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Bit of a 'back to basics' kinda question....

Julian Griffiths

Julian Griffiths

Senior Member & Supporter
Morning all. Hope I find you all well!

I'm going to tackle the Thames the come the new season.

I've always been daunted about fishing these sometimes long featureless venues, and have put it off for far too long.

In short. I've never cared about plumbing for depths/drop offs on the smaller venues, however I definitely feel that on the Thames this will help in terms of locating drop offs etc.

For those of you that have experience on these larger venues, did you guys invest in one of those Deeper Pro jobs, or was it a case of leading about with one of those feature finding leads?

I've got a couple of 2.25 12ft barbel rods so think that should cover my needs?

Any tips would be welcomed.

Cheers guys😊
 
Well, I’ve been thinking about getting a deeper for a while, but after trotting the swim a few times, I kind of know it well now.

I don’t like the lead idea, especially if you want to use it to find deep holes etc.
 
Hi Julian, I’ve never seen the Thames, but if the areas you’re going to target are deep straights and relatively featureless above the water line then I’d definitely have a lead around, but that could take a lot of time to find out the features on bottom of the river, I’ve never used a deeper type device before, but I think I would buy one, I think it would save you a lot of time and effort, especially if it’s a low stock venue?
 
We used one (castable Deeper) when we first went on the Severn - you could get a good idea of the depths of a long stretch in a short time.

Other ways to do similar include hiring a boat with a decent echo sounder; the modern ones have side scan as well as down scan - so would show a wide strip of the river in one pass. Another option is to swim down the river; I’m not joking.

Std plumbing works too - I walked one long (virtually unfished) middle Thames stretch with a lead rod and found a few variations. Then we started baiting/fishing and roved all over the place to find what felt like the better spots. We ended up fishing about 4 or 5 swims on the whole stretch. First barbel I caught was 16.10.

Looking back on that stretch after a few years it is interesting that it is very ‘swim specific’ (for us). It is super hard and we have only caught barbel from 3 swims and one of those only fishes on a big flood. One swim produces big carp (we aren’t sure why) and even the bream are consistently only in certain swims. We also can’t catch chub there for reasons we can’t explain….

Maybe we should go back and search it with a ‘Deeper’ and find some new/better spots….
 
With hard work comes great reward.
Yeah it might seem a drag leading about but finding features with simple time-honoured methods brings a greater sense of acheivement when the rewards come.
 
I agree with Tim, that getting in the river and having a walk about is good especially if it’s quiet shallow, I’ve found good depressions in relatively shallow areas that have been obscured by weed that way
 
A lead and a loafer was how I always did it for years.
I’m glad I did because it’s a handy skill to have to be able to form a picture of what’s infront of you with those two items.

I have a deeper now and it does drastically speed up the job that’s for sure.
 
Whilst I don't doubt that the information you can find is useful, especially in certain conditions, don't forget feeding fish will search for food and find your bait ! Trefor West used to say the definition of a barbel swim was the one he had his bait in.
 
Cliff Turner said:
Whilst I don't doubt that the information you can find is useful, especially in certain conditions, don't forget feeding fish will search for food and find your bait ! Trefor West used to say the definition of a barbel swim was the one he had his bait in.
Click to expand...
Every barbel I have caught from the Thames has come from a particular area in a specific swim and that applies to fish caught from several different stretches many miles apart.

I’ve fished scores of sessions (in good conditions) in other fairly adjacent (or not) swims and caught nothing but chub. If it was a simple as just casting out and waiting for a barbel to find the bait I would/should have caught a lot more…….

My fishing mate was ‘trained’ by Trefor on the BA back in the day - they fished together extensively. Even I could regularly catch barbel there - we have to try a bit harder on the Thames these days.
 
I also use a Deeper but use a 'Start', I did have a 'Pro Plus', but lost it in the Arun, that was painful on the wallet. The lesson learned was use a wire trace. It was taken by a pike on the retrieve. Be careful with boats on the Thames. I tend to use the Deeper to start on a new stretch and then lead around to confirm my findings , you can sometimes remove small branches when leading which might cause problems latter. the range on the 'Start' is smaller so doesn't do as good a job but it helps.
 
Tim Marks said:
We used one (castable Deeper) when we first went on the Severn - you could get a good idea of the depths of a long stretch in a short time.

Other ways to do similar include hiring a boat with a decent echo sounder; the modern ones have side scan as well as down scan - so would show a wide strip of the river in one pass. Another option is to swim down the river; I’m not joking.

Std plumbing works too - I walked one long (virtually unfished) middle Thames stretch with a lead rod and found a few variations. Then we started baiting/fishing and roved all over the place to find what felt like the better spots. We ended up fishing about 4 or 5 swims on the whole stretch. First barbel I caught was 16.10.

Looking back on that stretch after a few years it is interesting that it is very ‘swim specific’ (for us). It is super hard and we have only caught barbel from 3 swims and one of those only fishes on a big flood. One swim produces big carp (we aren’t sure why) and even the bream are consistently only in certain swims. We also can’t catch chub there for reasons we can’t explain….

Maybe we should go back and search it with a ‘Deeper’ and find some new/better spots….
Click to expand...
That's an interesting experience you've posted here Tim. 👍
 
Jim Brook said:
Hi Julian, I’ve never seen the Thames, but if the areas you’re going to target are deep straights and relatively featureless above the water line then I’d definitely have a lead around, but that could take a lot of time to find out the features on bottom of the river, I’ve never used a deeper type device before, but I think I would buy one, I think it would save you a lot of time and effort, especially if it’s a low stock venue?
Click to expand...
Exactly my thoughts, if the river had any decent flow on it, that would also help with one of those devices.
But in the summer it's pretty stagnant.... Unless I fish the upper sections & or areas adjacent to weirs... Which is usually the better option during the summer months in any case. 😊
 
Cliff Turner said:
Whilst I don't doubt that the information you can find is useful, especially in certain conditions, don't forget feeding fish will search for food and find your bait ! Trefor West used to say the definition of a barbel swim was the one he had his bait in.
Click to expand...
Those words of his, still echoed in my ears when I was on the smaller venues.😊

On the wider Rivers I kinda feel the little variations of depth or flow etc are quite importan, sseem to recall Guy Rob echo sounding on the Thames with his boat, and found a large 20ft hole in what was an otherwise featureless stretch of river. Consequently caught from it. 😊
 
yes I agree the Thames is a much harder venue but I think it still applies if there are fish in the general area you are fishing, obviously you can't catch what isn't there.
 
Thames is a hard river to fish, especially the up and middle sections. There are lots of chub and bream, but not many barbel. And a lot stretch’s are featureless, so finding the potential underwater features is crucial.

I know a guy find a deep hole with the deeper and caught a 19lb barbel, that’s what makes me want to get one as well. I did try the lead approach there, but couldn’t get a good picture of the swim due to the snugs. Deeper can be very useful and quicker in this case.
 
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