What line, hooks and bait?

[peakoverload]

I've just joined a new club which now gives me access to a few stretches of river along with a number of lakes. I haven't fished a river for something like 20 years now but I am feeling strongly pulled to one particular river that looks lovely and very fishy. What's more it's apparently good for Chub and Barbel!

I've never caught Barbel before, not even seen one in real life and have only caught one small Chub before as a kid so I really fancy having a try on this river. Although I'd love to catch a Barbel I think I should initially concentrate on the Chub but accordingly to the clubs websites, swims that are good for Chub are also good for Barbel so I'm not too sure what tackle I should use.

Apparently the average Chub is 4lb (largest being 5lb 8oz) whilst the Barbel average 7-8lb with the largest being 15lb 3oz

Normally I use 6lb mainline with a 6-4lb hooklength when float fishing or ledgering for Carp or Tench but would that be okay for this river and Chub/Barbel? Part of me thinks that 6lb could be too heavy for Chub but potentially too light for Barbel.

When it comes to baits, I know that traditionally good baits for both Chub and Barbel have been sweetcorn or luncheon meat over a bed of hemp along with cheese paste or worm but are there other baits that more recently seem to be getting results?

[h3rm1t9536]

Firstly I'm no expert but, I fish the River Mole near me for Chub a lot and there is the odd Barbel so I'll offer what I use.

For Chub, if I know where they are or can see them I use free lined maggots, worm or slug as they are a wary fish it seems to help if the baits are free floating in the water. 6lb mainline will be fine, I tend to run to a 4lb hook length.

Barbel (and Chub) I use a betaine heavy size 8 pellet, banded on a free running rig. Try the link at the end for a few good pictures and some advice. I usually spend an hour or two baiting up a few spots before hand which seems to help. I've taken Chub and Barbel on the same rig so I guess they tend to target the same bait.

I'm sure someone will offer some more proffesional advice on here but hope this helps a bit! Definitely try the free-lining as its great fun!

http://www.fishingmagic.com/rigs/gen...rigs/6488.html

[headless]

Hi

It realy depends on the venue, is it full of weeds/snags or is it a open water?

Chub and Barbel are not as tackle shy as people think, bank side noise/movement will spook them and you will struggle to catch them.

If the venue is heavely fished I would try fishing for them at night, again line strength depends on snags etc....

A bit more info and I am sure you will get plenty of good advise

good luck

Darrell

[peakoverload]

Originally Posted by headless

Hi

It realy depends on the venue, is it full of weeds/snags or is it a open water?

Chub and Barbel are not as tackle shy as people think, bank side noise/movement will spook them and you will struggle to catch them.

If the venue is heavely fished I would try fishing for them at night, again line strength depends on snags etc....

A bit more info and I am sure you will get plenty of good advise

good luck

Darrell

Having never fished this particular venue before I don't really know what it's like. However I'm hoping to the fish a pool of the river next to an old water mill that's not been in use for 50+ years. From photos the pool looks fairly wide (like a small lake) with a possible gravel bar. In terms of weed, I can't tell but I did once fish a stretch of the same river a few miles away which looks very similar and found that this had that long kind of ribbon weed in the center of the channel, the type that doesnt really get you tangled up and a hook seems to pull through easily so presume it could well be the same. Certainly the river itself is too narrow for boat traffic, you could row up it but a motor boat would be impossible so I don't weed to be kept down by boats. In terms of depth, again I'd just be guessing but would expect that the pool would be deeper than the main river but from photos it looks like the pool shelves gradually from the banks to the middle, maybe 3-4ft right at the bank going to 7-9ft in the middle? Again based on fishing a different stretch the main channel could be around 6-7ft.

Sorry, it's all best guess at the moment.

[dave fish]

ok first of all get a nice feeder rod and then a good 8-10lb mainline look for deep pools that are slow moving as these tend to be magnets for food particles to get cuaght in hence there should be feedeing fish there,terminal tackle use a free running weight and a rubber stop on the main line tie on a swivel then your hooklenght to a size 14 hook with a hair rig ,bait wise you can use boilies (try white shelfish as they stand out a mile)over a bed of ground bait balled up tight so it doesnt wash away qiuckly or try meat spam , pepperami,cornbeef)or try simple corn freelined or do something different like a popped up worm so it moves naturally in the flow.if you target the barbel best times are really early morning dusk or late evening into the night hope this is ok thight lines ..if thers anything you want to know meassage me.

[carp-catcha]

Some great advice here. You want to use line thats strong enough to deal with the snags and traps of the water, and it terms of the hook this depends on what bait you use.

You want to bring a selection the maggots are obviously a must, but juicy lobworms and big black slugs are great for chub just make sure you use a big enough hook.

I would bring some high oil content pellets medium to large size, and if you fish with this hair rigged you want to combine it with the following groundbait:
smash some bread up in the liquidiser, then smash up some of the pellets and add this to the bread, as extra mix with worms, maggs, sweetcorn. It works especially well for chub.

[peakoverload]

Thanks so much for all the great advice!! Very much appreciated. I e-mailed the club secretary last night to see if I could get any other info on the water and he said that it is reasonably weed free but there are swims with lots of snags such as fallen tree's etc. However he did say that Barbel and Chub were rarely caught from the Mill Pool but were often caught in main river however he also said that the water level in the river was low at the moment so should I postpone my trip? This weekend will be my first trip this season, first this year, and first at any of my new clubs waters. I don't mind blanking (I'm used to that ) I just don't want to get the wrong impression of this particular stretch of river because a) it looks so picturesque b) it sounds and looks like the rivers I used to dream of fishing as a kid c) it has Barbel that I've never even seen in real life let alone been able to fish for d) has some really nice Chub which I love.

Not that I'm complaining about the weather but the flip side to postponing my trip to the river is that who knows how long it will be before enough rain has fallen to bring the water level back up?

[headless]

If the water levels are low and clear it would be worth a trip just to walk the swims checking out the features, snags and spot the fish, even spend a couple of hours fishing into dark after prebaiting a swim for a couple of hours

Darrell