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Still a place for a lump of luncheon meat

A

Andrew Jackson

Senior Member & Supporter
I caught my first Barbel way back at the start of the 80's on luncheon meat. Many of my early Barbel were caught on it and even into the 90's I caught some good fish on it. My first double was caught on a tiny piece fished over hemp and finely chopped meat. Somewhere along the way I stopped using it.
The other afternoon, towards the end about 6 ish with no further action I remembered the meat I had brought with me. In for a penny in for a pound and I put on a great lump ( 2" squarish - torn not cut) . What a revelation! 3 Barbel hooked in an hour. The first, a 10.06, the best of the week ( middle Severn), the second, came a drift ( possibly foul hooked) the third a good 9 pounder. I finished with a decent Chub (for the Severn) before packing in. Would I have caught those on the boilie or pellet? I honestly don't think so. Anyway this is not to say it is always the answer but certainly I will be trying the tactic again, soon!
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Most of my larger Barbel come to meat, mostly large chunks inc half tin size.

I never fish cube shapes and 100% during general Barbel sessions and especially after dark or in coloured water, it can out fish boillie/pellet approach.
 
Andrew Jackson said:
I caught my first Barbel way back at the start of the 80's on luncheon meat. Many of my early Barbel were caught on it and even into the 90's I caught some good fish on it. My first double was caught on a tiny piece fished over hemp and finely chopped meat. Somewhere along the way I stopped using it.
The other afternoon, towards the end about 6 ish with no further action I remembered the meat I had brought with me. In for a penny in for a pound and I put on a great lump ( 2" squarish - torn not cut) . What a revelation! 3 Barbel hooked in an hour. The first, a 10.06, the best of the week ( middle Severn), the second, came a drift ( possibly foul hooked) the third a good 9 pounder. I finished with a decent Chub (for the Severn) before packing in. Would I have caught those on the boilie or pellet? I honestly don't think so. Anyway this is not to say it is always the answer but certainly I will be trying the tactic again, soon!View attachment 36226
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I fish meat almost exclusively on a low stock river and usually manage to get one or two over the weeks when I am fishing. This has included two fifteens and a sixteen in the last two years. Never write meat off as it is a wonderful bait especially when there is colour in the water.
 
Steve Kenchington said:
I fish meat almost exclusively on a low stock river and usually manage to get one or two over the weeks when I am fishing. This has included two fifteens and a sixteen in the last two years. Never write meat off as it is a wonderful bait especially when there is colour in the water.
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Steve. Your results are impressive. I know where you fish ( I think). 👍
 
I agree with your observations Andrew, a few years ago, fishing the Wye, it was a rather quiet evening with only a couple of chub for my efforts, as darkness fell I changed to large Luncheon Meat baits on both rods. The torn meat had been fried in Tumeric and Garam Masala.
The change was almost immediate, the downstream rod went , and a good double figure barbel came to the net, whilst I was playing it, the upstream rod went , with a 7 lbs plus chub firmly hooked. I ended up with both fish in the landing net at once after a frantic five mins or so. Probably the best double hook up I have ever had .

I have always relied upon Luncheon meat as a good change bait, but even now mostly start with a pellet and paste approach. Maybe I should go back to using meat as a main instead of a standby bait, especially in coloured water . I have found that spiced up meat generally outfishes plain spam like baits.

Recently I have used smaller plain punched meat particles as a successful bait for Tench when cross fed with sweetcorn as a loose fed particle bait.

There is definately a place for it in my bait armoury .

David.
 
David Craine said:
I agree with your observations Andrew, a few years ago, fishing the Wye, it was a rather quiet evening with only a couple of chub for my efforts, as darkness fell I changed to large Luncheon Meat baits on both rods. The torn meat had been fried in Tumeric and Garam Masala.
The change was almost immediate, the downstream rod went , and a good double figure barbel came to the net, whilst I was playing it, the upstream rod went , with a 7 lbs plus chub firmly hooked. I ended up with both fish in the landing net at once after a frantic five mins or so. Probably the best double hook up I have ever had .

I have always relied upon Luncheon meat as a good change bait, but even now mostly start with a pellet and paste approach. Maybe I should go back to using meat as a main instead of a standby bait, especially in coloured water . I have found that spiced up meat generally outfishes plain spam like baits.

Recently I have used smaller plain punched meat particles as a successful bait for Tench when cross fed with sweetcorn as a loose fed particle bait.

There is definately a place for it in my bait armoury .

David.
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That's quite a result! There's all sorts of things I used to use that would stand resurrection. I've had Barbel over 11 on Garlic sausage and my first 12 plus Stour Barbel on pepperami after fishing maggot all day. Instant response as the light faded. 👍
 
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