Feeder fishing(video footage)

[Peterjg]

Something else to consider: how often you recast depends on the hookbait as well.  For example, some pellets are not attracive to fish until they have softened a bit, so there is an optimum period of their effectiveness.  Also you don't necessarily have to fill the feeder every cast.  Always more questions than answers with fishing, after 60 years of fishing I'm still learning.

[Whitty]

Or put smaller feeders on,or take the feeder off and use a bomb....we forget what we are taught Peter...common sense,lol.

[Blackbird]

6 hours ago, Whitty said:

Barbel fishing is a strange one,on rivers like the Wye where populations are high feeding is imperative,however with many rivers having less barbel to fish for because of otter predation in the main often small pva bags with a couple of boilies and a small amount of pellet is all that is required,no beds of bait,hoping to cast no less than 40 minutes between casts,feeding is venue orientated....maggot feeder fishing is different,fifteen to twenty minutes is my go to....

And that's the crux, with less barbel in the rivers, apart from the Wye and Trent, you are just feeding off the smaller species most of the time, I still think the Wye deserves a fair amount of bait, and they do shoal there, albeit feeding spells are some time between each other, but you have to ensure you have some bait down to stop them. 

I guess frequency of casts will be down to if they are having it (avin it).

As said most of my barbel fishing now is long boring interludes of setting up and then going home.....I like to target other species to help, especially when the only barbel  bite you get is last knocking, if you are lucky.  

Trotting down a float until dusk is what I need to be doing.

 

[Blackbird]

4 hours ago, Tigger said:

I very much dislike using a feeder and if possible I always catty or throw out my groundbait/particles and cast as small a weight as possible onto it.  I don't like leaving my bait in for more than about 10 min's before re casting.  One reason for not leaving it long before re casting is you never know if your bait has landed in a spot where it isn't easily got at or maybe can't be got at, or even if it has been coverd up, come off, pulled off etc.  The thought of sitting there for a half hour or more before re casting and my bait being hidden between some rocks etc isn't my idea of fun .  Another reason for re casting more often is the fish very often see the bait as it goes down which incites them to go for it.  I often make a wind or two of my reel handle a few minuites after casting out in order to move my bait to bring it to a fishes attention and hopefully incite it to take it, and it very often does the trick.

I would always prefer to do this, and the rivers you fish you can, but the river Severn is a different challenge, and lends itself perfectly to feeder fishing, and it can be exciting...especially with smaller baits and hooks.

[Whitty]

13 hours ago, Tigger said:

I very much dislike using a feeder and if possible I always catty or throw out my groundbait/particles and cast as small a weight as possible onto it.  I don't like leaving my bait in for more than about 10 min's before re casting.  One reason for not leaving it long before re casting is you never know if your bait has landed in a spot where it isn't easily got at or maybe can't be got at, or even if it has been coverd up, come off, pulled off etc.  The thought of sitting there for a half hour or more before re casting and my bait being hidden between some rocks etc isn't my idea of fun .  Another reason for re casting more often is the fish very often see the bait as it goes down which incites them to go for it.  I often make a wind or two of my reel handle a few minuites after casting out in order to move my bait to bring it to a fishes attention and hopefully incite it to take it, and it very often does the trick.

All of your points are viable Ian,apart from on venues where numbers of barbel are low and even the plop of a swan shot can send any feeding fish to the hills in panic,so maximizing length of casts gives the best chance of a confident feeding fish,loose feeding is the best option,certain venues ive fished would never have bait settling near the bottom,with even the pitter patter of loose feed spooking fish,often angling is a puzzle,which is why many of us enjoy it so much...

[Tigger]

I sometimes fish a smal river where barbel are a myth they are so scarce.  Anyhow, I have a had quite a few, but over a 16yr period!

When I say quite a few, if you spread them out over the 16yrs  they would be very thinly spread.

I have had up to four in a session and consider myself very lucky to have actually caught one.  I have caught them all on the float whilst roaving from swim to swim.  Although, all the fish have come from a small number of swims and never from anywhere else, just shows they do have favourite stop off points.

[Whitty]

They do,I've fished a few rivers where float fishing and loose feeding on the lead is probably theist effective method,I've fished others however where that method rarely catches anything but chub....

[Tigger]

On 6/9/2022 at 10:35 PM, Blackbird said:

I would always prefer to do this, and the rivers you fish you can, but the river Severn is a different challenge, and lends itself perfectly to feeder fishing, and it can be exciting...especially with smaller baits and hooks.

I have some stretches of the severn on one of my clubs book. If the stretch suites I would have to try my method using the float and see how I fettled, maybe some touch legering otherwise.