Lessons Learnt
By Mark Walker
After ten years almost exclusively canal and managed fishery angling I started barbel fishing in June 2003 on the Wessex Rivers. During my first season, I didn’t manage to catch a single barbel. In fact two chub over five pound and a six pounder, as well as a smattering of tiny ones was my sum total return for the year. Not an auspicious start! Although the Wessex Rivers are hard (despite what you northern anglers may believe) this is way under par for a season. In fact for some anglers this is way under par for a summer session. I spent many hours last season during the cold blank winter months trying to understand where I was going wrong.
My tactics were similar to most people fishing around me and the difference between them and I was usually only one bite. I was close to the mark I felt but not quite close enough. Only studying my tactics in detail was going to solve my problem. I studied four key areas:
1: Bait
I was not a million miles away from other anglers on bait. I had used predominantly boilies throughout the season with loosefed pellets usually in copious quantities as well as the occasional foray with pellets on the hook. I had been changing baits on a regular basis including mixing my own from ready prepared base mixes. This was definitely something I feel didn’t help me. How could I ever gain confidence in a bait that I had never caught a fish of any kind on? First task then for the 2004 season was to find a bait I could be more confident in and then stick with it. Seeing the Dynamite Baits Marine Halibut boilies which were new for 2004 and knowing the amount of Halibuts thrown into the venue I’d be concentrating on these seemed as good an option as any. Most consistent anglers I had spoken too were using small baits so I opted to start in the 10mm size. Only time would tell if this would pay off.
Dynamite Baits Marine Halibut Boilies: Were these the key factor?
2: Feeding
My feeding throughout the 03-04 season had been haphazard and ill thought out. I’d read about the mass baiting with hemp and thought I could apply this with pellets. Not the case on my waters. Large beds of bait simply proved a deterent and by the time I learnt this it was too late. Also I had given fish no time to settle over the bait I had put in, casting virtually straight away on top of the baited area. I decided for the 04 – 05 season to feed small amounts of bait little and often for a much longer period of time before casting. After some fine tuning over a couple of sessions I finally thought I had this about right when I managed a pb 6lbs 8ozs chub first cast at the end of June. After this excellent start though things went wrong and I started missing bites. This was due to over feeding. Having too much bait falling through the water just left the chub waiting for the free falling bait and ignoring anything which had settled. This observation led directly to me changing my approach to feeding opting for minimal bait through a PVA bag. This change again produced some big chub and eventually led to my first two barbel from the venue. During this time I also caught barbel from another venue using single hookbaits and minimal widely spread beds of bait loose fed by hand. Another twist to my approach. Lesson learn’t here: vary your feeding to the conditions. You can’t get it right every time but a bit of thought before filling it in out of habit will make all of the difference.
At 6lb, 8oz’s this Stour fish is a new PB, I’d like to catch it at the back end
3: Location
In my first season my approach to location was to pick an area I thought looked good for the first few trips and then to watch where fish were being caught and try those areas. I didn’t take full advantage of the clear water and the high visibility it gave me. I feel the change that has had the biggest impact on my catch rate this year is to not fish a swim unless I can see fish in it or it is to deep for visible searching but there are fish nearby. This allows me to fish much more confidently than before. On arrival at a venue now where visible location is possible it is my primary objective. It may take me an hour or so to find the fish (which is a large part of my time as most of my sessions are only four or five hours) and then an hour or so light feeding to get their confidence up but it makes all of the difference. I’ve learn’t that maximising the time your bait is in the water doesn’t help your catch rate if you are in the wrong place to begin with!
4: Tackle
Terminal tackle was a big area of change for me. I’d been using dark, thick Maxima main line to a Kryston Silkworm braided hooklink. I decided to change to a clear line opting for Krystonite and start using this as both mainline and hooklink. Although a small change I am sure this was largely responsible for my increased bites. I’m sure that in clear water as unobtrusive a line as possible is the way forward.
I also began experimenting with backleads, another way to make my tackle unobtrusive. This helped my catch rate however in the wrong swim they can cause more hassle than they are worth. If you are fishing over weed or snags I would recommend not using one as they are a recipe for tangles.
All the terminal tackle I need bar hooklink and a pair of scissors
Long hooklinks also became a standard rig feature. My reasoning behind this was clear: it was working for others. Why is this? I’m convinced fish can see or sense any line going through clear water but that any line lying on the bottom is much less obtrusive. A short hooklink would allow fish to see the line going down to the end rig much more readily than a long hooklink. As long as the long link is sunk flat to the bottom fish will not pick up on it or sense it.
Two final things I have tried and the jury is still out on are disguised leads and hook skins. My opinion on disguised leads is that they can’t hinder my catch rate. Wether they significantly improve it or not I think is hard to say without more testing. Hook skins have had mixed results. I find them fiddly to use and have had hook pulls whilst using them but other anglers I’ve spoken too use them constantly and have no problems. I find it hard to believe that fish can recognise hooks and associate them with danger but will keep experimenting.
These things may all seem like simple things especially to more experienced anglers. Really it is just putting a bit of common sense and thought into your angling. Small as these things are they make a difference in combination.
After some experimenting this year I’ve decided next year to concentrate on location and presentation. These have stood out as the key inputs this season. Bait I feel is more of an angler confidence booster. Any readily available freezer bait or base mix will catch fish if applied correctly. Application and location for me are far more important to learn at this stage of my barbel fishing career. I will pick a tried and tested bait and stick with it for the year. I have an idea of the baits being used with good levels of success and will pick something similar. I would like to pick something totally different and do my own thing but do not have the time for the regular prebaiting this approach would require(it being an 80 mile round trip).
In summer as I fish mostly evenings I will look for big clear gravel patches and wait for fish to come to me. Hungry summer fish will actively search out food in these areas after dark. I will fish two rods experimenting with presentation on each, varying hooklink length and material, backleads or no backleads, hair length or anything else I think of, logging the details ready for winter. Through the winter I will take the most effective of these presentations and fish a very mobile approach baiting and fishing several features in a session trying to locate the fish. If after three sessions in an area I have not caught I’ll move on to another area applying a methodical search procedure. Fish on the venue I am concentrating on seem to move around a lot and this will hopefully be the best way to keep track of where they are through the season.
I’m up to six barbel now this season with a PB of 8lbs 8ozs. It was August before I’d fine tuned things and August / September saw success on almost every trip. No sooner had I got to a level of consistency I was happy with than it stopped when the winter came. I struggled with location (not being as mobile as I should have been) and also with fishing high water conditions. These are two areas for improvement for next year to reach my target of an Avon double.
At 5lbs 12oz’s not a giant but as the reward for over a seasons effort a truly memorable fish.
Mark Walker