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Small/ medium river fishing - wait or rove

Christian Tyroll

Christian Tyroll

Senior Member
I remember speaking to an old boy on the Medway when I was younger. He said that he would sit in a swim all night, whilst some of the younger guys would rove up and down the stretch. He said that they tended to catch a similar amount and that, evidenced by his catch rate, the barbel just moved about and you could either wait for them to come to you or keep moving till you dropped on one.

At that time in my life I was far too young to drive and generally missed the best parts of the fishing day. I caught occasionally but I don’t think the river was highly stocked, even 15+ years ago. I only mention this as perhaps the barbel numbers affect the merit of waiting or roving. I also wonder if there is more or less merit in sitting and waiting at night time as opposed to fishing office hours.

I am currently sitting on the W. Avon, my wellies have settled nicely into their own patch of mud and my chair will take levering out. I started at mid day and have tried 3 swims, settled in to this one for dusk.

In normal river conditions (ie where there are plenty of swims to fish and it is in normal levels) what are people’s preferences for roving or waiting?
 
For me depends on how long i’m there and what the swim has in it. Some swims only seem to have one obvious holding spot so an hour is usually enough. Some swims have everything and have 4 or 5 castable spots so will stop longer to explore. Think you know when it’s time to move on, otherwise you’re just flogging a dead horse. If you’ve still got that expectation for a bite, it’s hard to walk away…
 
But on a more serious note: fishing an extremely low density stock river like the Great Ouse makes it hard to experiment in any meaningful way. People fish whole seasons without a barbel weather they move a lot or stay static.
 
Sometimes you dont have the choice! I’m lucky i only fish midweek (due to shifts) but i’ve been on stetches where they are that busy not only are you stuck in one swim, it's the only swim available & wouldn’t be your first or 3rd choice! (I soon move on elsewhere if thats the case)
 
When I fished the Dove, it was obvious where the bigger fish came from, so not much point in moving to a swim that had never been fished before.

Once I'm settled, I tend to stay put now.
 
Another issue with roving, is whether you feed a few swims along the way to come back to later, only to find someone else there!
I think it’s called Sod’s Law.
I do find that so many anglers don’t venture far from the car, so walking a mile or so if possible gets you away from others for a bit of peace .. and possibly find that special unknown swim.
 
Cliff Turner said:
I’d say def rove, caught so many fish within the first 15mins, if you haven’t had a bite they aren’t feeding or aren’t there. Perfectly ok to rotate and come back later
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I agree with Cliff, normally give each swim 30 minutes then move, a method I’ve read in trefor west’s book “barbel a lifetime’s addiction “ works a treat 👌🏻
 
Move about a bit more on a small river but I always thought "have I moved from this swim just as the barbel are arriving? or have I arrived in this swim just as they are leaving?" For me the key was always in the pre-baiting. Always keep one or two banker swims, try not to fish them for a few hours but keep bait trickling in, then concentrate totally on those swims for the hours of darkness. For bigger rivers, Thames, Severn etc. , I seldom move from one swim.
 
I think I’d rather use my roving time to figure a few swims out. I won’t just pick up my gear and randomly cast in the next peg for half an hour in the hope that something is sitting there.
Yes it’s something I’ve tried and honestly it’s not being very successful.

If I don’t know what is infront of me in terms of depth, features, bottom type and a general picture of what’s below then i won’t cast.

So yes I’d rove about but with a lead and a float first to narrow down my location choices.

I’ll give any swim that I know is good for a fish at least 2 hours. 1 cast usually and just leave it well alone. I don’t think 30 minutes or 1 hour is long enough to determine if a fish is there or not.

For example if you are fishing infront of an overhanging bush that provides good cover and has been known to throw up an odd fish, you can’t expect to just draw one out from under it in half an hour. You’ve got to stay put and wait till she’s ready. Moving won’t help you and neither will casting somewhere else. Just gotta be patient and use your knowledge of the venue to make your decision rather than assuming nothing is there.

I firmly believe that more than 75% of my barbel that I have caught on low stock waters while ledgering have come out on baits that have been in the water over an hour.

This is just my personal take on things and as I’ve read others have different experiences but in a nutshell I think you should only move if your going to a swim that you know what’s below the surface and if your in one of those swims already give em chance to find it don’t get impatient.
 
I think it depends on when the fish are less likely to move or not.
 
On the Ouse, I ALWAYS caught more by roving when stocks were obviously declining. Putting scant amount of bait in half a dozen swims, and rotating them. An hour was generally long enough. No indications, move on.
 
I have lost count of the times when I've sat in a swim all day then caught one right at the end. I'm talking low stock venues here. The question is, was that fish there all along and only interested in feeding late on? Or did it just arrive? Either way I always need a pretty good reason to move because you run the risk of passing the Barbel as you leave! I will though, if nobody's about, often try other swims after baiting my main swim and leaving it to settle.
Of course, its so much easier to decide if you can see the fish!
 
Andrew Jackson said:
I have lost count of the times when I've sat in a swim all day then caught one right at the end. I'm talking low stock venues here. The question is, was that fish there all along and only interested in feeding late on? Or did it just arrive? Either way I always need a pretty good reason to move because you run the risk of passing the Barbel as you leave! I will though, if nobody's about, often try other swims after baiting my main swim and leaving it to settle.
Of course, its so much easier to decide if you can see the fish!
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The one fish at the end of the day has probably not been there all day, but moved in to your spot a short while beforehand.
 
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