Medway barbel

[Leon Roskilly]

As a member of Maidstone & Victory (until this season) I'd heard that small barbel had come out from time to time in matches, downriver from Maidstone, for a number of years.

 

Dunc, I used to leger for chub downstream of Teston Bridge, actually casting across the bridge just past the farthest arch.

 

I regularly used to strike into a fish, play it for a few seconds, then the line would go solid and part.

 

I was convinced that it was a pike in ambush there that would dive out and hit the chub.

 

(I did tie some size 8 hooks to wire with the intention of settling it in my mind, but somehow got diverted to fishing elsewhere)

 

But I did have that experience upriver of the bridge, playing a chub across the river when suddenly it became very heavy and started pulling back.

 

I almost got the pike into the landing net but couln't quite get it into the net, and the line parted as the angle decreased as the pike passed me.

 

 

Tight Lines - leon

[Vagabond]

Steve Burke:

Steve Burke:

....offer a "Medway Only" ticket, at a much reduced rate to purchasers......Or to offer their stretch to a cooperative, who'd sell tickets for the whole river, and pay a fee to the clubs.

Isn't the latter what is done on the Rother through the Rother Fisheries Association?

Not quite Steve. Several clubs are in the RFA, but that controls only a few parts of the river plus a bit of the Royal Military Canal.

 

Some of the RFA clubs (not all) also have their own private bits of the Rother.

 

If you wanted to fish the Eastern Rother (there is also a Western Rother in mid-Sussex that flows into the Adur) from source to sea, you would still encounter Dunk's problem of having to join many clubs.

[Jim Gibbinson]

On the subject of "untypical" barbel environments, let me offer the Great Ouse and the Bristol Avon - much of the Thames, too, for that matter. Even the Kennet is not the fast, clear river with waving fronds of Ranunculus that it used to be, but a much slower and more coloured river. So perhaps the lower Medway isn't quite so untypical after all?

 

Be that as it may - I'd love to see barbel become established in the Lower Medway in viable numbers. Kent is very nearly "God's country" as it is; the addition of significant numbers of barbel in the lower Medway would complete the specification!

[nick_gilbert]

The Medway could be much like the lower Thames was when I fished it for barbel back in the late 70's, it seemed that only a few swims on the particular section I fished produced barbel in any numbers, and I never caught one before 6pm in the evening, mostly picking them up at night.

 

I do believe the Maidstone Victory section of the river is very lightly fished anyway, and most likely very rarely at night, plus the fact that if anybody does hook a decent barbel on roach gear it is lost and probably dismissed as being a carp?

 

What I am getting at here is that I believe there are more barbel in the lower river than you think and maybe if someone targeted them seriously, with more natural baits like maggots, worms etc. you may be pleasantly surprised. Or someone could be catching them already to a good size and keeping things quiet wanting the sections of river they fish to remain peacfull.

 

Leon

 

I have fished all the Maidstone Victory Matches on the river in the last 3 seasons and have yet to see a barbel caught, although I hear of fish hooked that take off at speed that are never landed, could they be Barbel?

[Carl Douglas]

The Medway is also very similar to the Warwickshire Avon which has seen a Barbel explosion in the last few years.

[Dunk Fairley]

Here's one or you Leon. Spanish Dave (not actually Spanish) walks his dog daily at the Wierton stretch of the Medway. a few weeks ago, he was asked to hold the camera and take a picture of an 18lb Pike. Lar weekend, he was down there again, and had to hold the camera for the same angler, as he'd caught a 3.5lb Bass (apparently, it went back OK).

 

The MVAS sections are indeed very lightly fished, especially at night. In fact, I've NEVER seen another angler when I've fished it overnight for Carp. When I've fished it for Carp, I've caught decent chub as well, but never a Barbel. Yet I've used the same baits and caught Barbel in quite a lot of other rivers.

 

If I ever work out the ins and outs of river fishing, I'll pack up!

[Jim Gibbinson]

A 3.5lb bass?

[Andrew Boyd]

The Barbel of the lower Seven do well in the slower sections reaching good sizes. Perhaps one day we'll see the Maidstone section of the Medway do likewise.

 

Hi Dunk Don't bother with a BDAS ticket, they ( we )only have a 300 to 400 meters ! There are a few members like myself who persist, but finding the swim you want free is a lottery.

[nick_gilbert]

Jim Gibbinson:

A 3.5lb bass?

Zander maybe?

 

Although I have caught bass as far up as Chelsea on the Thames but that is still tidal.

[Cranfield]

Perhaps Wierton should be Wouldham, even then it would be a fantastic event.