Barbel or mullet

[Guest Rabbit]

Rabbit

"Can you tell me of another 7lb fish that can break 10lb mono?" In the UK I can think of Sea Trout and Grilse (Salmon) who can and do do that; also big overwintered Rainbows have been known to smash even this BS mono before.

 

Don't know about salmon sea trout or even grilse 'guv, i'm a COARSE angler

So they don't count

[Tony U]

Ah Caveats you did not tell me about those

 

[Guest Rabbit]

Ah Caveats you did not tell me about those

 

It's in the small print.

 

But to be honest I stand by what I say (err more or less) Just as long as we confine it to coarse fish and every other fish I have caught. Mind you I have had a Salmon (I think) run off with my halibut pellet at a rate of knots that left me in awe, and minus a hook

[corydoras]

Mullet and barbel....I'm treading in deep water here( ohmy.gif ) but do you think *some* of the mullets' reputation could be down to sea anglers going out and catching them on coarse tackle when they have little experience of using such light gear, i.e, they've got nothing to compare it to? I'm guessing that a lot of the UK sea species *when caught on heavy gear* will not do much in the way of long runs, etc. Obviously excluding bass, tope etc. thinking more of cod, mackerel, etc.

You might have a point there Jim. Like I said before I have never caught a barbel, but I have caught plenty of brown trout, a couple of salmon, and one or two sea trout. I used to coarse fish in Loch Lomond and the river Leven 30 odd years ago before coarse fishing was popular north of the border. I have also caught loads of sea fish, both in uk waters, and pretty much all over the world (used to be in Merchant Navy). I was introduced to mullet fishing by a course fishing friend of mine, decided to buy a float road and reel and never looked back. My rod is a 13" Shakespeare Mentor Match 390 paired it with an ABU 704 that I bought from ebay. Nowadays I only fish for thick lipped mullet in the Solent and the estuary of the Hamble and the Itchin. In my experience thin lips don't fight as much as thick lipped.

[Jim Murray]

Boring fight barbel!!!! Unless you catch your barbel from a stillwater I dont understand that comment, have you ever hooked a Teme barbel? I think if the answer is no you need to head towards Worcester asap.

 

Teme barbel. The only time I've ever sat there almost dreading the rod tip slamming over. The next 10-15 minutes usually involved a complete drain of your physical and mental faculties.

 

Boring? Only if you consider mahseer fishing in miniature to be so.

 

Jim.

[Guest tigger]

I have to say I've only just started fishing for Barbs and have only had five up to now but they fight harder than anything else I've ever caught.

[ColinW]

Can you tell me of another 7lb fish that can break 10lb mono? They do, just how I don't know, no other fish size for size that I have caught can do that.

 

Funny thing is, I've never weighed a fish that I've lost.

[Newt]

Funny thing is, I've never weighed a fish that I've lost.

 

You really should ColinW.

 

The rules for determining the weight when you are practicing long distance release is that all fish of a species must have the same weight and that weight must be 4/5 of the current record size.

 

In cases where you can't be positive of the species (really long distance release), you must assume it belonged to the largest species in that particular venue.

[Will Wilkinson]

I've caught both mullet and barbel, but not enough to be able to give an expert answer. However on the basis of my somewhat limited experience I'd go for mullet - by a mile. They don't only fight hard, but often just when you think you've got them beaten they go berserk and you've got to start all over again!

 

I wonder if the water clarity is also a factor? Certainly perch in clear water often fight a lot harder, even from the same venue. Certainly a lot of visitors to Wingham have commented about the fight from my perch.

 

Any thoughts anyone?

 

I'd say the same about barbel - they never seem to give up

 

I've had a few mullet from the Arun around Littlehampton and many barbel from various rivers and pound for pound the barbel have it at the moment IMO.

 

However the river makes a significant difference - I'm currently mostly fishing the Ouse between Newport Pagnell and Bedford for barbel and these fish fight MUCH harder than e.g. river Severn fish of similar weights.

 

I'd like to catch more mullet though from some other venues before being certain - mullet certainly fight very well, the first run is usually better than a barbel's but the ones I've had didn't have as much staying power, even though they were hooked on slightly lighter gear (I use a 1.25lb test avon for mullet and either a 1.75 or 2lb test one for barbel, line strengths tend to be 6lb on the 1.25 and 10lb mono-20lb braid on the heavier rods).

 

Will