Will barbel Fishing suffer a backlash?

[Danny H]

Don't know about the Barbel, but I certainly

worry about the venues, and for the anglers who fish said venues for other fish, bit unfair if you have to pay vastly inflated prices and all you want to do is catch the odd perch or Roach on your local water.

 

It stands to reason if you get hordes of anglers, with their new " Barbel Tackle" all wanting to have a crack,At A REAL BARBEL VENUE, and yet the hot spots are tied up, slowly ( just like property market) the adjacient areas start to get a share of the interest, driving out the local roach/perch chaser.

 

Having said all of that I am speaking from purely selfish reasons being a great Ouse angler, and Of course everybody should have the right if they so chose to fish for whatever they want.

Just a bit worried that unlike Carp, demand might well outstrip supply in this particular case.

 

Maybe Barbel could be bred in those lovely clear fast Devon/cornwall rivers that at the Mo have only trout in them!!!!

[ayjay]

I am with Andy T, I think the barbel are already there.

 

I'll bet that 90% of todays barbel anglers have never caught one on float tackle,they don't know what they are missing.

 

Danny H, English Nature have turned down stocking consents for rivers in the SW cos the barbel are not indigenous.

[Paul Williams]

AJP,

I'll go further and say that a lot of them aint ever caught anything on a river with a float, find the swim (usually someone elses!) bang in the bait and catch what is an easy fish to catch (in the right conditions!) and hey presto a barbel expert is born!! ;D

[Legs]

Hi Phil

You already know my feelings on this subject,yes most certainly Barbel fishing will suffer the same fate as carp angling has done. The reason for it will be hype, just as Carp angling got hyped. I am as you know, a carp angler of some thirty years or more of learning, (and still not much good) but also enjoy to fish for other speices including Barbel. Once the angling trade/media realise there is a quick buck to be made from a certain aspect of angling it is then when the slope becomes slippery. Whilst on the subject of media, many years ago there was probably only one specialist angling publication, this being Creel later to become Angling if my memory serves me right. The articles written in this mag. were both instructional and entertaining, within these articles there was no advertising, pick one of the many Carp mags up now and read any article you want I bet some bait tackle firm is mentioned on more than one page.

What has happened to the true specialist angler?

Do they still exist?

Probably Jim but not as we know them

[Peter Waller]

Jim, not probably, but certainly not as we know them. The world moves on, but not aleways for the betterment of our sport.

 

I didn't realize, until fairly recently, that 'carp' fishing is suffering a backlash. This post, & others such as the one about sleeping on the job, have made it glaringly obvious that it is. Hardly surprising though, when you stop to look more closely at the influences, both good & not so good, both welcome & not so welcome, that this one sector of our sport has had on our sport in general.

 

It is, I suggest, mainly the rule changing that is clearly in the interests of 'carp' angling, irrespective of other species, that has created this gulf between us & them.

 

I will be very surprised if Barbel fishing, however popular it becomes, attains such a position of influence.

[Adrian]

I am a complete neutral on this, being an 'all rounder', or more like it, one who is grateful for whatever he catches.

 

I do not see Barbel Angling suffering the same backlash as Carp angling. The simple reason being that apart from the unfortunate 'poaching' of a couple of waters, barbel anglers do nothing that offends the majority who make up club membership. OK, some of them could be accused of elitism, secrecy or of forming cliques, but nothing to compare with the activities of some 'Carp Anglers'.

 

As I stated at the top, I am a neutral, but the antics of some Carp Anglers clearly upset some other Anglers. Matters such as long stays (several days) in favoured swims, stitching up half the lake from one spot with multi rods, cracking off 3 oz leads on small waters to the danger of those on the opposite bank, fish poaching/illegal importation etc etc. These are the things that bug those who may support a backlash.

 

If anything, the barbel cult will fizzle out once some of its fair weather followers realise that it is not as easy as some forms of carp fishing (overstocked commercials).

 

Adrian

[poledark]

And therein may lie the salvation of barbel fishing, as the pressure increases then the barbel become harder to catch, and if they cant bivvy up and wait for three days then many will not try it again.

This is the main reason that I would like to see night fishing for barbel stopped, or at least restricted to no bivvy's.

Not popular I know, but having seen the way carp fishing went,and the influence it has had, I wish that I had not helped to campaign for night fishing back in the 50's.

 

Den

 

[ 14 March 2002, 07:02 PM: Message edited by: poledark ]

[davidP]

Adrian:

As I stated at the top, I am a neutral, but the antics of some Carp Anglers clearly upset some other Anglers. Matters such as long stays (several days) in favoured swims, stitching up half the lake from one spot with multi rods, cracking off 3 oz leads on small waters to the danger of those on the opposite bank, fish poaching/illegal importation etc etc. These are the things that bug those who may support a backlash.

 

Adrian

I'll agree with some of this, but long-stay already exists, inapropriate methods already exists and as for poaching - you'd be amazed how far some of those Severn barbel have walked (admittedly mostly into stillwaters)!! And if some decides there's a few quid to be made smuggling big foreign barbel then it'll happen. How many will survive is another matter.

[Adrian]

David.

 

Ah, has it got that bad?, I did not realise. Most of the barbel anglers I encounter are on the Hants Avon/ Dorset Stour, I have not met a 'bad type' yet, most are mature blokes, with a good proportion of 'purists'. The worst anglers I see there have to be the casual pike type, you know, turns up with his sea stuff, no unhooking equipment etc.

 

Perhaps it is the nature of the fishery that deters the bivvy brigade, long walks, waterlogged fields, stiles, fences and cattle make transporting the wheelbarrow full of gear difficult. Add a 24 pack of carling and you would probably sink in the mud!.

 

If things are getting bad elsewhere, then perhaps a little less hype and publicity would help the barbels' cause.

 

In case my previous post left the impression that I am 'anti carp', I would pooint out that I recognise the input of carp angling as regards fish welfare, unhooking mats, safe rigs etc. As usual it is the wrong'uns that attract adverse publicity.

 

Adrian

[dexter]

I have to agree with Adrian I don't honestly think things are that bad. I do a lot on the Ribble and the guys I meet are a top bunch. They look after the fish, don't abuse the system, but most of all they enjoy their angling.

 

I've met people on there who have happily given advice on top spots, baits etc. We may not be fishing for the biggest, but god we enjoy it. And if the rest of the country is getting as bad as you say then you can keep the monsters.

 

Here's looking forward to the 16th. A fresh season and a fresh start. God I can see the sun rising over the Ribble valley now.

 

Dexter