Barbel questions

[Anderoo]

I'm looking for some help

 

I have decided to spend my summer chasing ghosts - the aim to is catch an Oxfordshire barbel. This is harder than it sounds!

 

What makes it harder still is that I have never really done any barbel fishing, and in fact have only ever caught 2 (one accidentally from the Wey while chubbing and the other on purpose at the Lea with Jigotai as my guide and helper). The venues will be the little Thames tributaries.

 

So, firstly, what is appropriate tackle? Bites will be at a premium - in fact to catch a single barbel will be a major result - so the worst thing would be to hook and lose one. They are not pressured and the rivers are very snaggy. I am thinking of my 1.5lb tc barbel rod with 10lb mainline and a lighter hooklength. Sound reasonable?

 

Hooklength material - braid or mono and what length?

 

Bait - it will be summer and the rivers low and clear, so I am assuming hemp and caster/maggot is a better bet than pellet and boilie? Will they take fake baits?

 

I am assuming that baiting up swims and then fishing well into dark is the way to go?

 

What sorts of features would you bait up and fish if you're fishing blind? There is everything - deeper steady glides, shallow riffles, deeper depressions/little pools, streamer weed, deeper bends, overhanging trees...

 

Finally, does anyone have a length to weight table for barbel?

 

Thanks for any help

[Rusty]

A good starting point here Andrew

 

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/usnabbotts/fish_cpin_addit_2.htm

 

I followed this advice last summer and caught my first of the species.

[JV44]

I'm looking for some help

 

I have decided to spend my summer chasing ghosts - the aim to is catch an Oxfordshire barbel. This is harder than it sounds!

 

What makes it harder still is that I have never really done any barbel fishing, and in fact have only ever caught 2 (one accidentally from the Wey while chubbing and the other on purpose at the Lea with Jigotai as my guide and helper). The venues will be the little Thames tributaries.

 

So, firstly, what is appropriate tackle? Bites will be at a premium - in fact to catch a single barbel will be a major result - so the worst thing would be to hook and lose one. They are not pressured and the rivers are very snaggy. I am thinking of my 1.5lb tc barbel rod with 10lb mainline and a lighter hooklength. Sound reasonable?

 

Hooklength material - braid or mono and what length?

 

Bait - it will be summer and the rivers low and clear, so I am assuming hemp and caster/maggot is a better bet than pellet and boilie? Will they take fake baits?

 

I am assuming that baiting up swims and then fishing well into dark is the way to go?

 

What sorts of features would you bait up and fish if you're fishing blind? There is everything - deeper steady glides, shallow riffles, deeper depressions/little pools, streamer weed, deeper bends, overhanging trees...

 

Finally, does anyone have a length to weight table for barbel?

 

Thanks for any help

Dusk into dark was the best time for me last summer and would generally fish through till about 1 am ,Boilie and pellet did the business for me with all fish bar one coming after dark in the clear summer conditions you disscribe .

You like a challenge don`t you very low stock level up your neck of the woods i believe but hey who knows what may be in those little streams .

Because of the dreaded crays i would fish a big homemade boilie and a big Halibut pellet on the same hair to be confident of having some bait left on the hair ,didn't look aesthetically pleasing but did work ,You could always try one of the natural baits cough! i am told they are very effective .

Outside of bends and anywhere there was any sort of cover boats [unlikely on your streams ] weed rafts overhanging trees etc anything that looked like a feature to give me confidence to cast out and leave it ,I was silly enough to try to fish 2 rods on the narrow bit of the kennet where our mooring is but soon gave up on this as it was obvious i had line bites and it was sppoking the fish .

Good luck on your quest Steve.

[BoldBear]

Anderoo,

If you are going to be fishing legered baits for Barbel once the light starts to fade and trotting becomes impractable then this is how I fish for them on the upper Lea once the light has started to fade:

 

Catching your first Barbel on a small stream.

 

Choosing a swim for Barbel on a small stream

 

An evening after Barbel on the upper Lea

 

If I were fishing in water that I hadn't fished before I would probably use ripped or punched out pieces of flavoured luncheonmeat (Chilli Garlic or Crab flavour) coated in a soft flavoured paste which will slowly disolve a flavour trail in the current leading up to the baited hook. with a size 6, 8 or 10 strong and sharp Barbel hook (I usually use Drennan Barbel hooks or Fox Teflon Arma Point SSBP hooks).

I personally wouldn't use maggots on the hook because I wouldn't want to chance putting the Barbel on their guard by accidentally hooking a small chub or something else in the swim.

NB. If Crayfish or small Chub were a problem then I would most probably use hair rigged hard pellets coated in paste instead of meat because the chub tend to grab the bait in their mouth and dart off, which because of the hair usually results in the pellet being pulled from their mouth and a pellet stands a little more of a chance with Crays.

 

best of luck on your quest

tight lines

Keith

Edited June 6, 2010 by BoldBear

[Anthony78]

I'm looking for some help

 

I have decided to spend my summer chasing ghosts - the aim to is catch an Oxfordshire barbel. This is harder than it sounds!

 

What makes it harder still is that I have never really done any barbel fishing, and in fact have only ever caught 2 (one accidentally from the Wey while chubbing and the other on purpose at the Lea with Jigotai as my guide and helper). The venues will be the little Thames tributaries.

 

So, firstly, what is appropriate tackle? Bites will be at a premium - in fact to catch a single barbel will be a major result - so the worst thing would be to hook and lose one. They are not pressured and the rivers are very snaggy. I am thinking of my 1.5lb tc barbel rod with 10lb mainline and a lighter hooklength. Sound reasonable?

 

Hooklength material - braid or mono and what length?

 

Bait - it will be summer and the rivers low and clear, so I am assuming hemp and caster/maggot is a better bet than pellet and boilie? Will they take fake baits?

 

I am assuming that baiting up swims and then fishing well into dark is the way to go?

 

What sorts of features would you bait up and fish if you're fishing blind? There is everything - deeper steady glides, shallow riffles, deeper depressions/little pools, streamer weed, deeper bends, overhanging trees...

 

Finally, does anyone have a length to weight table for barbel?

 

Thanks for any help

 

 

Hi Andrew,

The setup you mentioned will be perfect for the small streams you plan to fish. Only if you plan on fishing close to snags would I be tempted to move over to the heavier gear.

One tip I can give you is to get down to the rivers now and find the fish as they will be gathering on the shallows for spawning and now is the best time to gather information on size and stocking densities of the stretches you plan to fish. Get yourself to the shallow gravels and look for cleared patches of gravel that the chub and barbel have created during their spawning rituals. Once you find these patches you know you have found some fish. The best time for spotting them will be from 6pm onwards when the sun starts to dip in the sky. The big girls will usually move in later in the evening and if you can stay after dark you can use a very strong lamp to spot them on the shallows at night. This works better when you have high banks though as the steaper the angle of the beam the better.

 

Regarding baits, If pellets and boilies have not been used a great deal then I wouldn't neglect the smaller baits like maggots, castors and hemp and would probably fish with hemp and caster in the fast water through a maggot feeder (remember to enlarge the holes to allow the bait to release). You will deffinately catch the chub but there's not alot you can do if they are in the area as they are so greedy and will take anything. What you can do is lower the chances of hooking them by using a longer hair length. Chub are known for picking a bait up between their lips and giving a sharp pluck on the rod tip so by fishing a longer hair and ignoring these sharp plucks and waiting for the rod to hoop around then you should give yourself a better chance of singeling out the barbel.

 

If you do have to fish blind then at least by finding the fish on the shallows during their spawning then you know the fish will not be far away, at least for the first couple of weeks anyway and the deep water directly after rapids, shallows and weirs are always a good holding area for barbel so these would deffinately be an area I would concentrate on.

Once the fish have spread out then look for overhanging trees, deep glides, undercut banks, streamer weed. Barbel will also sit quite confortably in very fast, boily water and I have fished areas where a 4 - 5 oz gripper lead will only just hold bottom and have caught barbel.

 

I'm no expert at barbel fishing but have learned a few tricks over the years fishing rivers like the Teme, Severn, Avon and the Wye but I'm sure that if you put as much thought and effort into those barbel as you obviously do with your other fishing I have no doubt that you will find and catch them very quickly.

Good luck and remember that the offer is still there for a session on the teme.

 

Regards

 

Anthony

Edited June 6, 2010 by Anthony78

[Anthony78]

Hooklength material - braid or mono and what length?

 

I have had alot of success with Korda's soft IQ hooklength in 10lb bs. Almost invisible in the water and as it is heavy it sinks, stays near the bottom and doesn't waft around too much with the current. 18 inches is a good length and I would use this by tying a knotless knot and leaving a 1 - 2 inch tag of line. Then I would glue 3 - 4 fake casters to this tag leaving my size 10 Korda wide gape free to hook the fish.

 

 

Finally, does anyone have a length to weight table for barbel?

 

I think you will struggle to find this anywhere as the fish vary so much from river to river depending on the characteristics. For example the barbel from the river Severn tend to be deeper/fatter fish due to not having to fight a fast current. Whereas the fish from the river Teme and Wye tend to be long lean fish. Although I think your barbel will be the long lean type I have never measured the barbel I have caught so unfortuantely cant help you with this. Sorry!

 

Regards

 

Anthony

Edited June 6, 2010 by Anthony78

[Chris Plumb]

A good starting point here Andrew

 

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/usnabbotts/fish_cpin_addit_2.htm

 

I followed this advice last summer and caught my first of the species.

 

 

Now available on Anglersnet!

 

C.

Edited June 6, 2010 by Chris Plumb

[Anderoo]

Really helpful - thanks everyone. I am getting very excited about the forthcoming season

 

Ant, thanks for the invitation, I will definitely take you up on that later in the year!

[Worms]

I'm very much an 'open-end swimfeeder crammed with maggots and casters, blocked with a bran groundbait on a running link and as many maggots and casters as you can get on a size 8 hook tipped with a worm' kind of chap on smaller rivers or in low water conditions! Keep feeding balls of groundbait and loose feed, preferably over 3-6 likely swims and wander between them until your rod tip goes mental!

 

As for size, this Teme "tiger" weighed exactly 7lb 8oz and the net is 24" at the widest

 

Rod's a 10' 9" Priory of Bournemouth barbel taper and the reel's a Mitchell 410A (300 with higher gearing).

[weirwulf]

I catch most of my Barbel in the upper reaches of the Medway which is perhaps not the clearest of rivers but is extremely snaggy. My developed approach is as a result of trial and error and it should be good in any river unless the flow is extreme. Firstly the hooklength in snaggy areas and braid has a tendency to shear on snags Flourocarbon is heavy and some are tough too. I mainly fish fox illusion right down to the hook which is pulled through a large piece of pork and ham and then turned. Above that I make a movable link simply by attaching a short piece of line via a grippa stop. The link can be used to add either a shot or if needed some proer weight but will pull free when a fish decides to try and snag you. When I cast I attach a stringer of smaller bits of meat. be confident with using this method and baits that are big(a sixth of a tin) will soon be devoured by even quite small barbel but usually prevent all but the biggest chub from ruining the swim for your ultimate prize. Simple but very effective.