barbel

grover · #1

does anyone here know anything about barbel fishing? as i have a couple of questions, i dont really wanna join another forum to ask, just thought i'd ask here first.

#2

i used to win a lot ov barbel matches on the severn up til about 8 years ago before i swoped total to canal matches so if i can help

joffmiester · #3

what sort of thing do you need to know ,is it barbel fishing in a match or pleasure fishing mate

#4

Grover,
can't really help myself, but have a read of THIS it may be of interest.

grover · #5

cheers guys, but no its just pleasure fishing, its a somtimes fast but shallow weir,the one where i cought that 5lber the other week on the float,i went down there the otherday but with the extra water it looked perfect for a lead approach..so i wanted sum help with rigs, im guessing hair rigged pellet n stuff,but when its fast the hooklength must be moving all over the place,even if shotted down,i guess that a braided hklength could tangle up in this situation? so what do i use? and how do i feed, other than using a feeder

grover · #6

cheers mugga ive had a look at that link and its pretty good

joffmiester · #7

not knowing much about pellets

i couldn't tell you much .but a few years ago the river soar population of barbel feed quite regularly in matches and the best bait seamed to be double caster nothing too heavy regarding line and hooks now the big boys use proper gear and stork there fish .we have had a 16lb fish caught from the river but who knows where is a different story

#8

I think Mr Woodhouse is a dab hand on the Severn with barbel fishing.

#9

try a big pellet with paste wraped round it or the meat if up an coloured if not useing a feeder try a bait droper or loose feed with a few big pellets best ov luck

MarkV · #10

It's not hard Grover

The no1 issue, is fishing where the fish are. If you know that you are more than well on your way.

Then the biggest thing I learned, on the Severn anyway, is that daytime fishing makes your job much, much harder.

I'm no night fisherman, but the hour / hour and a half before dark was the time. It could be uncanny, like someone had flicked a switch. Nowt all day and then caught from 'fishless' swims.

I didnt manage to get up early enough to try dawn

Simple rigs did well. I used to use 4mm halibutts in a pva bag, with a larger banded pellet hair rigged.

You could use a blockend feeder with 3mm pellets. I didnt get too technical with hooklengths, just using mono and dacron with no problems.

Beefed my gear up no end though. 10lb mono, 8lb hooklength. I wasnt match fishing and if that 15lb'er turned up I wanted it

Lots of stuff been written and good links around but I often think there's no need to get to complicated or technical.

I've been guilty of thinking too much sometimes, when at the end of the day, it's just fishing.

Good luck with it

trypewriter · #11

1.75 lb or 2 lb test curve rod, 15 lb mainline (ESP carp mono is what I use) 15 lb Krystonite hooklength (this doesn't waft about like braid) use a 12 to 18 inch hooklength, block-end feeder with the holes enlarged, use a mix of different sized pellets - micro up to 3mm, size 7 to 9 ESP T6 Raptor hook (these are bomb proof and have a beaked point which rarely blunts over gravel) hair rigged 12 or 14mm halibut pellet. Krill pellets are better, if you can get them, they are sometimes sold as red halibuts. Don't bother with drilled ones, use a bait band, or if you can get hold of some elips pellets superglue them back to back on the hair loop. On a big river like the Trent you can cast more frequently - about every 15-20 minutes at this time of year. Smaller rivers like the Dove you would tend to leave it 45 minutes between casts. Similarly, the bigger the fish you are targeting, the less frequently you need to cast - trust them, they will find it. Don't bother with quivertips, a straight through top is what you need, they will still give you a 3 ft twitch.

phy8dop · #12

I have caught quite a few on the Trent. I tend to use a hooklength of 3 or 4 ft. I think the bigger ones might hold back a little from the feeder, whereas the 2-3lb chub seem to be right up attacking the feeder. I think the long hooklength will cause the bait to waft around in the flow, although I don't see this as a negative. I dont get tangles using fairly stiff mono, but I wouldn't use braid, cause I reckon this could give problems.

I just use cheap strong line. Daiwa sensor in 12lb. On big rivers with rocky bottoms like the Trent it gets trashed really quickly. Often you can be throwing away the top 10ft of line every few hours as it gets caught up on rocks etc.

I tend to fish a feeder, either a cage feeder or blockend. For the cage feeder I use scalded pellets squished in instead of groundbait. For this setup I'll use one of the biggest nisa cage feeders with extra lead, so I'm putting in a LOT of bait. I tend to use 4-6mm pellets as feed for this.
When using a blockend I use a Drennan blockend feeder in the largest size. I feed 2 or 3mm pellets. these need to be dry else they don't come out very easily, even with the holes enlarged.

If I fish with a 2nd rod I'll fish a rod with just a bomb and small pva bag 20m or so downstream of the feeder line. The idea of this is to pick up any rogue fish hanging back from the feed. This rod has caught my two biggest barbel (only 9 1/2lb, so not giant by most peoples standards) so the theory seems to hold out

For hookbait Ive caught a lot on sweetcorn or cheddar cheese. Pellet works also, but I have honestly caught a lot more on corn and feel that I wait less time for bites. I'll hair rig 3 or 4 grains.

....to be honest after you have them hovering up the trail of bait from the feeder I think they'd eat pretty much anything. They are probably as greedy as carp when they get going, but have the disadvantage that they have to make a split second choice to eat the bait before it floats away downstream.

Of course if you are fishing a small river such as the upper soar etc then the above might not be applicable. I think the general rule that they are greedy would still hold true though. I'd probably target these by feeding small pellets/hemp/castor by catapult to get them feeding before fishing over the top with a bomb.

#13

Simple, KevP has forgotten more about barbel fishing than I will ever know. When I was younger Kev Perry was one of my heroes , he had a fantastic record on the Severn.

grover · #14

cheers lads!! sum great tips above