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New Age Of Barbel Fishing

I

Ian McDonald

Member
The massive uptake in interest and desire to catch barbel from our rivers, while on one hand being fantastic for the sport (specific rods, tackle, bait, and entertainment) will also be the demise of availability and access to the sport. We are experiencing what carp fishing experienced over 2 decades ago (and continues to experience). The exponential growth in the demand for carp fishing drove the creation of new specimen carp waters, the conversion of commercial lakes into specimen carp waters and the transition from general access, club water and day ticket lakes into syndicate waters. This continues to this day, with numerous examples of day ticket water that I carp fished for 20 years, now only available on a syndicate. The price is not the concern here because as any avid day ticket carp angler knows, a syndicate ticket generally works out more cost effective. The desire for day ticket big carp fishing is driven by a need for variety not financial considerations, availability and waiting lists are the concern to the syndicate carp angler. So back to barbel, with the previous statements in mind, how does this work for barbel??? We cannot create new barbel waters, the transition from day ticket and club stretches to syndicate waters will happen, better control, less management and ultimately less cost, higher margins and better fish welfare will justify this. Barbel are not carp, they move around a stretch but not like carp, a mile long beat can have only half a dozen swims where barbel are consistently caught and those swims will be seasonal. On the remaining open access waters we will see the ‘circus’ effect increase with competition for pegs and the unsavoury behaviour which always accompanies this. We will see club waiting lists grow until they are closed (already the case on a lot of Trent club waters). With this the complete irrelevance of who caught what from where and how will also increase, much the same as it has within the carp fishing scene. However, with the carp scene there is always a new venue or a venue that’s on the up, unfortunately this cannot be replicated in the barbel scene. These effects will manifest slower on the likes of the Thames, Trent and Seven but are already prevalent on the smaller river such as the Avon’s (Hampshire, Bristol and Warwickshire). I’m deliberately not mentioning predation in our rivers (Tarka) and pollution (sewage discharge) but it’s obvious they are also impacting the availability of our sport. So while it’s great to see all the enthusiasm, interest and information on barbel fishing increasing every year, I can’t help thinking that in the not to distant future I may be hanging up my barbel hat after 30 years and rather than it being a me vs barbel challenge and obsession, it will become the same as my carp and cat fishing these days, a day ticket holiday to pre selected swims and a lottery if you catch. Interested in other people’s thoughts. This is not intended as a negative post just a personal reflection on where my thoughts are at with our sport.
 
Not sure if we will get to that stage tbh?
There is a lot of ‘hard work’ (in the form of less decent access, planning due to levels & just the fact the water is constantly moving & changing etc, etc) which is one reason i think Carp fishing has become so popular…..it’s easy. Not slating anyone and appreciate some people put a lot of hard work into hard waters but on the whole, it’s clean camping with a bit of fishing. Everything is done for you if you want and lets face it, a small water stuffed full of big hungry fish is about as easy as it comes.
I fish the Severn and even the popular stretches can be had to yourself mid week. Most of the people i see are ‘older’ (50+) gents that have always fished the river.
There is a few over commercialised, famous stretches where it has become akin to Carping but the rest of it (1000’s of miles of it) are virtually untouched.
 
I’d agree to a certain extent on the larger rivers, exception being the Trent, are there any club waters without a waiting list currently?? On the smaller rivers it feels like we are pretty close to being there already, especially if your a weekend or evening angler. Don’t get me wrong, there are pioneering opportunities out there and always will be, but enough to satisfy the demand is my question? While always fishing rivers I’ve also been the active day ticket and syndicate carp angler and there is enough variety within both. Hard waters, sessions waters and runs waters, and enough to go around with new waters every month. Just can’t see it with the barbel scene. To validate your point, to get what I have always enjoyed from barbel fishing I will need to be a pioneer, just not a lot of pioneering opportunities on the smaller barbel rivers.
 
Anywhere where there are big fish, weather it be Barbel, Carp, Bream, Tench etc will attract a lot of people too. Again, most are at least in their mid 40’s from what i can see. I think it will go the other way and in 20 years or so hardly anyone will be fishing the rivers.
We had a similar conversation at work the other day. At the moment we have over 350 contactors on site (builders, plasterers, steel erectors etc) the average age was 57!! Who’s going to do the work in 20 years???
 
Cliff Turner said:
"The massive uptake in interest and desire to catch barbel from our rivers" .... is this true ?
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It depends how far back you go Cliff.

Certainly in the late 60's in many respects they were considered pretty uncatchable ( As were carp if you remember )

There were not so many fishing for them, we hung on words of Len Arberry or BV on the Avon.
Probably 95 percent of anglers fished matches every weekend, with trips on the Club coach. ( got to admit, did a few) I would suggest that figure would now be around 15 percent!.
So probably, including carp fishing ( in the Coarse Fishing scenario)Specimen Anglers probably account for 50 percent of the rest.

If you go onto many of the rivers I fish, the chance of seeing someone trotting the river for a mixed bag.....Severn, Wye or W Avon, is fairly rare as against someone sitting on two rods legering.

Of course you have a few like Hereford, as Match hot spots, but not many nowadays.

So yes, currently the level of river sections that have fair or good barbel populations are in high demand. More of them have become syndicated or demand exceeds the possibility of a quick membership.
Along with the fact that so many rivers, especially the smaller ones are in very poor condition, this will continue as the Trent has shown.
 
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Nigel Whittingham said:
Anywhere where there are big fish, weather it be Barbel, Carp, Bream, Tench etc will attract a lot of people too. Again, most are at least in their mid 40’s from what i can see. I think it will go the other way and in 20 years or so hardly anyone will be fishing the rivers.
We had a similar conversation at work the other day. At the moment we have over 350 contactors on site (builders, plasterers, steel erectors etc) the average age was 57!! Who’s going to do the work in 20 years???
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Problem with the building trade is it got saturated with foreign labour that kept the prices low for so long. A couple of years after the brexit vote there was noticeably fewer foreigners on site and prices went up a bit as people couldn’t get the labour but even still what we get paid today is near enough the same as it was 20 years ago. Youngsters today don’t want to graft for the small amount they’ll earn while they’re learning the trade. House builders have got used to earning too much profit they’re not going to want to start earning less. In an ideal world trades would earn more, house prices would go down and the companies building the houses would take a moderate profit but it’s never going to happen
 
Cliff Turner said:
"The massive uptake in interest and desire to catch barbel from our rivers" .... is this true ?
Click to expand...
I don’t see it, at least not on my waters. Quite often on the Ouse and Severn stretches I fish there are very few anglers, midweek I’m often the only one there. The Trent stretches I fish are admittedly more popular but still not what I’d call busy. In my opinion it’s just the summer months hat see a swell of carpers trying their luck on the rivers on the usual popular day ticket stretches with mates for a social - nothing wrong with that but can almost guarantee those same stretches will be devoid of anglers if it’s overcast/raining and a bit of extra water on.
 
The above seemed true enough .Only about 8 days ago, as I have not had the opportunity for fish for our old whiskery friend this year , and generally found the Trent a “Bivvie Brigade” venue, we decided to give Bobs Island at Newark a late afternoon , evening session. We arrived at about 3 pm, to find almost every swim inhabited by long stay anglers.
I had never visited before , and really although the place was kept quite tidy, the swims were really shoulder to shoulder with hardly any casting distance between them.
Not at all what I have been used to in Yorkshire. It transpired that a big fish had been caught a day or so previously and anglers from all over the UK had descended upon the place . Grapevines have this habit .
The cost seemed a bit excessive at £25.00 a day or half for half a day. Cost seems immaterial to those who chase fish at any cost.

Anyway, it seems that the joke was on the long stayers with cars only a matter of feet behind their swims , tents erected and infernal bite alarms which thankfully were silent.In five hours I had three Barbel and a Chub, from what must have been a less favoured , in fact an ignored swim, nothing big , but made my single rod bend , which was the opposite for those fishing two rods in quite restricted areas.As far as I know nobody else caught , certainly that was true in the time we were there .The chap who had taken me there , well, he had a mini whiskers of about 1.5 lbs.

Whilst I understand the need to occasionally wet a line, the above was imo a joke, had it not been for the chap who took me, I would have just turned around and left such were the crowds.

I should add, that since visiting the above I have done a bit of research and discovered a few day ticket venues on the Trent that are supposedly a bit quieter , they will be getting a visit soon, and any catches will be kept firmly under my hat .

David
 
Ian McDonald said:
The massive uptake in interest and desire to catch barbel from our rivers, while on one hand being fantastic for the sport (specific rods, tackle, bait, and entertainment) will also be the demise of availability and access to the sport. We are experiencing what carp fishing experienced over 2 decades ago (and continues to experience). The exponential growth in the demand for carp fishing drove the creation of new specimen carp waters, the conversion of commercial lakes into specimen carp waters and the transition from general access, club water and day ticket lakes into syndicate waters. This continues to this day, with numerous examples of day ticket water that I carp fished for 20 years, now only available on a syndicate. The price is not the concern here because as any avid day ticket carp angler knows, a syndicate ticket generally works out more cost effective. The desire for day ticket big carp fishing is driven by a need for variety not financial considerations, availability and waiting lists are the concern to the syndicate carp angler. So back to barbel, with the previous statements in mind, how does this work for barbel??? We cannot create new barbel waters, the transition from day ticket and club stretches to syndicate waters will happen, better control, less management and ultimately less cost, higher margins and better fish welfare will justify this. Barbel are not carp, they move around a stretch but not like carp, a mile long beat can have only half a dozen swims where barbel are consistently caught and those swims will be seasonal. On the remaining open access waters we will see the ‘circus’ effect increase with competition for pegs and the unsavoury behaviour which always accompanies this. We will see club waiting lists grow until they are closed (already the case on a lot of Trent club waters). With this the complete irrelevance of who caught what from where and how will also increase, much the same as it has within the carp fishing scene. However, with the carp scene there is always a new venue or a venue that’s on the up, unfortunately this cannot be replicated in the barbel scene. These effects will manifest slower on the likes of the Thames, Trent and Seven but are already prevalent on the smaller river such as the Avon’s (Hampshire, Bristol and Warwickshire). I’m deliberately not mentioning predation in our rivers (Tarka) and pollution (sewage discharge) but it’s obvious they are also impacting the availability of our sport. So while it’s great to see all the enthusiasm, interest and information on barbel fishing increasing every year, I can’t help thinking that in the not to distant future I may be hanging up my barbel hat after 30 years and rather than it being a me vs barbel challenge and obsession, it will become the same as my carp and cat fishing these days, a day ticket holiday to pre selected swims and a lottery if you catch. Interested in other people’s thoughts. This is not intended as a negative post just a personal reflection on where my thoughts are at with our sport.
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I agree that it is more popular and as such some famous stretches have transitioned to syndicate, however the points made above about the average age of river anglers will ensure there will be plenty of water available in the future. I am 59 years old and caught my first barbel from the Thames aged 14. These days I never see anybody below mid forties on my syndicate or club waters and, as inevitably, my age group will cease fishing due to ill health or worse I could see many syndicates being leased back to clubs as demand drops. This is, of course, assuming the bloody water companies don’t kill our river eco systems off completely in the name of obscene profit.
 
Large parts of the Hampshire Avon are already syndicate waters, especially the better stretches. Although Severals is still a club water and Royalty Fishery day tickets.
 
I don’t think it will go as far as carp fishing has, just because barbel are much more difficult to catch due to being pretty thin on the ground in many rivers. The biggest thing with carping is how accessible it is to the masses, for a big chunk of the year rivers are too much effort for the rewards available compared to the day ticket carp waters on offer now.

For example, you can go and get some gear, a license and rock up to somewhere like a linear fisheries with a good chance of catching something pretty large with minimal effort. I doubt anyone will ever be able to do that for barbel without a much larger amount of effort, skill and research apart from a few select places. That extra stuff needed will always put plenty of anglers off.
 
Tbh and I don’t like posting negativity because there’s too much of it about but the things that concern me aren’t the rise in popularity of any aspect of angling.

Your average angler is middle aged with little interest from the younger generation. The youth development of this pursuit is verging on non existent.

Access to our rivers has huge push from much more organised and vocal groups who want free access to any bit of grass going. I can’t see that situation improving anything, based on the development of SANGs which to my mind just become sanctioned dog toilets and to hell with any other user. Angling in these areas is often prohibited and if it’s not it’s passively discouraged with fences and limited access.

Fish stocks are under huge pressure from land management, water mismanagement, predation, apathy, the list goes on.

The move in the western world is against anything animal related. Away from our own sport, fish and coral collection in Indonesia and Hawaii has gone through a roller coaster. Indonesia is back open but Hawaii is still closed. You can catch a dozen fish and kill it but you can’t catch one to keep as a pet. That’s a well organised industry that has clear links to reef restoration, ecotourism etc etc but still it has to fight to argue against the counter argument of animal rights.

Sadly and if I’m honest it plays into my mind as to why I’m on my current hiatus, I can see the decline coming fast and it’s depressing. There’s a feeling of not being welcome. I’ve not set foot on a river now in quite some time for various reasons but the situation just doesn’t feel positive.
 
Just to put a different "spin" on this topic: I live in Norfolk. We used to have barbel in the Wensum and occasionally one would turn up in the Upper Bure. After the mass release of otters in Bungay years ago, the barbel have been wiped out.
So, to satisfy my desire to catch whiskers I travel to Herefordshire a couple of times a year to stay for a week or so and target barbel.
I love the anticipation of these trips. Part of the joy is the planning and getting rigs etc sorted out!
I have often asked myself if I would have the same excitement if I had the opportunity to fish for barbel every day?
As it is, I love my river fishing and nowadays I don't target any particular species. I take a rod and just the essential gear and wander up and down my local river catching dace, roach, perch, chub.....you get the picture.
So to me, fishing is less about an obsession with large carp or double figure barbel, but more about being by the water side and living in the moment.
 
Yes I share your worries. The real problem as I see it is that Barbel are a a species in decline in many rivers systems. Famous rivers like the Kennet, Hants Avon and Dorset Stour are a mere shadow of what they were. With poor water quality and lack of recruitment it is difficult to see them ever coming back to how they were. There is not a never ending supply of new fish from farms as with commercial Carp Fisheries and stocking with Barbel has not proved successful. Certainly not on the Dorset Stour anyway.
I worry about the pressure rivers holding stocks of Barbel are now under and multi rod round the clock fishing is not doing the fish any favours.
It is hard to see how things can ever improve. For years I looked forward to retirement and getting to grips with the Barbel of the Dorset Stour. Now I have reached that stage but the Barbel are no longer there in any numbers. Where there are a few there are dozens of anglers fishing for just a few fish.
I now go to the Severn to catch a few but all the club stretches are busy and day ticket stretches have bivvies and all sorts of rubbish.
I find it all so very disappointing. Sorry that's so negative but it's how I feel!
 
You are absolutely right catching a D Stour or H Avon Barbel is now an achievement to be treasured. Although there are high double figure fish in stretches of the H Avon I guess it's the same few fish repeatedly caught. Hope I am wrong about that though.
 
Jeremy Cronin said:
You are absolutely right catching a D Stour or H Avon Barbel is now an achievement to be treasured. Although there are high double figure fish in stretches of the H Avon I guess it's the same few fish repeatedly caught. Hope I am wrong about that though.
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Someone on another site recently described catching a Throop Barbel as 'The Holy Grail'. How sad is that that such a famous, once prolific fishery has come to that. There a few there, don't get me wrong but it's generally the locals that can fish regularly and walk the banks to find them that are most successful. Holiday anglers find it very hard indeed and the Avon isn't any different.
 
Paul Bullinger said:
Just to put a different "spin" on this topic: I live in Norfolk. We used to have barbel in the Wensum and occasionally one would turn up in the Upper Bure. After the mass release of otters in Bungay years ago, the barbel have been wiped out.
So, to satisfy my desire to catch whiskers I travel to Herefordshire a couple of times a year to stay for a week or so and target barbel.
I love the anticipation of these trips. Part of the joy is the planning and getting rigs etc sorted out!
I have often asked myself if I would have the same excitement if I had the opportunity to fish for barbel every day?
As it is, I love my river fishing and nowadays I don't target any particular species. I take a rod and just the essential gear and wander up and down my local river catching dace, roach, perch, chub.....you get the picture.
So to me, fishing is less about an obsession with large carp or double figure barbel, but more about being by the water side and living in the moment.
Click to expand...
That ia a very sensible attitude. I like your approach. 👍
 
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