help with first barbel.

[will4009]

hello, first post.

this week i am going to be taking my very first trip to the river after my first barbel. having nerver fished for one before, or even fished a river i have a few questions/concerns about it. i have had a bit of a break from fishing for the last couple of years and so i have brought a rod and reel that are up to the job (as i have mostly match gear which i am sure would be useless). i live near telford, so i have quite a bit of the severn to have a go at and my nearest stretch is coalport so i will start there. i have been and had a look and it does look quite snaggy and has a quick flow in some parts. what size weight should i be looking at to hold the bottom, and what should i use as my hooklength . i have read about people using braid, fluro, mono etc. i also was told that i sould cast to 'slack water' as this is deeper and should contain fish? sorry for all the questions but i would be greatful for all the help and advice that i can get before i give it a go.

thanks again

will

[Maddison_Twatter]

Hi m8 firstly welcome to the forum, Im no expert on barbel fishing by any means but I caught my first (and second barbel) the other week using the following method, I use two baitrunner style reels loaded with 12lb mono. i then use a 4oz running cage feeder to a 2 foot ish flurocarbon hook link, with a size 8 hair rigged hook. I load the feeder with various sized pellets plugged in with groundbait. For my hook bait I use sonubaits monster crab high leakage pellets as these work well on the water I fish but you can use anything from boilies to pepperami. The aim is to get the feed flowing past your hookbait drawing barbel from downstream. At my river I tend to aim for the dredged boating channel about 30 meters out. As for features I would try em and see what happens , you can always move. Hope this helps m8, if you have any other questions just ask.

[will4009]

thanks for the advice, just what i was looking for. just another quick one, do you keep the line tight or slack when you fish, also how do you position your rod (i have seen many people use a tri-pod type thing so to have the rod realy high?)

thanks

will

[NICK R]

i like to keep mine high when barbel fishing , unless iam trotting a float or rolling a bait along the river bed ,

one bit of advice , give the fish plenty of time to recover in the margins be fore letting it swim away

[Maddison_Twatter]

I cast in , reel in a few turns to take the curve out of the line and just let it rest naturally, You can buy river pods but I use my carp buzz bar on a 4 foot bankstick with the alrms at 45% angle. And as Nick says give them plenty of time to recover. I hold on to the tail until I can feel itl trying to thrash out. as for rod position keep them quite high to stop the current taking your line

[longi]

alright mate i would personally look for fast flowing water as the rivers are really low so the barbel will be were the oxygen is hope this helps you

[barbelblanker]

Call in at one of the many tackle shops round your area would be my tip. Barbel advise from me is like painting tips from a corpse.

[BoldBear]

Hi Will,

Have a read of ths thread which should answer a fair number of your questions on fishng for Barbel.

barbel fishing

tight lines

Keith.

[king01]

Just read the write up on Barbel Fishing, the spot i was at yesterday seems perfect. little shicane in the river with reeds and an overhanging willow tree. A couple of people have sugested that i probably hooked one based on the violence of one of my bites which knocked both my rods off the rests and i subsequently lost (hook and all).

now i have read up i will plan for a barbel on thursday...

[BoldBear]

Good luck on Thursday.

What river are you going to fish?