you think it's was hatched in the river Andrew?

Bodes well for the future if they are thriving at that size.

 

John.

Where is the River Andrew?