River fishing advice.

[Sportsman]

I intend to target rivers more this year and I am looking for some advice.

Species are Bream from a large river (think Thames) and Chb and Barbel from a smaller river (think upper Thames)

Tactics are likely to be feeder at up to 40 yds on the big river and 20 yds on the smaller.

 

What I would like advice on is baiting and baits,

Bream offers a choice between sweet GB or particles including hemp and maggots/worm/sweetcorn on the hook or fishmeal based GB with pellet or boiled baits.

 

Chub / Barbel is particles with maggot/worm/meat on the hook

Maggot feeder and maggots on the hook (I have found a reasonably priced source of maggots at last)

Fishmeal/pellets in the feeder and pellet/boilie hookbaits.

 

None of the rivers will have seen much of this style of fishing and wouldn't be used to pellets or boilies particularly. There is one Brit angler a bit north of here though who is catching a ton of Barbel on rivers that weren't known to contain them by using GB made from fishmeal/ground halibut pellets/pellets in big feeders with Halibut pellets or boilies on the hook, all on scaled down carp gear

I look forward to catching my first French Barbel with your help of course.

[Rusty]

I can't catch bream and I'm only marginally more successful with barbel so I won't offer advice on those (other than do what the other guy is doing). For chub, however, don’t overlook the humble bread mash balled in as groundbait and a large piece of flake on the hook. That method has worked for me many times and the bait has the advantage of being readily available.

 

[Sportsman]

Thanks Rusty.

I thought about the bread but from what I have seen on here it seems to be baiting up several swims and trying them for a short while before moving on to the next one. I am afraid that mobility problems don't permit this. I have to sit still and bring the fish up to me. Would bread still work like that?

[Steve Walker]

Although they work well together, the roving approach baiting several swims up works with other baits besides bread, and bread works with the static approach too.

[Rusty]

I have to sit still and bring the fish up to me. Would bread still work like that?

Absolutely! The mash groundbait being the important bit, it'll send flakes of bread downstream and hopefully bring chub up to investigate the source. It's very effective, my two largest chub (and most of the others come to think of it) have been taken on bread fishing just one swim.

[ayjay]

If I'm fishing static (swimwise) for chub with bread I prefer to use a cage feeder with liquidised crumb in the feeder, the only substantial offering is then the bread on the hook. It's almost impossible to overfeed chub but the possibility is always on my mind with mashed bread.

 

With reference to overfeeding chub: I was wandering the Avon with a bucket of hemp feeding various swims and looking for barbel, it was hot and sunny and nothing was happening, I found a nice looking swim which could contain barbel at some time of the day and so being hot and tired I stayed there and fed just two recognisable chub with 6 pints of hemp and corn in a little over an hour, they scoffed everything, if a chub could ever look ill, those two did by the time I ran out of bait.

[Vagabond]

It's almost impossible to overfeed chub but the possibility is always on my mind with mashed bread.

Yes, I agree broadly with that, but I rememberon one occasion overdoing things as follows;-

 

Fishing a VERY overgrown part of the Upper Medway

 

Pushed my way in through some thick bushes, Found myself in a very cramped position upstream of a sharp bend where dwelt some decent chub. Too much debris between me and said swim, so decided to float bits of bread down and see if I could entice the chub towards me. Flicked in a freebie or two.

 

After a while ....GLOP!

 

Another freebie.....GLOP - a bit nearer. Then another.... "Time to put a baited hook in" I thought

 

Baited a hook, flicked in one more freebie, prepared to cast, GLOP ! right beside me, eye contact with chub, huge bow wave as chub tore off downstream.

 

I think as it left, I caught the thought wave "Ah - I wondered who was throwing crusts in "

[Phone]

Sportsman,

 

As you probably remember I got things drastically wrong on my first trip to France river fishing. Only been twice, so my advice is based on Chesters1's 50/50 theory. NO GROUNDBAIT (bait that is tossed in loose to lay on the river floor). Local wisdom was that it dislocated the normal pattern of fish movement.

 

Phone