Big Barbel fishing on the river Severn. How can I catch that double ?! tips needed.

[barisaxman]

Thanks for that BoldBear, I thought it was me! Nice to know I'm not going completely mad.
I do agree with you on the "art of watercraft" going out of the window tho. I 'spose in my case all the years and money I've spent chasing salmon and the like makes you read the water and try and to adapt the approach/tackle accordingly.
I had a walk this morning, same old story. The wife and I stood on a high bank and were watching a shoal of dace and the odd chub not more than a rod length out. Some of the dace were a good size too and every so often a larger chub move out of the depths. I said to the missus, great for a stick float. Funny thing tho, we can see the bottom for nearly three parts across the river here and I've yet to see a barbel.
Just above I saw a hell of a splash, first thought was Salmon, even if I have never seen on on this particular stretch. But no, looked again and I could see the line, someone was slinging out a bouncing bomb of a feeder! We walked past the guy and I had a look at his tackle. No sign of any maggots or casters just pellets! The water here, as I said last night is so low, if its a couple of feet deep I'll be surprised.
To me there was a great opportunity of a good mornings fishing going begging if only that guy had thought a bit and changed tactics.

Ah well enough my rant, I'll get my self banned!!!!!

G.

[firemantim30]

Originally Posted by barisaxman

Been down walking down the river (Severn) again tonight, not fishing just looking. The river is very low and the guys fishing it imho were flogging dead horses. First of all, I haven't really fished the Severn for anything but Salmon for the last 30 years, so forgive me if I'm talking a load of pony and trap but where I am, in Stourport is, so I'm told is a little below "barbel ally" so why are all the guys I've seen are fishing great big feeders with pellets etc. I was watching one guy earlier going through the motions in water less than 2 ft deep, I could see his feeder on the bottom, the waters that low and clear. I know barbel lie in water like this, I've had them whilst worming for Salmon (not on this stretch) but in low clear water wouldn't it be better to freeline a worm or a lump of meat? or even maggots!!!! I mean the bow waves the feeder was making would have probably seen any fish off in the local area.
This actual swim holds loads of good chub and dace, so why not put a float through it or is this too much like hard work?
I'm so out of touch with whats going on in the course fishing world. Is it compulsery to fish a feeder now? Are maggots a thing of the past? Are pellets the only way of catching? All those years I spent as a youth in my old mans tackle shop wriggling damn maggots!!!! Now everything comes in plastic bags!
Years ago we only really used the feeder on lakes and slower, deeper rivers, usually after bream. The Severn, if I remember (most probably wrongly) was a good float fishing river.
Just call old fashioned and completely out of touch, but I'm here to learn.


I'll get my coat

Hiya, Your not out of touch, just 'old school'! . I was one of the chaps fishing/flogging the Severn yesterday, not at Stourport, but fairly close by. The feeder can act like a dinner bell, as stupid as that sounds. The barbel come to recognise the crash of the feeder coinciding with the release of food. Pellets have unfortunately taken over from natural baits for the vast majority of Barbel fishing purely because of the amount that go into the rivers.

p.s. I had 10 Barbel and 2 chub.

[barisaxman]

Originally Posted by firemantim30

Hiya, Your not out of touch, just 'old school'! . I was one of the chaps fishing/flogging the Severn yesterday, not at Stourport, but fairly close by. The feeder can act like a dinner bell, as stupid as that sounds. The barbel come to recognise the crash of the feeder coinciding with the release of food. Pellets have unfortunately taken over from natural baits for the vast majority of Barbel fishing purely because of the amount that go into the rivers.

p.s. I had 10 Barbel and 2 chub.

Thanks for that. I think I'm really showing my ignorance on the whole barbel fishing thing especially the dinner bell theory! Too many years of game fishing I'm afraid where one clumsy cast will see every fish in the river do a runner!!! Mind you, I've heard that said about bass fishing too, where the spash of the bait brings in the fish.
I am really "old school" me, most probably because I haven't done any serious course fishing for years, but as I probably mentioned in my intro post, this is about to change. So I'm all ears!
Talking about fish other than barbel on the Severn, a couple of weeks back I witnessed a chap land a fantastic bream when on one of my walks. It was his first ever Severn fish caught on his second cast. It must have been at a guess 5lb, a real old dinner plate. He had it on 2 bronze maggots fished of a link ledger, the water was up a couple of feet and dirty. I expect he had a few more after that.
Mind you, he wasn't targetting a single specious, just fishing.
Talking about chub fishing, I had at least 10, some of them really good fish on a spinner one evening whilst Salmon fishing down river. They seemed to really love a red "Flying C". I lost a salmon that evening too, thought it was another chub until it decided to run 30 yards downstream, leap and throw the hook!
We used to catch loads of chub down there on Mepps and the like and some monster barbel on the worm. On chap had a 11lb carp take a worm once!
Over the years I've seen most Severn fish species caught by salmon anglers. So I think the moral here is "If you want to catch specimen course fish, go Salmon fishing"....... Might as well catch something as the Salmon are a little bit ellusive

[firemantim30]

I'll be more than happy to give you any advice I can regarding barbel fishing. I'm not too great on Pike or Perch, but ok on the Chub etc. Sounds like your doing the right things, walking the banks, having a look and a chat to locals. Polarised glasses are also very useful for spotting fish or holes/changes in level of the river where fish are likely to hang out.

[printer]

Hi, just returned from a week at ironbridge, had some good barble to 9lb and chub to 5lb all on meat. We are going to a place where we can fish from the garden in Astley Burf near Stourport on Severn next. Wonder if you have any tips. I love trotting a stick down the river, Cheers