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Predatory Barbel?


dant

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Just spotted this clip on Youtube.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yjj5c06IWcc

 

It appears to be from somewhere in Eastern Europe. The footage itself is fairly in-conclusive. They've listed it as Barbus Barbus and the fish you very briefly see do look like Barbel, but I have a slight suspicion that it could in-fact be Asp, although it's difficult to tell either way. Could it be a Barbel sub-species more inclined to predation?

 

I've seen a small group of largish Barbel on the River Wensum on a close season spotting trip, corner and feed on a shoal of very recently hatched fry. Some of the fry in the clip look larger than what I'd expect a barbel to have a go at.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Or indeed has anyone spotted or caught other usually non-predatory 'out of character'? I would include Chub as predators albeit omnivorous ones....

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I think most of our freshwater species are predatory to some extent.

I have caught barbel on minnows 2-3ins long, on the shallows early season, whilst fishing for chub. These have been as small as 2-3lb, and on one occasion I caught a roach of about 1 1/2lb using the same method.

 

As for the video, I've never seen them acting like that before. The head that comes out at about 1.25 on the film certainly looks like a barbel.

 

John.

Angling is more than just catching fish, if it wasn't it would just be called 'catching'......... John

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I would agree that to some extent most of freshwater species are predatory. I should think the early season fry shoals are fairly readily available sources of protein when fish need it most.

I was just surprised to see Barbel acting in the classic herd and attack manner with fry of around an inch or two that we usually associate with shoals of Perch or small Zander.

Interesting stuff!

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Didn't a salmon angler once catch a 'then' British Record sized barbel on a spinner from the Royalty - out of season!

C.

 

I think you may be right there. I think a good number of European anglers use small lures for all sorts of fish species that over here we'd only go for with bait's.

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Just spotted this clip on Youtube.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yjj5c06IWcc

 

It appears to be from somewhere in Eastern Europe. The footage itself is fairly in-conclusive. They've listed it as Barbus Barbus and the fish you very briefly see do look like Barbel, but I have a slight suspicion that it could in-fact be Asp, although it's difficult to tell either way. Could it be a Barbel sub-species more inclined to predation?

 

I've seen a small group of largish Barbel on the River Wensum on a close season spotting trip, corner and feed on a shoal of very recently hatched fry. Some of the fry in the clip look larger than what I'd expect a barbel to have a go at.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Or indeed has anyone spotted or caught other usually non-predatory 'out of character'? I would include Chub as predators albeit omnivorous ones....

 

 

In the clip I couldn't be 100percent sure that it was a Barbel or even if it was actually predating those small fish. I don't think the video proves anything although I do think there's a bit of a predator in virtually every species of fish. Maybe it was just bullying the smaller fish?

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All barbel species worldwide, including the UK barbel, are very predatory. The larger they grow, the more predatory they become (although huge amounts of man-made baits such as boiles in waters that hold low stocks of small fish to prey on tends to lower the predatory instinct).

Certain times of year the hunt for small fish increases, especially during spring spawning of several other freshwater species.

 

It is true that ALL large freshwater species are predatory, even carp (that tend to love eating small tench) to some extent.

GLOBETROTTER main website:

http://www.wildcarp.com

GLOBE'S GALLERY:

http://www.wilderness-photo.co.uk

New CARP 2006 CALENDAR:

http://www.pinkkipperpublishing.co.uk

EUROPEAN Website:

http://www.westerlaan-publisher.com

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I have caught barbel on minnows 2-3ins long, on the shallows early season, whilst fishing for chub.

 

Me too - the river I fish is stuffed with minnows, and if you use them early season you never know what is coming next, pike, perch, chub, trout or barbel.

 

 

RNLI Governor

 

World species 471 : UK species 105 : English species 95 .

Certhia's world species - 215

Eclectic "husband and wife combined" world species 501

 

"Nothing matters very much, few things matter at all" - Plato

...only things like fresh bait and cold beer...

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