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Bream and barbel?

Darren George

Darren George

Senior Member
Hi There,

Does anyone have any observations of any relationship between bream and barbel?

On the Severn I used to move if I got breamed out, but I'm now having a re-think..

Do you guys try to fish through them in the hope that barbel are swimming among the shoal? Does anyone actively seek the bream out?

Particularly interested in opinions of the guys who fish the Thames as I know there are stacks of bream down there...
 
A very good barbel angler once told me 'If you find the Bream, the Barbel won't be far away !' I believe a lot of the Thames matchmen used to say this too !
When I used to get Breamed out on The Severn I often found a chuck further downstream would bring the odd Barbel.
 
The noted barbel stretches on the Cherwell frequently held bream years ago, these two species seem to keep each other company on a lot of waters
 
Interesting, I usually move on if I have a bream but that is normally in the context of short evening sessions on small rivers.

Food for thought though, as a very large barbus came from the Colne last season after the captor had had a couple of bream and considered moving on, and I also hooked a barbel on the float whilst trotting through a big shoal of bream on opening day this season - I don't doubt that they are often found together, but sometimes getting through the bream is not practical, and on small intimate rivers I'm not sure barbel will tolerate that much activity in a swim without spooking.
 
Get the bream going then switch your hookbait to either a large one that the bream cant eat or one they dont like!!
 
Bream/barbel

Using the "find the bream, the barbel won`t be far away" theory, I sat on the Thames one night and waded through 63 of them and there was no happy ending. Three rods and a huge bucket of halibuts and vitalin helped me to come to the conclusion that all those Thames match anglers weren`t quite as smart as they thought they were.

As for changing bait size, if only it were that easy to avoid the Thames bream.
 
Catfish Pellets ! Often see it said that on The Thames 'Avoid Halibut Pellets and fish LARGE single hookbaits to avoid the Bream.........

Barbel are very often found in close proximity to the Bream and I do understand that the shoals AND fish on The Thames can be huge ! I am no expert, just repeating what I was told............
 
Darren, i have found that on the thames bream and barbel often go hand in hand with barbel often following the bream activity, at least on the highly popular spots i find this more often than not mate....j.w
 
Darren,

My biggest severn barbel (and many others) was caught after i'd first landed several snotties.

Barbel will often find food by observing or sensing (was gonna say hearing, but ive yet to catch a barbel with ears) other fish feeding. :)

cheers

Paul
 
Paul,

Did you have to change baits, tactics etc to find the Barbel in the midst of bream, or did they just come as part of a catch of bream?

Chris
 
i've never really looked into it too deeply, but there are a lot of bream in the one areas i fish quite often & they are caught very regulary. the area byetheway is one of the shallower/faster stretches too.
 
Interesting, from my expereince on the Thames, I,ve had loads of mixed bream/barbel catches, but I can,t recall ever catching barbel after catching bream first! On many occasions I,ve caught barbel(s) followed by bream then more barbel. When I start getting bream, I now move swim, or fish to different parts of the swim.
peter
 
peter, i think he is trying to establish if barbel frequent same swims as bream on the thames mate, we all know finding the stretch is simple, finding where on the rivers width ect aint so easy,
Darren look close in rather than in the middle mate;)
 
Chris,

Carried on fishing with same hookbait and feeder mix, as the area (and bait) had good previous form. No more than an under arm cast in fairly shallow water with that grassy reed stuff you find close in on the severn at Diglis, Pixham and other areas in summer. ;-)

Paul
 
I think it's pretty much a given that Bream and Barbel will occupy the same swim. The problem though is that when you start hauling the Bream out you are likely to spook the Barbel. The trick is to be able to keep a hookbait out there without catching the Bream.
 
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