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Another "Old Chestnut"

Paul Deans

Senior Member
Right fella's,
Alongside the old adages like "Red at night...shepherds delight...Red at morning...shepherds warning" giving a foolproof way of reading the weather (or not!).

How does the old adage "Barbel wont munch your boilies or pellets after the closed season until they get used to them again, after gobbling nothing but worms and naturals during the closed season".

Opinions please, naturals or boilies/pellets when we all kick off again plus, any more folk based weather prediction methods that NEVER fail! :)
 
How old is the average Barbel or Chub, 7-15 years old? In a few months they forget all about how that thing, what smells good is edible. Don’t believe it for a second.
 
Ime, nothing beats maggots and casters for catching barbel during the day when the river is running low and gin clear. Which it often can be at the beginning of the season. So from that perspective there is some truth in it, but not for reason some think.

I’ve caught well on pellets and boilies at the start of the season when the rivers up.
 
Trouble I find with Mags is that even if I put about a dozen on the hook after about 2 minutes I've either caught a micro Chub or just got a few skins left on the hook.
 
Trouble I find with Mags is that even if I put about a dozen on the hook after about 2 minutes I've either caught a micro Chub or just got a few skins left on the hook.
Use the sinking enterprise fake ones on a hair rig.
Mag or caster in conjunction with a large feeder or pva
The nuisance fish will peck at them but not take them because they won’t feel right. However a barbel will suck the lot in and be hooked.
 
Ime, nothing beats maggots and casters for catching barbel during the day when the river is running low and gin clear. Which it often can be at the beginning of the season. So from that perspective there is some truth in it, but not for reason some think.

I’ve caught well on pellets and boilies at the start of the season when the rivers up.
Daytime definitely but as the light starts to dip away I’ve found that the bigger baits over take mags and caster
 
I agree with most on here. If you're on the fish, and they're up for feeding, you'll catch. Be it on boilie, pellet or particles. I've had some great starts and some bad.
 
Agreed. Although I’ve had some good fish well into dark on maggots, including my pb, but that was in Feb. In warmer temps my default would to always fish boilie or pellet when the light has dipped.
Me too. Casters after dusk can be brilliant all year round and like you say it’s those types of baits you need to fall back on some days to stand a chance
 
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