Barbel fishing HELP

[chazyboi]

its a pain maddison thats why i brought a barble rod i was fed up of getting smashed on the feeder rod with lighter lines leads and feeders arnt cheap lol barble are canny fish though i remember watching a friend at arley on the severn fishing a clean bed in between weed the barble would take a light line smash him up soon as upped to a bigger hook link not a sniff

[barbelblanker]

That's the problem with catching loads of fish, bites and broken or nothing (so I am told anyway) . I used to watch a brilliant angler fishing the Taff for chub. He never fished heavier than 1.7 LB but his gear was so balanced and he knew how to use it , that he rarely lost a fish.

[live to fish]

ive been trying for these bloody things for two years now up on the avon at chippenham and have now gave up there and im moving further down and over to lacock / limpley stoke .. does anybody know where you can fish on the wye is there any free bits on it??

cheers marcel

[cheef87]

my advice for barbel would be 10-12lb mainline and 8lb minmum hooklength i have been busted up enough times on 10-12lb and most swims have a snag that a barbel will go striahgt for if you sure there are non ethen lighter is fine

if river is high big lump of garlic meat is best or paste, worms too (although not tried them presonally much)
if low clear particles corn maggots,hemp,8mm pellets and small hooks

pellets are probably the best barbel bait although in winter not so much,although they will eat anything if presneted well and in the right spot

keep your rod low as this pins line down and dont have it up in the air like most do,

use long hooklengths upto 6ft long epsecially in clear water useually around 2ft is good though

[barbelblanker]

have to agree there, I fish 12LB main and 10LB hooklength. However, given my record with barbel...... :)

[BoldBear]

Originally Posted by barbelblanker

That's the problem with catching loads of fish, bites and broken or nothing (so I am told anyway) . I used to watch a brilliant angler fishing the Taff for chub. He never fished heavier than 1.7 LB but his gear was so balanced and he knew how to use it , that he rarely lost a fish.

A well known angler (Keith Speer) in one of my clubs regularly catches huge Barbel on 3.5lb to 6lb line (see link -> http://www.verulam-angling.co.uk/) and he almost exclusively fishes the Stick float on a centrepin, however he is a one-off and knows exactly how much pressure he can exert to tire & tame them on well 'balanced tackle'.
He doesn't play them for ever untill they are totally exhausted either and brings them to the net just as quickly as everyone else.
He won the recent Angling Times 'Catch of the year' award with a Barbel an ounce under the 18lb mark caught with snow on the ground during one of the coldest Januarys this century and caught others of 13lb and 11lb a week before and a week after; all on lighter than normal tackle.

He showed us just how much pressure you can exert using well 'balanced tackle' and it was a bit of an eye opener I can tell you.

I'm not suggesting that everyone should switch over to lighter lines and rods as it would be daft, as not many anglers have spent as much time as Keith Speer perfecting his art, but it does show what can be caught if you are as experienced with using lighter 'well balanced tackle' as he is.

The rest of us mortals only seem to be able to tame them on 8lb to 12lb line and we usually lose far more Barbel on breakages than Keith Speer ever does.
I think that well balanced tackle plus confidence in your tackle and knowing exactly how much pressure that you can bring to bear even with a lighter rod; is often better than using brute force and over heavy tackle; but for mortals like me this takes a long time to learn.

Originally Posted by cheef87

keep your rod low as this pins line down and dont have it up in the air like most do,

I think this depends on the swim you are fishing the colour of the water and the method you are using.

When I am fishing between beds of streamer weed then I will fish with my rod tip held high but use a longer hooklength pinned to the bed with small pieces of ‘heavy putty’ wrapped round a couple of float stops, but the rod needs to be held high to prevent the line to the rod from being engulfed amongst streamer weed.

Another time when I will fish with the rod held high is when I am trundling a bait down my swim using a very small link leger and I am constantly moving the rod while winding the reel handle. I can often get the bait to trundle a bit by lowering the rod tip for a second or two so that the current pushes on the line and then raising it once more when I want to stop the bait from moving.

But If I can, I usually keep my rod tip quite low to the water and at times in really crystal clear water I often have my rod tip actually resting on the bottom gravel.

[cheef87]

Originally Posted by BoldBear

A well known angler (Keith Speer) in one of my clubs regularly catches huge Barbel on 3.5lb to 6lb line (see link -> http://www.verulam-angling.co.uk/) and he almost exclusively fishes the Stick float on a centrepin, however he is a one-off and knows exactly how much pressure he can exert to tire & tame them on well 'balanced tackle'.
He doesn't play them for ever untill they are totally exhausted either and brings them to the net just as quickly as everyone else.
He won the recent Angling Times 'Catch of the year' award with a Barbel an ounce under the 18lb mark caught with snow on the ground during one of the coldest Januarys this century and caught others of 13lb and 11lb a week before and a week after; all on lighter than normal tackle.

He showed us just how much pressure you can exert using well 'balanced tackle' and it was a bit of an eye opener I can tell you.

I'm not suggesting that everyone should switch over to lighter lines and rods as it would be daft, as not many anglers have spent as much time as Keith Speer perfecting his art, but it does show what can be caught if you are as experienced with using lighter 'well balanced tackle' as he is.

The rest of us mortals only seem to be able to tame them on 8lb to 12lb line and we usually lose far more Barbel on breakages than Keith Speer ever does.
I think that well balanced tackle plus confidence in your tackle and knowing exactly how much pressure that you can bring to bear even with a lighter rod; is often better than using brute force and over heavy tackle; but for mortals like me this takes a long time to learn.



I think this depends on the swim you are fishing the colour of the water and the method you are using.

When I am fishing between beds of streamer weed then I will fish with my rod tip held high but use a longer hooklength pinned to the bed with small pieces of ‘heavy putty’ wrapped round a couple of float stops, but the rod needs to be held high to prevent the line to the rod from being engulfed amongst streamer weed.

Another time when I will fish with the rod held high is when I am trundling a bait down my swim using a very small link leger and I am constantly moving the rod while winding the reel handle. I can often get the bait to trundle a bit by lowering the rod tip for a second or two so that the current pushes on the line and then raising it once more when I want to stop the bait from moving.

But If I can, I usually keep my rod tip quite low to the water and at times in really crystal clear water I often have my rod tip actually resting on the bottom gravel.

i'd agree with you there i should of said this,i have seen keiths captures and probably some of the most amzing captures of barbel ive seen that one last jan in the snow was simply stunning