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Anybody stopped fishing?

One thing that gets forgotten, which is amplified in these conditions is lactic acid build up, during a long spirited fight with a big barbel the acidification of the barbels blood will take place, this can disrupt the barbels whole metabolism, coupled with low dissolved oxygen and high water temps can result in one thing .....a dead barbel, maybe not at that moment but later once its returned....
 
Gwyn Jeffs said:
Time to fire up the old spout again.

A lot of you are acting like this is the first hot, dry summer we've ever had.
Do you think barbel never had to deal with them before? They are, after all, native to Eastern flowing rivers.

I can only imagine what some rivers are like right now. I have fished the Warks Avon and Bristol Avon and if either of those was my main venue, I'd hang the rods up too.
I've also fished the tidal Severn, I would not hang my rods up on that venue.

I have written off my main stretch of the Wye, I no longer feel comfortable due to lack of flow and more importantly, lack of options regarding resting/releasing fish.
However, I still have one or two stretches I know contain fast, aerated shady water and as it happens, I'm going today ( Tuesday ).

I totally agree with all the comments about photography though. I had a 9-01 two weeks ago, which is a good fish for the Wye. Didn't even consider a pic. The pic I posted of an approx 8lber was as I was easing her over the drawstring for release after a rest, my old man said " lift her up ". Total out of water time? 5 seconds. And it wasn't even a great pic seeing as he was 30 feet away and the sun behind me. More opportunistic...although the shot actually turned out ok.

Nobody should be taking pics of 5lb barbel from any venue. Those who are, are those who should know better but crave fame and sponsorship. I would catch and release my first double from the Wye unweighed before stooping to that level.

I still maintain that given the right venue and stretch, you can safely fish for barbel in these conditions. But the options are becoming more limited by the day.

But, if you really care about them as much as you make out, I'll bid on your Harrisons/Torrix/Free Spirits/Infinities on eBay.
I'll even throw in some polarised glasses on the sale price, because you care so much you don't need to fish for them and would rather watch them.

I love this modern era entitled mentality. " I'm not fishing so neither should you ".

Watch what happens when I object to catching and returning fish in coloured water though..
What? I'm entitled ;-)
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Do us all a favour and give it a rest eh Gwyn, you're beginning to remind me of someone (I thought at least) we'd got rid of. Thank you kindly, but we don't need lectures.
 
So, can anyone recall what happened in the long hot summer of 1976? I was fishing then but can't remember what happened on the rivers (perhaps because I was more interested in tench and carp in the summer in those days). My recollection is that the heat wave, which included many days with temps over 90f (that's 32.2c for you youngsters), started in late May and carried on until the end of August. Don't remember any significant rain in that period and it was officially declared a drought, with hose pipe bans, stand pipes etc, as well as lots of heath fires. Of course, as soon as they appointed a minister for drought, the weather broke and we had major thunder storms and torrential rain!


Dave
 
Graham Elliott said:
No its about points of view Neil.

So. I may decide to go trotting for roach. And lo and behold. The 2nd fish and third fish I hook are barbel.

On 3lb bottom and 4lb mail line.
Eventually after a very long fight I net them.

Should I pack up? Should I not be fishing at all. Should I change to barbel gear to shorten any fight?

As I said. It's a difficult one.

And I guess more so for those that have saved up for a year for their holiday and live maybe normally a far distance away in a barbel desert.

Just trying to be realistic.
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A Difficult conundrum Graham . But is that not , the same attitude as Water authorities ? Profit / money , before the well being of Fish ? . I cant help but think those who have criticised the EA , Water authorities regarding profit before the environment , really are being Hypocritical , by putting their own interests first because of finance's . If I remember rightly when the closed season debate was rattling about , anglers were concerned that abolishing the closed season would harm fish stocks , I wonder how many of these anglers are now fishing the Rivers , with a very fragile River system with low oxygen levels ? . I see Famous Anglers promoting fishing the Rivers during this heatwave , well lets be honest its because its their PAID Job and again another example of Hypocrisy because of money.

Lets say the complete opposite has happened and Rivers have burst their banks and major flooding in all surrounding fields , areas has occurred . whereas fishing is considered too dangerous , Would Anglers still go ? Or would they cancel their trips until conditions improved ?

I really do feel for Anglers who have pre booked their fishing holidays , and now face a very difficult situation between fish welfare and money ethics .

I am glad its a decision I don't have to make.
 
Well it seems we, well most anyway are giving the Barbel a miss for the time being, ...so I got to thinking Carp in the margins, we are not overrun with many Carp fisheries in Tewkesbury area, one in particular is a out and out commercial, more akin to darts than fishing, another is a day ticket venue that I haven't fished for years, but did have a 16lb Common last knockings on the float, lovely scrap

We used to fish a venue called Sword and Sabre near Calne in Wiltshire when we lived that way, I loved fishing off the top for them, and they were very obliging, a bit too much on one occasion when Anthony fishing next peg was getting hooked up every 5 minutes or so and I had the only net, the call 'In Again' was met with a curse from me as I had to stop and land the bleeding thing, (it was MY net and I wasn't sharing), on the umpteenth 'I'm In' I turned and managed to miss the pontoon edge and went right under.. of course Anthony was more concerned with the fish, but it ended well with the only casualty me, and a free soaking.

So anyway... thinking about what Carpy gear I have, well it amounts to zero really, I do have a Drennan Tench rod, a few Avons and of course a shed load of redundant Barbel Rods, do the members think the Drennan Tench would be OK... assuming a average size of 5-16lb might be the norm or should I step it up a bit?

Need to do something, getting a bit twitchy :(
 
Neil Smart said:
Well it seems we, well most anyway are giving the Barbel a miss for the time being, ...so I got to thinking Carp in the margins, we are not overrun with many Carp fisheries in Tewkesbury area, one in particular is a out and out commercial, more akin to darts than fishing, another is a day ticket venue that I haven't fished for years, but did have a 16lb Common last knockings on the float, lovely scrap

We used to fish a venue called Sword and Sabre near Calne in Wiltshire when we lived that way, I loved fishing off the top for them, and they were very obliging, a bit too much on one occasion when Anthony fishing next peg was getting hooked up every 5 minutes or so and I had the only net, the call 'In Again' was met with a curse from me as I had to stop and land the bleeding thing, (it was MY net and I wasn't sharing), on the umpteenth 'I'm In' I turned and managed to miss the pontoon edge and went right under.. of course Anthony was more concerned with the fish, but it ended well with the only casualty me, and a free soaking.

So anyway... thinking about what Carpy gear I have, well it amounts to zero really, I do have a Drennan Tench rod, a few Avons and of course a shed load of redundant Barbel Rods, do the members think the Drennan Tench would be OK... assuming a average size of 5-16lb might be the norm or should I step it up a bit?

Need to do something, getting a bit twitchy :(
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Yes Neil , most Barbel rods will be fine for fishing for Carp. I am doing the same , fishing a local lake with a couple of 9ft stalking rods. I wont fish the Rivers until conditions improve.
 
Craig Wood said:
Yes Neil , most Barbel rods will be fine for fishing for Carp. I am doing the same , fishing a local lake with a couple of 9ft stalking rods. I wont fish the Rivers until conditions improve.
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Sounds like a plan Craig, thinking about it I do have a stalker somewhere in the Garage ;)
 
I have a sad confession to make,.. I’ve had a barbel of around 8-9 lbs go belly up. It’s the only time I’ve knowingly lost one of my favourite fish and I’m gutted. It came from an open swim on a well known day ticket fishery,... and took no longer than one would expect to land on strong gear. I stood in the river doing all the recommended recovery drill for over 45 minutes but to no avail.
I felt I ought to confess to the fishery manager and we subsequently had a long chat.
He informed me that both he and his bailiffs had removed 35 dead barbel during the past week,.. many had become hung up on a weed boom halfway down the stretch. Many were bagged and frozen to be sent for analysis, especially if they showed signs of tumours,... my fatality made 36.
I was shocked at his figures and asked why so many?
He replied that although I might consider his job to be a dream, many don’t see the realities,..... bad handling, excessive time out of the water when exhausted, prolonged playing of fish either from inadequate gear or through fishing swims that would not allow a fish to be landed downstream, coupled with low water, excessive weed growth and poor D.O. all contributed to the total.
He tried to console me but added “ that sometimes we must question what we do”.
This didn’t happen yesterday, but over 20 years ago and was a defining episode in my long angling career,... his words still resonate with me after all that time.
These things are personal and we make our own judgments unless forced to do otherwise,.. each to his own.
I rather doubt if that fishery sees 36 barbel caught in a week nowadays let alone register that number of fatalities,.. it could never be sustainable I guess, coupled with all the other factors stacked against the barbel population.
Personally I wouldn’t tell any accomplished angler when and when not to fish,.. but I’m disappointed that given the current conditions and forecast that many clubs still haven’t emailed their members with advisories reminding them that barbel are not an infinite resource and given the low D.O. , poor water quality and high temps, .. fish should be rested for longer, not taken out of the water for photos,.. if at all.
But alas, nothing has dropped through my mailbox,... and they are still craving for pics of fish to advertise their asset,.. no short term pain for long term gain I’m sad to say.
Dave
 
Simon, I think that’s to do with the recovery rather than out and outright conditions. Salomidids require even higher oxygen levels than Barbel do and do not recover as quickly as the Cyprid fishes that Barbel belong to. As Lawerence pointed out there are other factors such as lactic acid build up which (happy to be corrected) Salmon are far poorer at recovering from.

Spots of rain but still nothing substantive. Day time temperatures are calming down though, with the mid 20s this week. According to the Knapp mill data the water temperature on the H.Avon is coming back down and is now nearly where it was at the beginning of the month. Whilst that’s only one factor in dissolved oxygen it’s obviously a positive. Link enclosed;
http://www.knappmill.co.uk/id2.html
 
Stephen Crowhurst said:
Simon, I think that’s to do with the recovery rather than out and outright conditions. Salomidids require even higher oxygen levels than Barbel do and do not recover as quickly as the Cyprid fishes that Barbel belong to. As Lawerence pointed out there are other factors such as lactic acid build up which (happy to be corrected) Salmon are far poorer at recovering from.

Spots of rain but still nothing substantive. Day time temperatures are calming down though, with the mid 20s this week. According to the Knapp mill data the water temperature on the H.Avon is coming back down and is now nearly where it was at the beginning of the month. Whilst that’s only one factor in dissolved oxygen it’s obviously a positive. Link enclosed;
http://www.knappmill.co.uk/id2.html
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Speaking of the Knapp mill gauge Stephen, do you know is the figure in the bottom left corner of this page the fish counter?
I've emailed the EA and not had a reply.
Great to see the temperature dropping at last.
http://www.knappmill.co.uk/
 
Howard Cooke said:
I had a look on their website and there is an item in their E- news section from last Friday. They state that the status of coarse fishing on the stretches they control is being reviewed daily.
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Does it say what is being monitored? the weather is still very warm with hardly any rain I don't see how they can justify allowing coarse angling on their waters. Is the river changing day to day?
 
According to the local paper Wessex water have stated that they have no intention of implementing a hose pipe ban. Accordingly the reservoirs are 80% full and the rain from early on in the year is enough.
Make of that what you will.
 
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