Barbel

[Derek Funcks]

Great thread, some brilliant advice on here. You learn something new everyday. I,ll be taking it with me to this weekends fish-in. cheers guys. But even if i don,t catch sweet fa, i just love sitting next to a river, and a few beers with Rich P, my brother, ( and anyone else, your all invited ) at the end of day, what more could one want.

 

[Joe Winstanley]

Another good tip. A word of thanks for anyone taking the trouble to give some advice and answer a question goes a long way....

 

[Mike Hodgkiss]

Would endorse most of the tips given . If the river you are fishing is match fished , pay a visit at the weigh ins , see if barbel have been caught or anglers reporting being broken by large fish .As Mr Craine suggests visiting a river when the water is very low can reveal likely looking spots . I am not a fan of heavy groundbaiting / chucking in lots of freebies , you are there to get the barbel to take your hookbait not fill em up with free food . IF Barbel are there and conditions are right they will take most hookbaits , very few Barbel can resist a large lump of spam . Also don't be in too much of a rush , give a swim a couple of hours , Barbel do patrol around, I have lost count of the times I have left a big lump of spam on the bottom for 2 maybe 3 hours , absolutely nothing then bang , fish on, often followed by others . Good luck .

 

[Paul Richardson]

I don't know the Ribble but i know it's a Northern spate river. They can be challenging in Autumn and downright impossible through the winter. So I wouldn't let a few blanks deter you. Follow the advice given, put in the hours and it should pay dividends. Alas social media and You Tube does paint a picture of barbel being super easy to bag up on on and that may be the case on certain rivers on certain stretches at certain times of year, but don't believe the hype and selective editing.
My friend just did a solid week on the Wye and he's a very capable barbel angler with over 100 fish this season, he blanked despite being put in good swims and given advice on which chucks. it's just the way it is sometimes.
No disrespect here but if you really want to catch a barbel from the Ribble on your own merits, you will but it might take some effort.
If you fancy catching a barbel to tick a box, you might need to travel, pay for a guided day etc..
No right or wrongs, we all fish for different reasons, I just like the challenge and take blanks as learning curves but then I am a bit odd.

 

[Gary Wagstaff]

Would endorse most of the tips given . If the river you are fishing is match fished , pay a visit at the weigh ins , see if barbel have been caught or anglers reporting being broken by large fish .As Mr Craine suggests visiting a river when the water is very low can reveal likely looking spots . I am not a fan of heavy groundbaiting / chucking in lots of freebies , you are there to get the barbel to take your hookbait not fill em up with free food . IF Barbel are there and conditions are right they will take most hookbaits , very few Barbel can resist a large lump of spam . Also don't be in too much of a rush , give a swim a couple of hours , Barbel do patrol around, I have lost count of the times I have left a big lump of spam on the bottom for 2 maybe 3 hours , absolutely nothing then bang , fish on, often followed by others . Good luck .

Spam is one bait you do not use till winter .not last 20 mins with the eels that are in the river even in flood.
Plenty barbel to be caught in winter probably easier if you know the river. They go to the same areas at different times of the winter.had up 10 at least 3 times last winter only short sessions after work
Last weekend went to an area to check out for a member on here I used to fish every season but would not go till I had my birthday last Saturday had 4 barbel in 3 hours.there not there till mid September gone for new year when the move 400 yards up stream till end of season
Fished the ribble for 30 years it's coming back to it was 10 years ago plenty of small fish coming through the 10lb plus are not there in big numbers .

 

[Steve Jeffery]

Spam is one bait you do not use till winter .not last 20 mins with the eels that are in the river even in flood.
Plenty barbel to be caught in winter probably easier if you know the river. They go to the same areas at different times of the winter.had up 10 at least 3 times last winter only short sessions after work
Last weekend went to an area to check out for a member on here I used to fish every season but would not go till I had my birthday last Saturday had 4 barbel in 3 hours.there not there till mid September gone for new year when the move 400 yards up stream till end of season
Fished the ribble for 30 years it's coming back to it was 10 years ago plenty of small fish coming through the 10lb plus are not there in big numbers .

Gary, the original poster, Lee, is my fishing buddy, so he is also fishing the stretches you mention. We normally fish together having both joined the club at the same time

 

[Mike Hodgkiss]

Spam is one bait you do not use till winter .not last 20 mins with the eels that are in the river even in flood.
Plenty barbel to be caught in winter probably easier if you know the river. They go to the same areas at different times of the winter.had up 10 at least 3 times last winter only short sessions after work
Last weekend went to an area to check out for a member on here I used to fish every season but would not go till I had my birthday last Saturday had 4 barbel in 3 hours.there not there till mid September gone for new year when the move 400 yards up stream till end of season
Fished the ribble for 30 years it's coming back to it was 10 years ago plenty of small fish coming through the 10lb plus are not there in big numbers .

Hello Gary . My comments were general remarks , I have only fished the Ribble once and that was for Salmon , good to hear there are plenty of Eels around, they are still uncommon in the Yorkshire rivers I fish , but 10 years a go using spam for Barbel in the summer would have attracted the Eels which were a nuiance fish back then . I used to use Spam all the year round for Barbel but have discovered that using the maggot feeder in the winter is more effective for the Barbel . That said , in a flood , whatever the time of year , spam or a big worm takes some beating

 

[Richard Isaacs]

The worst thing you can possibly do is start worrying about everything.

Barbel are not the most intelligent fish and the key to catching them is finding them and not spooking them.

Some things to note……

Barbel can find a single piece of food quite quickly in a river that’s got 10 foot of extra water on.

Barbel are really aggressive feeders and will bully other fish out of the way if they want to get in on a meal.

Barbel do not feed all day or all night. They give you short windows of opportunity. If you get to know your venue well, you can literally set your watch by them.

They don’t like bright sunny weather, they don’t like being caught when it’s too hot, they don’t like coming in contact with guitar string tight main lines.
They feed predominantly on gravel and rocks and they absolutely love a bit of streamer weed.

They hook themselves on the most basic of rigs and bite indication is not something to worry about even when using buried baits.

Look for pacey water preferably smooth around a good walking pace is nice.
If you can see the bottom then forget it unless there’s obvious cover that could hold them or fish it at sunset.

Lead about. This is the best thing you can do. Don’t guess! Find out what your fishing on and how deep it is.
Some of my best ever results have come from doing the lead work or deeper work if you have one but either way, I’ve had some fantastic finds by knowing what I’m fishing on rather than guessing based on what I can see.