• You need to be a registered member of Barbel Fishing World to post on these forums. Some of the forums are hidden from non-members. Please refer to the instructions on the ‘Register’ page for details of how to join the new incarnation of BFW...

Finally!!! Something half decent

Congratulations Richard, what a fish. I never take scales with me when I float fish and I had my PB last week. However, the fish I caught was half that size, I guess a good 7lber. The Yorkshire rivers are more challenging when it comes to catching doubles on the feeder never mind on the float and yet I will be purchasing another set of scales.
 
Stunning Richard, well done mate
 
Neil Watson said:
Congratulations Richard, what a fish. I never take scales with me when I float fish and I had my PB last week. However, the fish I caught was half that size, I guess a good 7lber. The Yorkshire rivers are more challenging when it comes to catching doubles on the feeder never mind on the float and yet I will be purchasing another set of scales.
Click to expand...
As a Yorkshire man originally myself i absolutely understand you there Neil.

I was never successful in my quest for a Yorkshire double when I was fishing primarily the swale 20 odd years ago. From what old friends tell me the Y Ouse occasionally throws 1 or 2 up but it’s still pretty rare.

However…. Imo you’ve got some of the hardest fighting barbel in the country from my experience. I’ve never caught barbel from any other river that go like those nutters in the swale.

Round this way it’s totally different. A lot of the rivers have quite low populations of barbel but if you do hook one there is a very sporting chance of it being a big fish into double figures.

The Nene is one of the better rivers to be fair. Its got enough barbel in some of the sections to warrant them as a viable target but you are still essentially fishing for 1 bite and blanks are a big part of life with it.

It’s not as hard as some of the other rivers round this way like the lower Lea, great Ouse and a bit further south the Thames and its tributaries. It would take a very patient and dedicated angler to attempt to catch barbel on the float from any of those rivers nowadays.
 
Last edited:
Catching a barbel like that on a float rod and during the day is mind-blowing (I fish the Thames, I shall say no more!). I'm not sure if there's anything greater than that tbh. Awesome skills.
 
Carl Salisbury said:
Cracking barbel Richard and on the float as well! guessing it’s a known fish with that tail?
Click to expand...
Unfortunately Carl I don’t think it’s possible to catch a barbel of that size in a section of river like this, that hasn’t graced afew nets more than once and yes if I look through my pictures, I’m sure to see her again
 
Steve Quinn said:
Catching a barbel like that on a float rod and during the day is mind-blowing (I fish the Thames, I shall say no more!). I'm not sure if there's anything greater than that tbh. Awesome skills.
Click to expand...
Appreciate the kind words Steve.
Been completely honest and in my opinion the bulk of the skill in this case is primarily in landing them.

We (5 of us) have our own private section of the river and we know that the barbel do pass through it as it’s between two sections on two different clubs where barbel are caught throughout the year. Not in big numbers by any means as it’s not that well stocked but they are there to go at so it’s not like I’m going in fresh or blind,

I know that a barbel or 2 will be coming through the area at some point which takes away the whole “finding them” element of the equation.

Landing them is a different matter especially in summer. Our river bed is rammed with weeds and cabbages and Lilly’s. It’s not very wide, we share the section with moored boats and the far bank is absolutely covered with trees and underwater roots that hang over, across and under the water.

The tackle you need is crazy strong because you can’t give em hardly anything in any direction. Afew turns too many of the pin in the opposite direction and you’ve been done.

Thankfully I’ve only been broken off once. But I’ve lost afew. A couple to straightened hooks and most to hook pulls simply because of the pressure needed to be applied when they bolt in the direction of cover. As I don’t use a hook length for this type of fishing I’d rather the hook pulled than let it tie itself up in a tree root.

You don’t need to have particularly brilliant trotting skills to catch barbel like that on the float and that’s the truth.

You might find the bigger cautious chub sport dies off quickly if your presentation isn’t up to scratch but the barbel ain’t fussed if they are around.

I’ve done it in some horrible down stream gales where the float is being bashed to death and you can’t maintain any decent presentation at all. It’s a boring day because the big chub just avoid it like the plague.. (they are clued up old fish in the nene that have been around the block) but then even as the float is getting dragged about from pillar to post the barbel don’t give a monkeys and they’ll still snatch it away.

I’m not trying to undersell my own abilities here as much as it sounds like it but just tell the truth that it’s not as difficult as people might think if you’ve got the gear and balls to hang on hard when you do hook one.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top