Barbel

[Flacko 1,742]

Anyone do a lot of river fishing barbel an chub need to pick yer brains

[jonah. 775]

did a fair bit on the severn a few seasons back from bridgnorth down to highley.

wasnt bagging up but had a few decent fish

[Flacko 1,742]

Tackle wise what rod an reel you using been long time since been down bridgo every body carp mad now some of my gear older than gods dog have you tried the teme ?

[jonah. 775]

tackle wise i use 1.25 - 1.75 test curve rods, ive got an avon road that has 3 differnt rod top halfs, allows me to match the rod tip to the river pace and what feeder/ lead/ method size weight i'm fishing, also depends on how far your trying to get to. having the changeable top halfs covers most situations, having said that you can use light weight carp rods, just means that bite detection isnt so visible, but as you know, a wrap around bite off a nice barbel takes some missing lol.

 

reels i prefer a bait runner / feeder these days but any fixed spool reel will do the job as long as you can adjust the drag easy enough, i prefer rear drag, less awkward for me to adjust whilst palying the fish, but that's just preferance, i tend to play mine off the real drag rather than back wind, i get snapped less as the rod and reel take the sting out of any fast runs, key when your playing barbel in moving water in my opinion.

 

having said all that above, its the last 6 inches of your set-up that gets you the bite and where you drop it. good bait, good presentation of your bait and location, thats the key, cant catch em if they aint in front of ya.

[Flacko 1,742]

Cheers Jonah can't wait to get on in june realy like abit of river fishing

[robbo 828]

Did a lot before moving to cornwall . Don't worry about your tackle being old, I used my pair of silstar powerwinds which I've had for twenty odd years, wouldntswap them for any of the newer rods . We used to go to bridgnorth area a fair bit as well. If you go late in the season it can get a little hard as the fish have wised up. Try something different like rolling apiece of free lined luncheon meat through or go to one of the lesser fished stretches , this may involve a fair walk. If its going to be bright sunny days when you're fishing try early mornings or evening sessions or night sessions if you prefer. Hope this helps a bit.

[skunkhead 20]

nip up to the trent cant really go wrong long as yer set the bizznes end up proper,dont mess about go for a decent rod with a test curve that suits you i used to use a wynwood which i was given by a rep at the NEC a few years back they had two for trefor west he ended up with one,was a multi tipped rod came with 4 ends quivers which i never use for barbel and two none quiver tip ends cant remeber the test curve i never go for that bull shit to be honest when i buy or make a rod i put a reel on the rod set the line thru and try a few different sized weights to see how the rod feels thats the better wat to make a judgemeant,if yer good with DIY rod building buy a blank corks/rubber rod rings (eyes) whipping cotton (guildenbrod) rod varnish and some celuse dope then have a bash at makeing yer own custom built rod try say greys of alnwick for a blank they are gaurenteed for life! this way yer can ccustom make a rod to suit your exact needs,but yer may just want to buy a rod for the job i dunno,barbel are funny fish i live in the north of england where the last bastion of barbel are in fact ive caught the most northeren barbel that i know of in england in the river wear at both durham and as far up river as bishop auckland western durham,ive hear of fish further up but to be honest i cant see them doing that well further up what with all the game anglers after sea trout and it is sea trout water not really barbel country if yer get me but they are there,i dont know of any in the tyne,but the wear and the Tees produce good barbel,if i travel say 15 miles south of where i am i into the river swale which is a tributary of the ouse,which comes out the humber near selbly or goole i think the same humber feeds the trent so itys a massive river system,anyway if i fish the swale the water temps are usually a degree warmer than the wear or tees on a avergae,in the swale yer can catch winter fish on most bait sweet or savoury,in the river wear its a hard job to catch a winter barbel,in the warmer months the barbel ive caught and seen caught and hear about never seem to touch sweet baits at all not saying they dont just our crowd of hardciore barbel lads never get em on sweet baits,now when we fish for barbel at durham city below framwelgate waterside (dam) below the passport offices whena a say below meaning about 1/4 mile or so down stream where the entrance to keipier farm estate is then is becomes private but in that section of water they is a good head of barbel when yer fiosh for them its rare as rocking horse shit to catch one in daylight hours they usually come on just as dark is setting in,then they feed for an hour or so then die right off,where if yer fish the swale or any of the other rivers that come out the mighty river humber like the trent,nidd,don,wharfe etc.....they will feed all day and yer can catch all day no matter the light,so they are very different river by river or maybe up here in the north they behave different i dunno we only got two river to go on after the river wear all the rivers further north are salmon fishing rivers like the tyne,coquet,aln,wansbesck,till,teviot and tweed,they are barbel devoid in fact they aint a lot of course fishing in those rivers mostly game fishing (fly) i fish the tyen for salmon never yet since 1992 till present day have a seen a course fish other than minnows,seen salmon sea trout eels lampreys both sea and river and flatties in the tidal section,not even a grayling,so barbel aint gunna be there correct me anyone if im wrong,we used to use tinned meat like pork luncheon meat,or my old favourite bacon grill,but barbel are wise to this bait in the same pegs fishing spots,so we instead of cutting a perfectly mathematical cube for hook bait tore the meat instead creating a odd ball shape which the fish didnt recognise,then of course after a while they get wise to yer tricks,so we then baited meat baits into parts of the river heiniken cant reach lol the angler,very hard to cast places like right under trees etc... tight spots we fed bait for months into these areas even in the winter when we werent fishing for barbel,the end result was barbel feeding again on meat baits that are widely used and be=abrbel feeling safe eating the bait as no one was ever getting a bait where we were putting the free offerings,so im sure the barbel were associateing these areas with safety,good tip never let me down thats just tinned meat baits the same was done when we started to make ouw own boillees,we we getting the mix and flavouring from john baker baits,we measured every mortal ingriedent,by the . of a grams we used black digital jewlers or drufg dealer scales tanita ones to be procise,we measured eveything to the point of a gram every time we made boillees even though our crowd were all good mates our own recippees were more top secret than anything in area 51 !! again we chucked for a season or two procisely made boilees into the river not nesseceraly under trees like we did with the meat baits but nin to the main river,the end result was outstanding me mate at the time nigel collins took the river record for the river wear and were were hitting doubles more now rather than struggling to get a double the fish got bigger and more plentyfull then every two year change yer bait which a year or two pryor to that yer been feeding in getting them well into eating that bait and associateing it with safety.

 

same can be said for any river but the like of the trent swale etc compared to the river wear a spate sea trout river yer gunna do even well they wear has sparse populations of barbel if yer walked down for framwelgate dam the river screams barbel but when yer fish the lovly looking willow pools and smooth glides yer will be dissapointed cos they just aint there very rarely going there my opinion id that thsi is where the sea trout anglers and salmon fishermen hammer the pools with lures and fly gear so with these pools being on a stride across the river im sure the fish dont settle this can be seen from october 31st onwards when salmon fishing stops on the wear then till april in the following year the fish move out of these salmon pools back to there summer haunts,what we have found is where the salmon lie up the barbel are never far away only ocaisonally do they get into these salmon pools in summer months as now and then one or two may acicedntly get foul hooked by a salmon fisherman like a say occasionaly,baits i like john baker boillee base mix then what ever flotas yer boat for flavourings,trout,salmon,halibut pellets,or yer could make them into a paste by grinding up to a powder then adding eggs to stiffen or maybe flour as yer would with sausege meat for a carp bait but i use eggs,tinned meat luncheon meat or bacon grill but any meat will do for barbel they will eat anything just about but some do work better than others,worms when the water is couloured,sweetcorn but i hate useing it to be honest and we bouth these ellips off the barbel fishing world website they were carcking for the river swale we done really well with them all time of the year flood or clear water made no difference,and finally casters maggot pupa,this can be done with a flot rod trotting bait with caters and hemp seed caster on the hook or fake hemp if yer like that sort of thing can give terrific resluts but personlay a prefer on the bottom specima style if yer wanna call it that,i use sometimes nylon (mono) for hook length but nearly always use braid of some description,sometimes i make odd ball shaped boillees that resmble dum bells or half moons this sometimes tricks the fish well a lot of the time,as for weights welkl depends where yer fishing sometimes no weight at all when yer roll yer bait or trundle it as it has been termed,i use stones from the river for weights great disguise and cheaper and more eco freindly than useing lead,get yer stones rocks drill em fill with araldite resin then an eye or swivel for the line to run thru yer can leave as they are or light coat them with araldite resin then roll around in sand or what ever yer fancy from the river so they can really blend in with the surroundings where yer fish.....hope this helps

 

 

 

as for old tackle makes no difference whatsovever i still use a ABU cardinal 66 x which i bought in 1979 works perfect still tight never let me down needed a bail arm spring once thats it all brass gears cracking reel i changed the reel handle from a abu one to a modified mitchell handle off a old mitchell 300 whcih died"!,ive used old fibre glass rods and proper shity gear as far as todays standards are concerned,buts its the skill in yer head not the rod and reel good line makes all the difference though

Edited April 23, 2014 by skunkhead

[Flacko 1,742]

Fek me that was some info thanks for takin the time much appreciated you the first man I spoke, message to who made own rods fekin great you prob right as other lads said dont worry about old gear get business end right and should be good cheers again pal atb Flacko

[northern lad 2,292]

nip up to the trent cant really go wrong long as yer set the bizznes end up proper,dont mess about go for a decent rod with a test curve that suits you i used to use a wynwood which i was given by a rep at the NEC a few years back they had two for trefor west he ended up with one,was a multi tipped rod came with 4 ends quivers which i never use for barbel and two none quiver tip ends cant remeber the test curve i never go for that bull shit to be honest when i buy or make a rod i put a reel on the rod set the line thru and try a few different sized weights to see how the rod feels thats the better wat to make a judgemeant,if yer good with DIY rod building buy a blank corks/rubber rod rings (eyes) whipping cotton (guildenbrod) rod varnish and some celuse dope then have a bash at makeing yer own custom built rod try say greys of alnwick for a blank they are gaurenteed for life! this way yer can ccustom make a rod to suit your exact needs,but yer may just want to buy a rod for the job i dunno,barbel are funny fish i live in the north of england where the last bastion of barbel are in fact ive caught the most northeren barbel that i know of in england in the river wear at both durham and as far up river as bishop auckland western durham,ive hear of fish further up but to be honest i cant see them doing that well further up what with all the game anglers after sea trout and it is sea trout water not really barbel country if yer get me but they are there,i dont know of any in the tyne,but the wear and the Tees produce good barbel,if i travel say 15 miles south of where i am i into the river swale which is a tributary of the ouse,which comes out the humber near selbly or goole i think the same humber feeds the trent so itys a massive river system,anyway if i fish the swale the water temps are usually a degree warmer than the wear or tees on a avergae,in the swale yer can catch winter fish on most bait sweet or savoury,in the river wear its a hard job to catch a winter barbel,in the warmer months the barbel ive caught and seen caught and hear about never seem to touch sweet baits at all not saying they dont just our crowd of hardciore barbel lads never get em on sweet baits,now when we fish for barbel at durham city below framwelgate waterside (dam) below the passport offices whena a say below meaning about 1/4 mile or so down stream where the entrance to keipier farm estate is then is becomes private but in that section of water they is a good head of barbel when yer fiosh for them its rare as rocking horse shit to catch one in daylight hours they usually come on just as dark is setting in,then they feed for an hour or so then die right off,where if yer fish the swale or any of the other rivers that come out the mighty river humber like the trent,nidd,don,wharfe etc.....they will feed all day and yer can catch all day no matter the light,so they are very different river by river or maybe up here in the north they behave different i dunno we only got two river to go on after the river wear all the rivers further north are salmon fishing rivers like the tyne,coquet,aln,wansbesck,till,teviot and tweed,they are barbel devoid in fact they aint a lot of course fishing in those rivers mostly game fishing (fly) i fish the tyen for salmon never yet since 1992 till present day have a seen a course fish other than minnows,seen salmon sea trout eels lampreys both sea and river and flatties in the tidal section,not even a grayling,so barbel aint gunna be there correct me anyone if im wrong,we used to use tinned meat like pork luncheon meat,or my old favourite bacon grill,but barbel are wise to this bait in the same pegs fishing spots,so we instead of cutting a perfectly mathematical cube for hook bait tore the meat instead creating a odd ball shape which the fish didnt recognise,then of course after a while they get wise to yer tricks,so we then baited meat baits into parts of the river heiniken cant reach lol the angler,very hard to cast places like right under trees etc... tight spots we fed bait for months into these areas even in the winter when we werent fishing for barbel,the end result was barbel feeding again on meat baits that are widely used and be=abrbel feeling safe eating the bait as no one was ever getting a bait where we were putting the free offerings,so im sure the barbel were associateing these areas with safety,good tip never let me down thats just tinned meat baits the same was done when we started to make ouw own boillees,we we getting the mix and flavouring from john baker baits,we measured every mortal ingriedent,by the . of a grams we used black digital jewlers or drufg dealer scales tanita ones to be procise,we measured eveything to the point of a gram every time we made boillees even though our crowd were all good mates our own recippees were more top secret than anything in area 51 !! again we chucked for a season or two procisely made boilees into the river not nesseceraly under trees like we did with the meat baits but nin to the main river,the end result was outstanding me mate at the time nigel collins took the river record for the river wear and were were hitting doubles more now rather than struggling to get a double the fish got bigger and more plentyfull then every two year change yer bait which a year or two pryor to that yer been feeding in getting them well into eating that bait and associateing it with safety.

 

same can be said for any river but the like of the trent swale etc compared to the river wear a spate sea trout river yer gunna do even well they wear has sparse populations of barbel if yer walked down for framwelgate dam the river screams barbel but when yer fish the lovly looking willow pools and smooth glides yer will be dissapointed cos they just aint there very rarely going there my opinion id that thsi is where the sea trout anglers and salmon fishermen hammer the pools with lures and fly gear so with these pools being on a stride across the river im sure the fish dont settle this can be seen from october 31st onwards when salmon fishing stops on the wear then till april in the following year the fish move out of these salmon pools back to there summer haunts,what we have found is where the salmon lie up the barbel are never far away only ocaisonally do they get into these salmon pools in summer months as now and then one or two may acicedntly get foul hooked by a salmon fisherman like a say occasionaly,baits i like john baker boillee base mix then what ever flotas yer boat for flavourings,trout,salmon,halibut pellets,or yer could make them into a paste by grinding up to a powder then adding eggs to stiffen or maybe flour as yer would with sausege meat for a carp bait but i use eggs,tinned meat luncheon meat or bacon grill but any meat will do for barbel they will eat anything just about but some do work better than others,worms when the water is couloured,sweetcorn but i hate useing it to be honest and we bouth these ellips off the barbel fishing world website they were carcking for the river swale we done really well with them all time of the year flood or clear water made no difference,and finally casters maggot pupa,this can be done with a flot rod trotting bait with caters and hemp seed caster on the hook or fake hemp if yer like that sort of thing can give terrific resluts but personlay a prefer on the bottom specima style if yer wanna call it that,i use sometimes nylon (mono) for hook length but nearly always use braid of some description,sometimes i make odd ball shaped boillees that resmble dum bells or half moons this sometimes tricks the fish well a lot of the time,as for weights welkl depends where yer fishing sometimes no weight at all when yer roll yer bait or trundle it as it has been termed,i use stones from the river for weights great disguise and cheaper and more eco freindly than useing lead,get yer stones rocks drill em fill with araldite resin then an eye or swivel for the line to run thru yer can leave as they are or light coat them with araldite resin then roll around in sand or what ever yer fancy from the river so they can really blend in with the surroundings where yer fish.....hope this helps

 

 

 

as for old tackle makes no difference whatsovever i still use a ABU cardinal 66 x which i bought in 1979 works perfect still tight never let me down needed a bail arm spring once thats it all brass gears cracking reel i changed the reel handle from a abu one to a modified mitchell handle off a old mitchell 300 whcih died"!,ive used old fibre glass rods and proper shity gear as far as todays standards are concerned,buts its the skill in yer head not the rod and reel good line makes all the difference though

Excellent post

[Hot Meat 3,109]

Skunk head I live on swale more or less and dabble with a few baits an flies when it's not dog season. Let me know if you down this way we get a mooch along swale with a rod each maybe lol

[steve66 3,387]

Cracking read that skunk head

[billybaltic 308]

It's surprising what's in a salmon pool, i used to target grayling in salmon pool's, ( i won't say which river) i done very well trotting a small worm through a pool or even fly fishing them with a stick fly.I have'nt fished a river for over 8 year's now, (since dad died) my youngest son has asked me to take him this year, maybe it's about time i got back on the river's, i only ever fished river's with my dad, was'nt done with purpose, just the way it turned out, maybe it's my turn to educate my lad's how my dad educated me, they have fished canals and stillwater's, but only my eldest son has been river fishing. (he was young, more of a day out with grandad)

[Flacko 1,742]

Do it mate he will thank you in years to come

[NEWKID 27,124]

nip up to the trent cant really go wrong long as yer set the bizznes end up proper,dont mess about go for a decent rod with a test curve that suits you i used to use a wynwood which i was given by a rep at the NEC a few years back they had two for trefor west he ended up with one,was a multi tipped rod came with 4 ends quivers which i never use for barbel and two none quiver tip ends cant remeber the test curve i never go for that bull shit to be honest when i buy or make a rod i put a reel on the rod set the line thru and try a few different sized weights to see how the rod feels thats the better wat to make a judgemeant,if yer good with DIY rod building buy a blank corks/rubber rod rings (eyes) whipping cotton (guildenbrod) rod varnish and some celuse dope then have a bash at makeing yer own custom built rod try say greys of alnwick for a blank they are gaurenteed for life! this way yer can ccustom make a rod to suit your exact needs,but yer may just want to buy a rod for the job i dunno,barbel are funny fish i live in the north of england where the last bastion of barbel are in fact ive caught the most northeren barbel that i know of in england in the river wear at both durham and as far up river as bishop auckland western durham,ive hear of fish further up but to be honest i cant see them doing that well further up what with all the game anglers after sea trout and it is sea trout water not really barbel country if yer get me but they are there,i dont know of any in the tyne,but the wear and the Tees produce good barbel,if i travel say 15 miles south of where i am i into the river swale which is a tributary of the ouse,which comes out the humber near selbly or goole i think the same humber feeds the trent so itys a massive river system,anyway if i fish the swale the water temps are usually a degree warmer than the wear or tees on a avergae,in the swale yer can catch winter fish on most bait sweet or savoury,in the river wear its a hard job to catch a winter barbel,in the warmer months the barbel ive caught and seen caught and hear about never seem to touch sweet baits at all not saying they dont just our crowd of hardciore barbel lads never get em on sweet baits,now when we fish for barbel at durham city below framwelgate waterside (dam) below the passport offices whena a say below meaning about 1/4 mile or so down stream where the entrance to keipier farm estate is then is becomes private but in that section of water they is a good head of barbel when yer fiosh for them its rare as rocking horse shit to catch one in daylight hours they usually come on just as dark is setting in,then they feed for an hour or so then die right off,where if yer fish the swale or any of the other rivers that come out the mighty river humber like the trent,nidd,don,wharfe etc.....they will feed all day and yer can catch all day no matter the light,so they are very different river by river or maybe up here in the north they behave different i dunno we only got two river to go on after the river wear all the rivers further north are salmon fishing rivers like the tyne,coquet,aln,wansbesck,till,teviot and tweed,they are barbel devoid in fact they aint a lot of course fishing in those rivers mostly game fishing (fly) i fish the tyen for salmon never yet since 1992 till present day have a seen a course fish other than minnows,seen salmon sea trout eels lampreys both sea and river and flatties in the tidal section,not even a grayling,so barbel aint gunna be there correct me anyone if im wrong,we used to use tinned meat like pork luncheon meat,or my old favourite bacon grill,but barbel are wise to this bait in the same pegs fishing spots,so we instead of cutting a perfectly mathematical cube for hook bait tore the meat instead creating a odd ball shape which the fish didnt recognise,then of course after a while they get wise to yer tricks,so we then baited meat baits into parts of the river heiniken cant reach lol the angler,very hard to cast places like right under trees etc... tight spots we fed bait for months into these areas even in the winter when we werent fishing for barbel,the end result was barbel feeding again on meat baits that are widely used and be=abrbel feeling safe eating the bait as no one was ever getting a bait where we were putting the free offerings,so im sure the barbel were associateing these areas with safety,good tip never let me down thats just tinned meat baits the same was done when we started to make ouw own boillees,we we getting the mix and flavouring from john baker baits,we measured every mortal ingriedent,by the . of a grams we used black digital jewlers or drufg dealer scales tanita ones to be procise,we measured eveything to the point of a gram every time we made boillees even though our crowd were all good mates our own recippees were more top secret than anything in area 51 !! again we chucked for a season or two procisely made boilees into the river not nesseceraly under trees like we did with the meat baits but nin to the main river,the end result was outstanding me mate at the time nigel collins took the river record for the river wear and were were hitting doubles more now rather than struggling to get a double the fish got bigger and more plentyfull then every two year change yer bait which a year or two pryor to that yer been feeding in getting them well into eating that bait and associateing it with safety.

 

same can be said for any river but the like of the trent swale etc compared to the river wear a spate sea trout river yer gunna do even well they wear has sparse populations of barbel if yer walked down for framwelgate dam the river screams barbel but when yer fish the lovly looking willow pools and smooth glides yer will be dissapointed cos they just aint there very rarely going there my opinion id that thsi is where the sea trout anglers and salmon fishermen hammer the pools with lures and fly gear so with these pools being on a stride across the river im sure the fish dont settle this can be seen from october 31st onwards when salmon fishing stops on the wear then till april in the following year the fish move out of these salmon pools back to there summer haunts,what we have found is where the salmon lie up the barbel are never far away only ocaisonally do they get into these salmon pools in summer months as now and then one or two may acicedntly get foul hooked by a salmon fisherman like a say occasionaly,baits i like john baker boillee base mix then what ever flotas yer boat for flavourings,trout,salmon,halibut pellets,or yer could make them into a paste by grinding up to a powder then adding eggs to stiffen or maybe flour as yer would with sausege meat for a carp bait but i use eggs,tinned meat luncheon meat or bacon grill but any meat will do for barbel they will eat anything just about but some do work better than others,worms when the water is couloured,sweetcorn but i hate useing it to be honest and we bouth these ellips off the barbel fishing world website they were carcking for the river swale we done really well with them all time of the year flood or clear water made no difference,and finally casters maggot pupa,this can be done with a flot rod trotting bait with caters and hemp seed caster on the hook or fake hemp if yer like that sort of thing can give terrific resluts but personlay a prefer on the bottom specima style if yer wanna call it that,i use sometimes nylon (mono) for hook length but nearly always use braid of some description,sometimes i make odd ball shaped boillees that resmble dum bells or half moons this sometimes tricks the fish well a lot of the time,as for weights welkl depends where yer fishing sometimes no weight at all when yer roll yer bait or trundle it as it has been termed,i use stones from the river for weights great disguise and cheaper and more eco freindly than useing lead,get yer stones rocks drill em fill with araldite resin then an eye or swivel for the line to run thru yer can leave as they are or light coat them with araldite resin then roll around in sand or what ever yer fancy from the river so they can really blend in with the surroundings where yer fish.....hope this helps

 

 

 

as for old tackle makes no difference whatsovever i still use a ABU cardinal 66 x which i bought in 1979 works perfect still tight never let me down needed a bail arm spring once thats it all brass gears cracking reel i changed the reel handle from a abu one to a modified mitchell handle off a old mitchell 300 whcih died"!,ive used old fibre glass rods and proper shity gear as far as todays standards are concerned,buts its the skill in yer head not the rod and reel good line makes all the difference though

Great post mate

 

The last line is so true..