Cambs/ Beds Barbel

[Martin Lingard]

Due to work , I am exiled in St Ives, Cambs for next year and I'm wondering what clubs, rivers would be best to pursue. Ideally, same venues have pedigree for winter chub or pike too. I've always liked look of Ivel around Sandy but I'm out of touch with ongoing predation, is Ivel still worth a punt?
Gt Ouse around Offord/ Buckden looks good too , but I was told that barbel there are of smaller average size and few and far between these day.
I have fished Nene at Castor backwater before and it's certainly a great venue , is it still in good form?
Many thanks in advance .

 

[Martin Lingard]

DOH! Just read previous thread about the Ivel , I guess that's a resounding no.?

 

[Terry Harman]

I would say your best bet is the nene Martin the other rivers you mention are pretty much finished for barbel.... there’s more to the nene than castor .. alwalton has a fantastic backwater and also the main river
Richard Isaacs on here has been fishing it I believe I’m sure he will be along to give you a few pointers

 

[Richard Isaacs]

I would say your best bet is the nene Martin the other rivers you mention are pretty much finished for barbel.... there’s more to the nene than castor .. alwalton has a fantastic backwater and also the main river
Richard Isaacs on here has been fishing it I believe I’m sure he will be along to give you a few pointers

Yeah terry is exactly right the nene is probably your best chance nowadays and certainly don’t assume caster is your only hot spot. Barbel on the nene are not very common beasts you’ll certainly have to put in the hours and deal with the blanks. I don’t bother with caster Personally because it gets hit hard and the barbel are very much in similar populations on the other stretches too. On the backwaters go roving and make sure you stick it out to the last minute of that magic hour after sunset
On the main river sticking it out in one swim is worth doing. I’ve sat for hours tickling in tiny amounts of bait on the main river only to get 2 cracking runs in the last home stretch.
from my own experience of just one season the average sized fish is round 11lb but finding her requires some work and knowledge of the river. I’ve not caught a barbel since November now and while I’ve Not got down as often as I’d like that’s still probably a string of 5 blanks in a row.
unfortunately a lot of anglers have struggled this winter down here since the floods. It would be nicer if my blanks were just down to poor location choice and others were catching but unfortunately it has gone very hard recently. Hopefully some warmer weather will kick it back up the arse.

 

[Andy Bell]

There are some substantiated rumours of fish close at hand, I live in Somersham, but am lacking the time to chase fish at the mo....
if you PM me i could give you some pointers to where the fish have been reported in the past.....