1st time barbel fishing help needed

[antz]

hey guys when the new season kicks in i would like to have a go at fishing for barbel and would like a few pointers.

do you know anywere near the middlesex area where i can go that is either free or day ticket?

what are the best tactics?

what are the best baits?

any advise/tips/hints

what tackle ?

thank you in advance

[antz]

anybody !!

[Old Smoothound]

Hi Antz,

I don't know your area but I can give some advice on tactics and bait.

Barbel are bottom feeders although they will come up on very rare occasions.

Firstly you will need a lot of loose feed to keep them feeding and interested do not feed it all at once, little and often after your intitial baiting up of the swim.

Either fixed bolt rig with swim feeder or method feeder or running ledger with a good strong forged hook the size to match you hook bait.

Ideally a fast taper barbel rod if float fishing or 1.75-2lb test curve Carp rod if ledgering.
Fixed spool reel filled with braid
Hook Length 5lbs

Best baits Include:

Halibut Pellets
Sweetcorn
Casters
Cooked Hemp as loose feed
Luncheon Meat
Fish boilies
Chorizo Spanish Parika Sausage( seriously!)
Big Bunches of juicy lobworms

You will need to find the "Hotspot" on your local River. Ideally not the most fished swim on the river!! Barbel like to hide underneath or next to tree roots in the shaded areas of the river. Deep holes where they "Lie Up" and wait for the food to come to them.

Plumb the depth quietly and locate these areas and you are in with a good chance of success.

Hope you land one!

Regards
Shaun

[BoldBear]

Hi Antz,
I just saw your post about Barbel fishing near middlesex.
I have not fished in middlesex but there are Barbel in the Colne just south of Watford and in the coppermill stream in Walthamstow; if they are close to you?.
I fish the upper Lea at Wheathamstead and Welwyn Garden City and Hertford (which is not that far from you) where it is just like a small stream but there are Barbel all along the Lea if you are prepared to find the fish and travel.
However unless you know where the barbel are you could fish a whole season without catching one. there may only be 3 or 4 Barbel swims in a hundred yard stretch although in the same 100 yard stretch you could catch other fish like chub in nearly every swim. So concentrate on bends where you get undercuts in the bank, or in runs between streamer weed, or sharp drops in the river bed or anywhere that natural food congragates, or along wier sills as sometimes these are undercut and not so turbulent below the white water, and the Barbel love these places.
I caught these small barbel (between 2 and 4.5lb) in a 2.75 hr session on an undercut bend that was missed by other anglers so take notes of features that you find.

This is the swim I fished:
The swim looked quite insignificant but was at the head of a long sweeping bend where the bank was overgrown and made the river inaccessable from the bank. Although it doesn't look like it there was a medium to fast flow and the outside of the bend had undercuts which were probably cut out or cleaned out during the floods earlier in the year.
Baits to try in the summer on the upper reaches of the Lea are 'Spicey Luncheonmeat' or Halibut Pellets; and try soft Halibut pellets as feed.
As the Barbel don't grow that big (2lb to 6lb) on the upper Lea you can use a 1.25lb test curve rod like the John Wilson Avon/Quiver however if the Barbel are larger ie. 7 to 9lb plus with the occasional double (like on the upper Great Ouse above Bedford) then I recomend the Greys Prodigy Barbel rods which are superb barbel rods.
One last thing to mention is that the Barbel fight until they are exhausted; they fight far harder (size for size) then Carp so use sensible tackle so that you can get them in quicker and when you release them hold them upright with their heads facing upstream until they recover and wiggle free.

Anyway let us know how you get on and tight lines
BB

[Twiddler]

Some superb info there BB.....and some lovely pic of your barbel.

Claudia

[antz]

Cheers for the info, yes im more than willing to travel just to catch one barbel i just bought a barbel rod and so i want to catch a barbel on it and am not worried how long or far i have travel to get one,
you say you fish in WGC have you ever been the the ribvalley fisheries in ware

[Catfish Virgin (Still!)]

Top quality reply from BoldBear! Barbel love "features", be that weedbeds, gullys, drop offs, changing flows, anything that gives an area that something a bit different.

Whilst you can catch barbel at any time of the day and in many conditions, you can definately improve your chances late in the day when the light levels drop and during the first hour or so into darkness. They also feed well in rising water as long as it's a reasonable temperature, so look out for a mild period and the first day or so of rising river levels but before the raging torrent that brings down all the rubbish with it! Opportunist fishing can be really productive.

Basic feeder tactics will work well. Pick a method/bait and stick with it for a while (confidence is worth a lot!). Perhaps an open ended feeder with a "sandwich" of pellet groundbait and small/micro pellets allied to similar but bigger pellet(s) on a simple hair rig. "Build" a swim with regular casts to lay a carpet to attract them, they will travel quite a way if they're in the mood!
Hemp also works very well as an attractor in the feeder as well.

As for venues, Throop on the Dorset Stour is not that far from Middx. It's obviously a very popular fishery especially at weekends but there are some superb barbel in there. If you fish midweek, you'll find a lot more space! There are day ticket stretches on the Hants Avon around Ringwood and Christchurch which are also well worth considering.

I hope to be chasing barbel on those two rivers a lot more this year. hopefully we'll both be successful!

They're definately worth it:

[BoldBear]

you say you fish in WGC have you ever been the the ribvalley fisheries in ware

Antz, No I have never fished the Rib Valley but the River Rib looks inviting where it runs into the Lea at Hertford and must hold a few barbel.
I occasionally fish the WGC AC stretch of the Lea just upstream of Hertford at Bayfordbury and you can normally rely on a couple of Barbel there in the evening; however I havent fished there for a while.

[antz]

thanks for your info guys