Barbel baits

[Dick Dastardly]

My thinking is similar to Anderoos.The aproach that I have found best over all (ie on several different venues in 5 seperate countries) is the small/mass bait aproach of maggot or caster combined with hemp.

 

In coloured water then luncheon meat is my favourite and most consistent.

 

Not got round to using Halibut pellets yet so cant really coment other than on a trip to the Warcs Avon a mate of mine did well on them whilst I struggled with maggot/hemp aproach.

[steve williams]

On the severn nowadays the pellet is outfishing maggot /caster. In normal conditions use a blockend filled with 2/ 4mm pellets & a 6 mm pellet on the hook. When the river is up use a bigger pellet (no feeder)wrapped in pellet paste - works a treat.

[Anderoo]

I think my choice of bait will depend on the type of swim I'll be fishing - on the Thames here it can be very deep and slow or very shallow and fast. My main worry is that the mass baiting with small items is likely to be pretty expensive, especially when there may not even be any barbel there!

[seph]

Sorry, I have just noticed this thread.

 

Anyway most of my fishing is done with pellet/ boilies and luncheon meat. Meat is great in coloured water and has accounted for some cracking fish later in the season. Different boilies seem to work better on different rivers, but that's not to say that one that works somewhere, does not work anywhere else. This is just my personal opinion. I rarely use hemp and caster these days as pellet has taken over by a mile. If I do use hemp it is in the summer months only and grounbait for the winter. I am not a lover of grounbait as Bream love it too, but if needs must, I use it.

 

I would say that 80% of my fishing is done with pellet.

[big tinca]

Cant beat fishing a maggot feeder with a bunch of maggots on a size 10 had Barbel to 11lb

Edited May 31, 2006 by big tinca

[Dick Dastardly]

Be a right result if I can get the confidence in pellet! Cleaner,easier and a lot cheaper!

[slodger]

With the fairly limited amount of barbelling I've done in recent seasons, I'm still likely to use something traditional.

 

By far the three most succesful hook-baits for me have been Cheese paste and Garlic flavoured meat in coloured water, and sweetcorn in clear water.

 

I'm convinced that the addition of garlic, or rather dipping a meat bait in a jar of pureed garlic, improves its pulling power dramatically.

 

From the little that I've used pellet as a hook-bait, I just can't get on with them. I can never keep them on the hair/hook for long. I think if I were to seriously target the barbel nowadays I'd elect to fish a boilie made from pellets on the hair.

 

Another oft forgotten tactic which works well on my local river Great Ouse, is a freshly despatched minnow.

[jeepster]

cheese is a bait i've neglegted for years, maybe to my cost

pellets, meat and the humble maggot have served me well

[chris mc]

Elips pellets can't be beaten,also worth a try are Halibut pellets(21mm) and Source boilies also if you can get throw the small stuff a big 2oz feeder full of maggots and hemp with a size 10 hook with as many maggots as you can fit onit always works on big rivers.,going to give them Korda maggot clips ago on the rivers this year,on still waters dureing the closed season all they have caught is nothing just come in with very very chewed maggots every time and no idication of a bight.

Edited May 31, 2006 by chris mc

[chris mc]

cheese is a bait i've neglegted for years, maybe to my cost

pellets, meat and the humble maggot have served me well

 

 

I can't catch anything but Chub on cheese then again i only have ever targeted Chub on cheese,will give it a go for Barbel this year.

 

 

P.s

with regards to my first post with Elips pellets, they don't work on still waters at all,well not for me anyway and there not the cheapest baits in the world.