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flood water fishing in winter

Jerry Gleeson

Jerry Gleeson

Senior Member
when the rivers are really high, wheres the best places to fish, i know the inside of bends are said to be good but would there have to be a good depth?
are eddies off the main flow any good especially eddies going in the opposite direction.
how far would barbel move from there usual haunts when the water gets to turbulent to somewhere more favourable?
the reason for my post i,ve found some perfect high water pegs but just cant buy a bite even when conditions are favourable.
cheers
jerry
 
Jerry, as you would expect the answer to your question is not a simple one and I can only speak from personal experience.
Certainly on the Dorset Stour it depends what stage of the flood you are fishing e.g. On a rising river with lot's of debris coming down you are better off trying the slacks, or even better 'creases', however if the debris has passed through and the flood has peaked or is on the drop, you can fish out in the main flow (depth not that important provided they have a reasonable amount of water over their heads), however in this instance you should seek out 'smooth' water (normally showing a flat gravel bottom). In my experience Barbel are quite happy out in the fast water in almost any depth and at any time provided the flow is not too turbulent.
Finally mate do not ignore the water temperature and more importantly it's trend.
Floodwater + water temp 43f and dropping means a very difficult day if you are after Barbel:( However 41f and rising can be a very different result:)! Floodwater + 49-50f happy days:D:D!!
 
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The thing to consider, is why would a creature, perfectly adaapted to living in a flow, up sticks when the river rises??? From my own experience, certainly on the Thames, the fish stay put, yes they move in their normal rotation of chosen areas, but a good barbel swim remains a good barbel swim even in flood, just the slight problem of fishing it, our problem, not theirs!
peter
 
Peter Littleworth said:
The thing to consider, is why would a creature, perfectly adaapted to living in a flow, up sticks when the river rises??? From my own experience, certainly on the Thames, the fish stay put, yes they move in their normal rotation of chosen areas, but a good barbel swim remains a good barbel swim even in flood, just the slight problem of fishing it, our problem, not theirs!
peter
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one of the swims i,ve been looking at is one i generally sit in, normal flow its a sandbank wit some slabs to the right, in very high water it becomes a nice back eddie 5or 6ft deep just off the main flow which is shifting some, now i,ve located fish here in the summer but winter seems to be a differant story, hence my question
cheers
jerry
 
Keith Humphreys said:
Jerry, as you would expect the answer to your question is not a simple one and I can only speak from personal experience.
Certainly on the Dorset Stour it depends what stage of the flood you are fishing e.g. On a rising river with lot's of debris coming down you are better off trying the slacks, or even better 'creases', however if the debris has passed through and the flood has peaked or is on the drop, you can fish out in the main flow (depth not that important provided they have a reasonable amount of water over their heads), however in this instance you should seek out 'smooth' water (normally showing a flat gravel bottom). In my experience Barbel are quite happy out in the fast water in almost any depth and at any time provided the flow is not too turbulent.
Finally mate do not ignore the water temperature and more importantly it's trend.
Floodwater + water temp 43f and dropping means a very difficult day if you are after Barbel:( However 41f and rising can be a very different result:)! Floodwater + 49-50f happy days:D:D!!
Click to expand...

keith
what about inside of a bend with sandstone or outside of a bend in slack water with a sandstone bottom?
cheers
jerry
 
Very well put Peter, I remember fishing a raging flooded Longham free stretch on the Dorset Stour with loads of debris coming down using a method shown me by Andy Brown of Avon Angling (cheers Andy) which consisted of a 3oz captive back lead which whilst not the most aesthetically pleasing method is a really effective way to fish out in the main flow in the worst of conditions.
On the day in question I had a Barbel 12.8 and unbelievably a Chub of 6.7:)
This is however very much a 'sit on your hands' method:(

Jerry, as peter said the Barbel won't be far from their normal haunts so if this is really fast water when flooded try the method above and make sure you keep your rods very low or even in the water close to the bank (which I know goes against normal thinking) and use a pin or an alarm because the bites are usually tearaways!!
 
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Got to agree with Peter here to a point...

In my eyes i try to find a slack spot to put the bait. My theory is that food would be flowing with the river so why would it settle in harsh flow. so finding a deeper hole where stuff will collect is a good place. Works for me....
 
I've got to agree with Peter, the fish don't move.

My experience on the Thames and middle Severn is, add more lead and fish the same swims. A bit crude, but very effective.
 
Jerry
I agree with the fast flow idea,on the Ribble i always get the heavy leads out and fish into the mainflow.
Its hard when the debris is coming down thick and fast but the Barbel definately are not put off by the flow.
I try to fish through a slack just into the fast water side of it then there is not as much weight of water pushing onto the mainline.
8oz lead and a big bait,works for me.
 
John Monaghan said:
Jerry
I agree with the fast flow idea,on the Ribble i always get the heavy leads out and fish into the mainflow.
Its hard when the debris is coming down thick and fast but the Barbel definately are not put off by the flow.
I try to fish through a slack just into the fast water side of it then there is not as much weight of water pushing onto the mainline.
8oz lead and a big bait,works for me.
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Well that explains my lack of catches in high water, i,m obviously in the wrong swims, ive been trying to find lot calmer water off the main flow tht still retains a bit of depth.
cheers
jerry
 
I tend to look for smooth, medium walking pace water.
Depth isn't too important for me, and the swim doesn't have to be in the main river channel. The fish will happily move around to find a suitable habitat for the duration of the flood.


Knowing what the river bed is like in low water helps ;)

Good looking swims dont always produce fish, so fish lots of swims as often as you can, but saying that, I've found that the good flood swims tend to be not too far from good 'normal level' swims.

Steve
 
Smooth water for me as well, regardless of the pace of flow. The only place in flood i would readilly ignore is back flowing eddies, for some reason i have never had so much as a pull from one of these areas.
 
Steve Williams said:
I tend to look for smooth, medium walking pace water.
Depth isn't too important for me, and the swim doesn't have to be in the main river channel. The fish will happily move around to find a suitable habitat for the duration of the flood.


Knowing what the river bed is like in low water helps ;)

Good looking swims dont always produce fish, so fish lots of swims as often as you can, but saying that, I've found that the good flood swims tend to be not too far from good 'normal level' swims.

Steve
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i know the bottom well mate, still cant get a bloody bite when its raging through though :eek:, come the next proper floods i,ll try the areas i,d normally fish
cheers
jerry
 
This might not help Jerry , but my experiences on the Yorkshire Ouse , a fairly big river subject to huge floods and rapidly rising waters is slightly contrary . In very high water conditions the barbel can often be found in sheltered cattle drink swims which at normal levels would be virtually still, relatively shallow water ,not containing barbel . They definetly move in to these areas in flood . I am sure they are also out in the main flow even with 14 foot on and whole trees coming down , but in those sort of conditions itwould be impossible to fish mid river so you would never know for certain
 
hi there, i once fished one of my local rivers when it was about 12 feet up and had targeted steltered calmer swims with not a touch when about an hour before darkness a few barbel started rolling mid river so on went a 6 ounce lead cast to mid river not enough to hold in the main flow, but it bounced round a little and came to rest just inside the main flow resulting in two barbel in last half hour. fish where the fish are and i don't think the increased flow bothers the barbel too much!
cheers, leon
 
Keith Humphreys said:
Very well put Peter, I remember fishing a raging flooded Longham free stretch on the Dorset Stour with loads of debris coming down using a method shown me by Andy Brown of Avon Angling (cheers Andy) which consisted of a 3oz captive back lead which whilst not the most aesthetically pleasing method is a really effective way to fish out in the main flow in the worst of conditions.
On the day in question I had a Barbel 12.8 and unbelievably a Chub of 6.7:)
This is however very much a 'sit on your hands' method:(

Jerry, as peter said the Barbel won't be far from their normal haunts so if this is really fast water when flooded try the method above and make sure you keep your rods very low or even in the water close to the bank (which I know goes against normal thinking) and use a pin or an alarm because the bites are usually tearaways!!
Click to expand...

Sounds like an interesting approach :)
 
A couple of people have sent PM's asking about the "Captive Backlead System" which I use in highly flooded water when lots of debris is also coming down. I have tried to reply with a PM including a picture of the lead set-up, to no avail:( so I will try and get it on here instead (sorry for the image size and quality)

KeithrhfishingPictures049.jpg


Here is my captive backlead system it consists of a 3oz Korda 'flat pear' lead in which i have drilled a 5mm hole, into which you can screw a Solar tackle line clip (don't know their proper name). Attach a good length of line/heavy braid and a large split ring which you attach to your forward rodrest.
I must re-iterate that this is not a very aesthetically pleasing method cos you need to fish a 'Pin' or 'Baitrunner (with alarms or ratchet)
To fish this set-up first of all have your rod rests so that your rod tip is as low as possible with a 'butt gripper' at the other end. Fish your normal rig at the business end making sure your lead will hold bottom (with this method you will get away with a lighter lead but you must act quickly before the lead pulls out of position). Cast as normal but sink your line and the clip on your back lead immediately lowering the back lead as close to the bank as possible, tighten down to the back lead so that you have a bend in the rod tip. Bites are indicated by a pull down followed by the rod tip springing back as the fish pulls the line out of the back lead (similar to a down rigger on a big game boat)! All you have to do is strike and play the fish on your normal rig cos the back lead is still on the bottom in front of you (bear this in mind when netting your prize!!).
Hope this helps

Keith
 
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