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How much feed

M

Mark Thompson

Senior Member & Supporter
I am beginning to think that feeding chub and barbel will consume a lot more loose feed than I realise in decent summer/autumn conditions on a large river.

How much would you say a 3lb chub or a 6lb barbel gobble up in an hour if within a shoal over our baited area ??
In order to "keep the table laid" one has to keep topping it up and I am sure I am too conservative with my feed when the swim is active hence the question.
Obviously the idea is to keep the fish interested not fill them up,so understanding more of the above is of benefit.

I know it is not an exact science but lets say for starters,shoal fish;

One Chub of 3lb can/will eat equivalent of half large tin of luncheon meat in the hour,?
One barbel of 6lb can/will eat equivalent of whole tin of meat ?:eek:

Be very interested to hear other opinions and if many actually know!

Regards Mark
 
during the close season i kept walking my local river in the hope of spotting some barbel, anyway i found what i thought would be the perfect spot, nice shallow gravel area just off some faster water, and a decent tree that i could climb should i need to see a bit further out, 1 day i decided to take down a bag of 10mm pellets and put a handful out followed by another handful, within minutes a chub appeared, picked up the odd one and moved out of the swim but came back with some more, picking the odd pellet up they,d move out and come back in bigger numbers, the water was only a foot deep so could see the fish and pellets very clear, i continued throwing the pellets in, in the hope of seeing the barbel but the shoal of chub just got bigger, between 40-50fish no bigger than 3lb eventually all my pellets went in and the fish scoffed the lot, if i,d of had more they would have ate them as well. i suppose if there in a feeding mode they can get through quite a bit, whether it be barbel or chub
cheers
jerry

it was a 1kg bag of pellets put in over 2 - 2 1/2hrs
 
Several years ago I was given a box full of boilies, I can't remember how many packets that was but I didn't really want them. Anyway, two of us spent an age throwing them at a shoal of chub in a Wensum millpool and they ate the booming lot.
 
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Chris Turnbull said:
Several years ago I was given a box full of boilies, I can't remember how many packets that was but I didn't really want them. Anyway, two of us spend an age throwing them at a shoal of chub in a Wensum millpool and they ate the booming lot.
Click to expand...

Yes Chris, but being the wary old fish that they are i bet you couldn't catch one of them :D especially if it was over 5lb. ;)

Oh, and what does Booming mean ?
 
As has been said many times before, you can't take it out once it's gone in.

i think the little and often principle works generally far better than the piling it in approach. You wouldn't see a match angler pile all his bait in at the start of a match would you?

There are so many factors to consider, it's very easy to cock up!

Unfortunately, on the Royalty, i see it all the time where someone has been biteless for an hour or so so they hurl another kilo of pellets/boilies in, again another biteless hour passes then they move and do it all over again!!!!

I would suggest that not only are they ruining their own chances, but those of others fishing the strech.

As Simon suggests, it's one thing watching them eating freebies, another thing completely getting a hook in them.

Regards,
Jeff
 
No Jeff matchmen know a lot better than that and I am sure we can learn a lot more about this art from them!

So little and often is reliable agreed , my question really relates to the little and often approach, but when and by how much to step it up.
In order to have a degree of understanding of " how much" I wondered if anyone knew how much feed each fish could consume ?

If we dont know that then logically we are just guessing or drawing on past experience of when we feel we got it right.
If we knew the size of the fish stomach I suppose that may be a start but I certainly wont be doing any disecting.

Thanks Chris,Jerry for at least addressing the question,
Any more thoughts/experiences ?
 
Simon Lush said:
Yes Chris, but being the wary old fish that they are i bet you couldn't catch one of them :D especially if it was over 5lb. ;)

Oh, and what does Booming mean ?
Click to expand...

I didn't want to catch them Simon, I was baiting the swim for you!
 
Mark Thompson said:
No Jeff matchmen know a lot better than that and I am sure we can learn a lot more about this art from them!

So little and often is reliable agreed , my question really relates to the little and often approach, but when and by how much to step it up.
In order to have a degree of understanding of " how much" I wondered if anyone knew how much feed each fish could consume ?

If we dont know that then logically we are just guessing or drawing on past experience of when we feel we got it right.
If we knew the size of the fish stomach I suppose that may be a start but I certainly wont be doing any disecting.

Thanks Chris,Jerry for at least addressing the question,
Any more thoughts/experiences ?
Click to expand...

what you also need to know is how quick fish can digest food and get rid of it, i expect every fish will be differant just like us, also how much a fish eats would surely depend on its mood, we,ve all had days where we,ve caught well from a peg then gone back to it a week later and caught nothing, like us what they eat would surely depend on a fishes mood
if the little and often approach works why step it up?, just keep feeding little and often and if your catching consistently theres obviously not a problem.
cheers
jerry
 
Mark
That is a really simple question to ask and probably THE most difficult to answer, Barbel and Chub CAN eat a lot of bait, but often either don’t or do not have a need to eat a lot.

We have to assume that the fish in our chosen swim WILL feed at some time while we are there, and from then on we make a judgement based upon several variables:-
Water temperature, amount of fish present, amount of fish present that will feed that we don’t want to catch, acceptability of the bait we have to offer!
There are other factors that will affect feeding patterns too, in particular other water life like Birds:- Cormorants, Ducks Etc, predators like Pike, Mink, Otters, nuisances like Signal Crayfish Etc, and the worst variable of all – other anglers!!

I used to fish a lot of matches; the one thing I learned quite quickly was that what ever the conditions, you need some information before you can decide upon a course of action. If you introduce a very small amount of bait and judge the reaction from the fish, you then have a basis on which to proceed, the easiest way to ruin your chances is to put in any bait before you have an idea of what the fish (if there are any about) are doing.

As has been said you can put it in but you cannot take it out, and bait does not go away, recently I struggled in a swim that I though should have produced some Chub, I arrived at about 10am, at 2.00pm the angler in a swim downstream of me came up for a chat, he mentioned he had fished my swim prior to my arrival and had put in 2 pints of Maggots
“I did not mention it to you as it would have washed away by the time you got hereâ€â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦..WRONG!!!!! it does not magically “wash away†EVER!!!
Even once eaten some baits, in particular Maggots and Hemp can pass through the digestive system and come out in a recognisable form.
I used to keep course fish in a big tank, often in colder water the Chub, Roach and Carp would pick up already partly digested Maggots and Hemp in preference to available fresh bait, if they do this in a tank you can bet they do it in the wild and who is to say that they either do or don’t do that with Boilies?

I am a float angler in the main so I go by the “little and very often†theory, for me I have to have a very VERY good reason before I change from that philosophy.


Tight Lines.
 
In my junior match fishing days was told to build a swim and take a little and often approach, different temperatures and conditions combined would dictate how much "little" would be and then the reaction of the fish would then dictate the feeding pattern. As said above, once it is in you cant get it out!!!
The only time i would fill a swim with bait would be when bream fishing......but only if i knew what sort of head of fish were in the water!

Interesting about pre diggested baits, maybe i should feed my Koi maggots and scoop the crud out of my filters for my feed mix:D
 
Hi again Mark,

As i said and as have others, so many variables.
Let's say, for arguments sake, a single 10lb barbel.
Perfect summer conditions on a stech that has not been fished for some weeks.
That fish may eat up to 15-20 20mil pellets in a day but not all in one go.
Same fish but current extremely poor conditions.
That fish may only need one or two 20mil pellets so satisfy it for 24 hours or more.
As has been suggested, maggots and hemp are ideal baits to use as it is difficult to fill them up but NOT impossible while pellets and boilies would need a lot more consideration.

These of course are only my oppinions, it doesn't make them right!

Regards,
Jeff
 
Of course, luncheon meat and pellets/boilies are roughly the same protein content/fat levels so would take about the same amount of time for a fish to digest.

Just a thought?

Jeff
 
Jeff

Luncheon meat is hard for fish to digest, have you ever noticed a pink mush coming out of the other end of a Barbel; I know I have, particularly in winter.
It seems to change very little once it has passed through.

I am no expert but from what I have seen fish do not have a stomach or at least not in the way Mammals do, it is rather more like a tube and I suspect that it is very greatly affected by temperature.
I know for sure that certain oils and fats cannot be digested by fish at very low temperatures and that so called low temperature protein in fishmeal works well while temperature is dropping, say from Autumn to Winter, but does not work very well at all when over exposed and used in stable very low temperatures.

One of my Carp fishing friends thinks that particle baits work so well in winter on our local water because the fish use them as a means to scour their system; he thinks that Tigers and Peanuts work not, because of their nutrition content but despite it.
For sure when the Carp are “well on “ these baits they are passing crushed Tigers etc from the other end, crushed but seemingly un-affected in any other way.

I am not a bait expert, so I tend to stick with that which I know, the one thing I have found is that a very small amount of a bait which is suitable for the fishes digestive system, if introduced regularly will often produce a bite, even when conditions are very poor.
I (being as mad as a dog) had a few hours on the river yesterday, trotting was very difficult as the rings were freezing up but I fed Maggots very sparingly every trot through, I had one bite and one bite only but that was a Chub of 6lb 2oz and it made my weekend.
One of my angling mates reckoned I was too stupid to know when not to fish and he is probably right but as Del would say:-

He who dares Rodders, he who dares!!

Tight Lines
 
Great reward for your effort that Keith using what I would consider wholly appropriate tactics in the current conditions, but you are a bit of a legend on the float :)!
Thanks for the very informative other posts.

I am not advocating filling a swim in or dumping a kilo of pellets in at the start of a session.

Typically however,,Fishing the Wye,,
Upon arrival I put in 6 to 10 feeders of bait /groundbait.
I then apply little and often tactics and often get a fish within half an hour followed by another within the next hour.Casting out a feeder every 15minutes approx to the same area.Sometimes thats it for the the day unless I pick up a bonus fish at last knockings which does often happen.

I reckon fish vacate the swim following the initial amount of bait going in.

There is nothing special about what I do and guess a fair number of others follow a similar pattern.
I wanted to explore on here how others increase feed levels to maintain activity in the swim as I believe that my conservative tactics require changing as and when the signs are right.

Perhaps it is simply a case of putting more(say) pellets in my feeder with g/bait when fish start biting ?
Cheers
 
Mark Thompson said:
Great reward for your effort that Keith using what I would consider wholly appropriate tactics in the current conditions, but you are a bit of a legend on the float :)!
Thanks for the very informative other posts.

I am not advocating filling a swim in or dumping a kilo of pellets in at the start of a session.

Typically however,,Fishing the Wye,,
Upon arrival I put in 6 to 10 feeders of bait /groundbait.
I then apply little and often tactics and often get a fish within half an hour followed by another within the next hour.Casting out a feeder every 15minutes approx to the same area.Sometimes thats it for the the day unless I pick up a bonus fish at last knockings which does often happen.

I reckon fish vacate the swim following the initial amount of bait going in.

There is nothing special about what I do and guess a fair number of others follow a similar pattern.
I wanted to explore on here how others increase feed levels to maintain activity in the swim as I believe that my conservative tactics require changing as and when the signs are right.

Perhaps it is simply a case of putting more(say) pellets in my feeder with g/bait when fish start biting ?
Cheers
Click to expand...

To be honest, Mark, I think you'd have more chance of keeping fish in your swim for longer if you put a couple of droppers of hemp and fish maggots over the top in exactly the same way. If a shoal turns up, they're more likely to compete for maggots, possibly drawing the barbel in too.

Worth remembering too, that the chubs metabolism works faster than the barbels in cold winter water, so they're likely to eat more and for longer.
 
Yea ,I understand what your getting at with the hemp Simon and must admit it may well be as simple as that.I have not used hemp on a regular basis.so thanks.
(wasnt thinking of fishing in current extreme cold conditions)
Cheers
 
Mark, if you're able to spot fish, there's nothing quite like hemp to get them going. We used to regularly do this on the Lea. These were heavily pressured barbel, but (Summer and Autumn) they would always respond to the massed particle attack. Droppering in a large Seymo droppers-worth of hemp with some maggots every 20 minutes or so and waiting until there were multiple fish on the feed before putting in a hookbait always paid dividends providing you were on fish. I used a 6 ft fluoro hooklength to let the maggots drift down onto the spot and carried on droppering bait while they were feeding. They don't spook from this.

To make my hookbait stand out I'd thread a small section of redworm up the shank and it worked a treat consistently.

A gallon of mixed bait was the norm for what was used in this method.
 
Thanks for mentioning that Simon.
On the very few occassions I have used hemp in my swim I have always caught one or two(as I recall)
Have to be honest only used maggot twice while barbel fishing(but caught one on both occassions)
Funny how the obvious can stare at you and remain ignored ! :rolleyes:

Unfortunately I wont be able to spot fish feeding ,so baiting and waiting and hoping for me.
A gallon of feed mmmm,think I get the picture.
Good stuff.
Regards Mark
 
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