barbel at makins

[Guest Rabbit]

Rabbit, barble are not special, Roach are........Tench are............Eels are fascinating.................

 

Rudd (big ones) are...........................baebel are just another fish, and where they are in numbers they are pretty easy.

 

Maybe big barbells are fairly hard to come by, but even they are easier than an elusive big carp.

 

Den

 

Den thanks, but to me they are special, because they are the nearest we have to an inland truly wild fish. They can cover vast distances, and inhabit some of the most desirable waters in the country. They are not easy to catch, and when you are lucky enough to hook one they fight long and hard..Ii too love roach, rudd, tench chub et all, in fact I would say my greatest angling challenge was to catch a 2lb plus roach,and today nothing can beat that.

But I do take your point a 3lb roach or a 4lb rudd is by a country mile a harder challenge than a 12lb barbel.

[Guest tigger]

Rabbit, barble are not special, Roach are........Tench are............Eels are fascinating.................

 

Rudd (big ones) are...........................baebel are just another fish, and where they are in numbers they are pretty easy.

 

Maybe big barbells are fairly hard to come by, but even they are easier than an elusive big carp.

 

Den

 

 

 

To me Barbel are a truly special fish and one of my favourites to catch and also to look at, what a beautiful fish they are. All the others are good too but I think Barbs are my favourite...................at the moment anyhow

 

I reckon a big barb is much harder to come by than a big carp, lets face it there's no shortage of big carp.

Edited July 4, 2008 by tigger

[BoldBear]

Barbel are my favourite fish as well; closely followed by large Tench.

Roach are my third favourite; maybe because although they are elusive they are not too hard to locate on the upper Lea and Upper Great Ouse where they seem to stay near features like large rush beds, although we do try to keep the actual locations to ourselves as they would soon move away if too many people started fishing for them.

 

Although I used to fish almost soley for Carp at one time and spend many hours planning and executing their capture I don't think they really fight size for size as well as a good Barbel; well not in the rivers that we fish anyway; Plus Carp are a bit common these days and fishing for them is not a very active type of fishing with alarms, bivvies and bedchairs etc. I have often caught a 6 or 7 lb river Carp after catching Barbel of a similar size and I have thought it was a Chub because the fight was not so powerful after playing a Barbel (this is not always true though; but usually is).

 

Poledark, you say that Barbel don't seem to fight that good; I remember reading in Peter Stones book 'Bream and Barbel' where the Barbel on the Royalty used to be like that, occasionally a barbel would fight like hell but most of them in the Royalty used to give up without much of a fight; unlike the Barbel on other stretches of the Avon and the Stour plus other rivers. and he said that Richard Walker had a theory that the Barbel on the Royalty in those days were so accustomed to being caught that they just gave up knowing that they would find themselves being free again very soon after. He said that it was not inteligence but programming. I don't think It's like that on the Royalty these days though.

Perhaps they are a bit like that where you fish if you don't think they fight Poledark?.

Like many ex Carp anglers (Yates, Bob James etc.) my favourite species has progressed back to the Barbel; which fight like hell until they are literally exhausted, and need recovering for quite a time before releasing.

You never seem to forget your first Barbel however most anglers that I know (including me) can't remember when they caught their very first Carp.

Edited July 4, 2008 by BoldBear

[Guest Rabbit]

 

''There is enough documented evidence from those commercials that have stocked barbel to prove the existence of BABY barbel in their waters, wonder where they came from, did the magic fairy come down in the middle of the night and sprinkle fairy dust to produce those little barble that anglers catch or do you think its possible that (ssh keep it quiet now) the resident barbel in those commercials have actually spawned and are happy(whatever thats supposed to mean)''

Still waiting for the documented evidence that barbel breed in still water...Anyone??

Edited July 5, 2008 by Rabbit

[poledark]

BB. My early years after barbel were on the Royalty about 50+ years ago..had a couple up to 7lbs 4oz. On a Mk1V carp rod they fought well. The attraction was the relative rarity at that time.

 

I was also catching carp. mainly wildies (true ones from Wadhurst) and they def fought harder on the same tackle.

 

Later years I fished the Kennet, saw a progressive increase in average size until a double became almost a daily event. All these were caught on a Shimano 13ft match rod and Shimano 4500 reel. Surprisingly powerful rods None of these fish (a few hundred) fought in a way that gave me any cause for concern, rarely making runs of more than a few yards.

I never hooked a barbel that needed to be given time to recover, so maybe I was landing them quickly?

 

As a direct comparison, using the same rods/reels and lines, I have had some frightening battles with carp. OK, most were bigger than the barbel (the barbel were up to 12lbs) but many of the carp pulled many yards of line off the clutch, even against extra finger presure on the spool....I used the same 12lb braid for all the fishing.

 

I to love barbel, at least from the nicer stretches of the Avon and Kennet, and had it not been for moving nearer to family and grandkids, I would have settled somewhere near the Kennet and still been fishing for barbel and chub ....................but...............from what I read and am told, most barbel fishing is now done with buzzers and bivvies, so maybe the magic will have gone.

 

I still stand by my assertion that an 18lb common will outfight almost any other fish ( I have only caught a couple of cats so can't really comment on them)

 

Den

[Guest Rabbit]

BB. My early years after barbel were on the Royalty about 50+ years ago..had a couple up to 7lbs 4oz. On a Mk1V carp rod they fought well. The attraction was the relative rarity at that time.

 

I was also catching carp. mainly wildies (true ones from Wadhurst) and they def fought harder on the same tackle.

 

Later years I fished the Kennet, saw a progressive increase in average size until a double became almost a daily event. All these were caught on a Shimano 13ft match rod and Shimano 4500 reel. Surprisingly powerful rods None of these fish (a few hundred) fought in a way that gave me any cause for concern, rarely making runs of more than a few yards.

I never hooked a barbel that needed to be given time to recover, so maybe I was landing them quickly?

 

As a direct comparison, using the same rods/reels and lines, I have had some frightening battles with carp. OK, most were bigger than the barbel (the barbel were up to 12lbs) but many of the carp pulled many yards of line off the clutch, even against extra finger presure on the spool....I used the same 12lb braid for all the fishing.

 

I to love barbel, at least from the nicer stretches of the Avon and Kennet, and had it not been for moving nearer to family and grandkids, I would have settled somewhere near the Kennet and still been fishing for barbel and chub ....................but...............from what I read and am told, most barbel fishing is now done with buzzers and bivvies, so maybe the magic will have gone.

 

I still stand by my assertion that an 18lb common will outfight almost any other fish ( I have only caught a couple of cats so can't really comment on them)

 

Den

 

Sorry Den that is mostly rubbish. if you expect me to believe that catching barbel on a match rod never gave you any concern is stretching it, and to add that you never had to give the barbel time to recover is stretching even more. and all on match tackle. !!!

Have you ever caught a barbel on the Teme? if so I think you would have had left your match tackle at home. you certainly would have had to give the fish time to recover.

A 7lb Teme barbel fights as hard as any carp I have hooked, it is daft to compare one against the other when so many other factors come into play

[poledark]

No not rubbish, just simple facts gained from many years of doing it. I have NEVER seen any barbel that needed "time to recover", neither any of mine or any of my mates. All of us very experienced all round anglers, and that includes the ones that were carefully weighed and photographed.

 

As for rod power, I think you should have a look and feel of the Shimano aero 420 match rods, used with 12lb braid, I have fought and stopped loads (and I mean loads) of fish up to 25lbs on them.

 

Never fished the Teme so can't comment on them, but I don't talk rubbish, I talk facts and experience and that's why I defined the tackle I was using...or are you doubting that as well?

 

Den

[Guest tigger]

Later years I fished the Kennet, saw a progressive increase in average size until a double became almost a daily event. All these were caught on a Shimano 13ft match rod and Shimano 4500 reel. Surprisingly powerful rods None of these fish (a few hundred) fought in a way that gave me any cause for concern, rarely making runs of more than a few yards.

I never hooked a barbel that needed to be given time to recover, so maybe I was landing them quickly?

 

 

Den

 

Den, I am confused as this seems to contradict an earlier post you made in the Barbel or Mullet thread when you said

 

Slightly off topic, but isn't most of it down to the tackle used? One simple scenario, I fished a weir pool for barbel and lost every one I hooked due to their ability to fight and stay deep and get snagged. This was on a 1.75 TC rod and 10lb BS line.

I went back the following week with one of my 13ft 3lbTC rods and 15lbBS line and literally dragged a few out.

 

I am not nit picking but you did seem to say that you needed stronger tackle due to the barbel's ability to fight???

[poledark]

No Tigger, no contradiction. The 1.75 TC rods are the Shimano match rods. The situation was as stated...weir pool full of snags needing to bully the fish straight up to the surface to avoid the snags. You can't do that with 1.75 TC rods (well at least I couldn't )

 

Den

[Guest Rabbit]

No not rubbish, just simple facts gained from many years of doing it. I have NEVER seen any barbel that needed "time to recover", neither any of mine or any of my mates. All of us very experienced all round anglers, and that includes the ones that were carefully weighed and photographed.

 

As for rod power, I think you should have a look and feel of the Shimano aero 420 match rods, used with 12lb braid, I have fought and stopped loads (and I mean loads) of fish up to 25lbs on them.

 

Never fished the Teme so can't comment on them, but I don't talk rubbish, I talk facts and experience and that's why I defined the tackle I was using...or are you doubting that as well?

 

Den

 

No not rubbish Den, but i will concede on the tackle, but if you attempted to use a match rod to beat a hard fighting barbel then FACT that fish, especially in summer low oxygen water conditions would require the fish to recover by being held in the water. especially ater being trophy shot and weighed.

Ii don't care how an experienced angler you are that statement is fact, and to deny it will send out the wrong sort of message to the new comers to the species, especially from someone with your experience,. There is a code for handling barbel Den, because they can fight to exhaustion and therefore do need careful handling and returning fit enough so not to go belly up.