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Barbel on the Pole

Paul Richardson

Paul Richardson

Senior Member & Supporter
I saw this on Youtube a couple of nights ago


I don't know a lot about Matt Godfrey but I'm sure he is a top match angler, possibly an International, and knows what he's doing
Clearly it's been slickly edited and a couple of nice fish to his credit.
But.... it's left me feeling uneasy, especially with lots of newbies on the bank. I'm far from a Luddite and always open to new strategies but what does everyone else think?
I'm on the Wye for a week shortly and will be stocking to 2 1/4 chimeras and 15lb line thank you very much and I'm not a pole fisherman so have little clue about modern pole capabilities.
 
Saw someone doing it one day. He hooked one and it was embarrassing to watch. I'm not one for banning things but for the safety of the fish, pole fishing for Barbel should be.
Think he lost it in the end, after about half an hour of the Barbel playing the angler. No doubt the poor thing went belly up.
 
While I’m sure there is pole gear out there capable of coping with them it’s certainly not for me.
ive had one or two that would be quite frightening on an elastic band and if it was possible to land them it certainly wouldn’t be done quickly
 
Richard Isaacs said:
While I’m sure there is pole gear out there capable of coping with them it’s certainly not for me.
ive had one or two that would be quite frightening on an elastic band and if it was possible to land them it certainly wouldn’t be done quickly
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I cannot comprehend it and I catch tiddlers compared to the lumps you catch.
 
Same water as I saw the Barbel debacle holds a few Carp that get in from the river. Summer it's extremely weedy and one of the club matchmen thought it was great fun to catch Carp off the top in the weed holes. Using the pole. He caught the biggest one in there one opening day, about 19lb.
It was found dead 2 days later.
 
During the late 90’s I caught a lot of Barbel from both the Severn and Teme on the pole. Mostly bagging up on shoalies in the 4 to 6lb range, with occasional fish to 8lb+ My best catch from the Teme near Martley consisted of 44 Barbel, 6 Chub and a Perch.

I used to find a slack and fill it in with hemp and caster, then inch a Drennan Pole Stick float along the crease. 12’s elastic through 4 sections, connected to a long loop of 20’s elastic from the bung. In the right swim it was a deadly method, back in the day when both rivers were full of shoalies. Once hooked, the lightish elastic seemed to confuse the Barbel and they’d plod around in the slack water.

Perhaps I should try it again with a bungie elastic and side puller kit?
 
Rob Paylor said:
Most of the barbel I catch would not be landed on a pole, I'm 1, 000, 000 percent sure about that!! 😂
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Are you really sure about that Rob?


Around 2005 I was talking to an angler who had caught a 12lb 4oz barbel from the Dearne from a real snag pit of a swim. He said that he could not have landed the fish on a conventional rod as he needed the length of the pole to keep the fish out of near bank snags. He was right.
 
Clive Kenyon said:
Are you really sure about that Rob?


Around 2005 I was talking to an angler who had caught a 12lb 4oz barbel from the Dearne from a real snag pit of a swim. He said that he could not have landed the fish on a conventional rod as he needed the length of the pole to keep the fish out of near bank snags. He was right.
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30 feet deep where I fish, you'd need a bloody long pole 😅
 
I am sure about 20 years ago a match angler on upper benyons had 5 doubles on the pole on a match. If you have proper gear most fish can be landed with a pole.
 
Yes and you can land them on a feeder rod with 6lb line but nowadays we know better and fish care becomes our no1 priority.
It’s fun to get them on light tackle and different methods but it’s not great to play them to complete exhaustion. Granted the guy in the second vid was doing it in a coloured river with plenty of oxygen and recovery will be quicker but I much prefer to get them in the net and still kicking not upside down waving the white flag.
 
The fact that Dave Roberts and Alan Scotthorne ( in conjunction with Peter Drennan) have published videos demonstrating that it can be done is entertaining but these guys are world class anglers. I know one or two people personally who would see a professional video like the Guru one and seriously consider setting out to emulate theses guys in snaggy and impractical swims. I guess eventually they would hook fish, but how many would they lose, how many would they play to exhaustion?
I'm trying not to take the high moral ground here as unfortunately leaving a hooklink in a barbel is an occupational hazard, and one we try and mitigate against but it happens. As does hooking them on tip rods when chubbing. But the majority of anglers on here know when to step-up, or when they can fine down and there's plenty of experience and advice to assist responsible barbel fishing & care.
I watched Hadrian Whittle( another exceptional angler) catching them on the float and light gear on the Wye and was completely inspired. Got the gear and tried to emulate on the Swale. I lost every one I hooked and gave it up after one session. Chub on the float, that I can do.
Personally I think this video is irresponsible on the basis that for every Matt Godfrey, Dave Roberts & Alan Scotthorne there will be thousands of moderately skilled coarse anglers with poles who thinks this looks like shelling peas, when it must require some of the best tackle and watercraft imaginable.
 
I've caught them on a pole, using a "carp" pole, heavy elastic and 0.25 hook links size 8 hooks and lobworm whilst fishing a flooded river for anything that swims, I've never been broken have pulled out of a couple but I can land them faster IMO than with a float rod but not as fast as with my 2lb Torrixs
 
Strange one this.
Caught quite a few on the float, and reducing pressure can mean almost tricking them into the net without a prolonged fight.

However after losing 2 out of 4 on a rocky river Trent last year decided not to try it on rivers where it was impossible to keep them from running along bottom on even a power float rod.

Gravel areas or mud beds fine. Big rocks on bottom. Not. I M O.
 
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