Quest for a barbel

[weirwulf]

As others have mentioned it may just be you need to change something slightly. My first season I landed only 4 barbel but once I got my head around things that increased dramatically. One angler on my local river had tried for 2 seasons without a boris and I asked him to reel in. He was using a hooklength around 9 inches long so I suggested increasing that length to 2 feet. Big head I know but he caught within one hour! Bear in mind that at this time of year old Boris may prefer some quite small baits and may initially give very tentative bites before slamming the rod over. If you are fishing with large baits or a heavy rod top try going lighter(try one of the quivers supplied with that greys rod) but do not reduce the line capacity. use a fast sinking line and fish it with as little weight as you can get away with. Barbel will spook if the line can be felt so keep it pinned down and offer as little resistance by keeping everything free running.

Good luck!

[Peter M]

good advice. so does this long hook length idea really make all the difference ??

[ayjay]

good advice. so does this long hook length idea really make all the difference ??

 

There's only one way to find out, if you think you should be getting bites and you're not then give it a try, but there's no hard and fast rules, I often use an inline feeder with a very short hook length.

 

 

 

Back to the original question, what about the Claydon Brook for barbel near to Buckingham?

[weirwulf]

No hard and fast rules about the length of line between the weight and hook and in some cases such as when a feeder is in use it could be an advantage to keep it short. However I have established after loads of experimenting that at least on my local the long hooklength seems to create the right presentation. The fast sinking mainline just puts the icing on. Works for me!

Edited November 22, 2009 by weirwulf

[denzil]

Back to the original question, what about the Claydon Brook for barbel near to Buckingham?

hi ayjay are there barbs that far up?

[BoldBear]

The club looks interesting. Which stretches of the upper lea do you fish when you are after barbel? Would you be interested in showing a new member around, if I joined? I'm not a novice angler, I just haven't ever caught a barbel and my Grey's prodigy barbel rod has only landed carp and tench.

Pangolin,

I have sent you a message, I will be glad to show you around the fishery when you become a member and show you a few of the more productive Barbel swims.

tight lines

Keith

Edited November 22, 2009 by BoldBear

[wellyphant]

I'm determined to catch a barbel before the end of the year but, so far, I've been unsuccessful. I've been to the Wye at Bredwardine and the Avon at Evesham: both lovely venues but both yielding no barbel. I've tried a variety of baits too.

Can anyone recommend a day-ticket fishery, swim and method within a couple of hours drive? I live in Buckingham. I'm not looking for record-breaking barbel, just somewhere I'd be fairly sure of catching one with the right technique.

There aren't many fishing weekends left....

Have a look here :- http://www.a1pits.co.uk/ ..It's within your 2 hour drive..I fish this part of the trent often and it's a very good stretch.You have a good chance of getting a double here along with bream and chub.Some of the local anglers have caught upto 30 fish a night,,you can night fish here and drive to your peg...It fishes ok in the winter aswell..