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Losing your mojo?

P

Paul Eve

Senior Member
I have just returned from another unsuccessful trip to the West Sussex Rother this morning feeling like I have lost my Barbel Mojo! I have been fishing on the river for 3 seasons now and have managed to get 5 Barbel up to 14lb from the same swim and always during the summer months, i have caught nothing in the Autumn or winter to date. It is a hard river with a very very low stock of Barbel so i know I am up against it, as other with attest to I am sure. Talking to some of the regulars it would seem that 3-5 fish a season is a good result, but recently i met a guy who has had many more fish than that in one season and as luck would have it I did not have time to get some details. I have tried keeping mobile fishing to any snag that looks like it might hold Barbel and I also tried sitting it out in one swim, neither of these methods seem to helping at the moment and I am becoming increasingly despondent. I am sure others have been in a similar situation over the years and I would value any pearls of wisdom that may help me get my Barbel Mojo back, any suggestions?
 
I've been suffering the same results but on midland rivers ( dove Derwent Soar) and even the Trent of late.
I kind of asked a similar question and it was suggested to me that I needed to fish with a moving bait as opposed to sitting behind a pair of rods pointing sky wards as use to be the way and I sure still is in the right place. I think trotting a bait or rolling a bait Where possible may bring better results or at least it's a different way of fishing and trying something new in my case.
I think I'll struggle because my knee's and back are well past there best due to age and I suppose weight which makes it painful to stand for longer than a few minuets.
My plan is to take a float rod and trot for as long as I can then sit behind a couple of static rod's for a while then back to trotting and so on.
 
This same story is being told throughout all our rivers, all I can do to kerp my interest is as suggested using a float, its a great way to pass the time...or as I have been doing is a light feeder rod and using maggots, great fun!
But really Autumn onwards is the best time to target Barbel, so plenty of time still.
 
Must admit, I've lost a little of mine, but i fish matches to keep me busy in the summer months. The cost of fuel now is huge negative when decided whether to fish, I prefer short 3/4 hour sessions, which makes it an expensive game now. In winter, I can go 4 or sometimes 5 times in a week, that's going to cost me £80+ now, just in fuel costs.
 
I lost my mojo for another species (pike) years ago. It was mainly due to them not being there with any degree of certainty any longer due to poaching and seals. I moved onto other species...barbel and tench. Things rarely ever stay the same for ever, and often, it is time to accept the situation and move on. If you're just after barbel have you considered other venues? Even travelling some distance?
 
Paul,
Like Ady I lost my mojo way back in 1988 but that was with Carp. I didn’t fish for twenty years and couldn’t even talk about fishing for a while, my son got me back into fishing with a trip to the Severn fourteen years ago. These days I fish for Barbel, Tench in the spring, occasional trips after Grayling in the winter and the very occasional session for Carp so I would recommend you give the Barbel a swerve for the time being and have a bash for other species. Don’t let it get really bad like it was for me and waste twenty years of your life. Easy for me but in hindsight, if I could turn the clock back I would have spread my interest wider rather than being a “carp angler” for twenty years and burn out !!
Regards
Bill
 
There comes a point where you have to stop flogging a dead horse for the sake of your own sanity. It became quite apparent to me that chasing barbel without travelling was becoming an increasingly unlikely prospect. At that point, I started to concentrate on more realistic local propositions. I've also barely travelled further than ten miles to fish for the past three years or so. Whilst it is rather limiting, it's made the recent fuel cost increases much easier to deal with.

I fish for tench when they are on it. I'll float fish for anything with fins at any time and in winter I chase grayling.
 
Me and the Mrs had a day out last week, thought we would pyo some strawberries, and have a bun and tea in the cafe.
As it turned out they have have an old monastic lake, and a newer addition. We walked around the old lake and it was full of carp on the top, probably still spawning, and I promised to return in the Autumn to have a go at whatever shows up....The thing is its not a out and out carp venue, so a float would be ideal.
I guess its all about mixing things up to keep us sharp.
Drop shotting...that's something I haven't done which I might have a dabble too.
Plenty of silver's around these parts this year chaps.😊
 
I packed in fishing years ago when my match fishing partner moved away, I carried on for a while, but my heart wasn't in it, so stopped fishing altogether, and I didn't miss going so fully understand the OP. I took up Golf and became quite good at it, but further knee operations curtailed that, so I needed something to do.
I started back fishing for Barbel simply because I didn't need to take loads of gear with me and could cover lots of water in a session. I don't catch as many fish as I like to, but sometimes just being there is enough. I work outside as well, so I sometimes have to force myself to go if the weather has been poor during the day.
One thing I have done to help my situation, is to do some three day sessions on the river. I've also fished for Carp on large day ticket venues as well. It meant buying more kit, but I do enjoy the fact that I'm on the bank for a few days rather than having to pack up of an evening and go home. It's just camping really, but with a bit of fishing thrown in.
 
I reached a similar point when the pellet brigade started the catch at all costs 10kg of pellets a day on my favourite stretch of the Wye. I moved on to fly fishing to clear my head , and then started concentrating on Tench in the summer and Grayling in the autumn and winter. I’m back Barbel fishing again , the break did me good , and now love catching Barbel on the float with a centrepin more than any other method , change does you good.
 
I was starting to 'wobble' a bit earlier this week. I've been fishing the Middle Severn and yeah, having a few barbs and a lot of chub, but how do you target large barbel (9lb+) on a river like the Severn? (that's a rhetorical question BTW ;)). I was starting to ask myself "Do I really want to keep doing this?" Anyway, today I gave myself the angling equivalent of a snout-full of cocaine ... I roved the Teme, trundling and freelining (flow was so low), fishing more than 10 swims over 3 meadows. Not even a chub-knock, but I'm still 'high' on my 4 hour 'fix' today 🤪
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Take a break as you seem to be going though the motions . Perhaps fishing river for somthing else will open you eyes and make you think when you go back to barbel . Being a bit of a all round angler make you a better barbel anglerr
 
If you’re fishing a low stock river, respect to you.
To have barbel to 14 is some achievement.
It really does boil down to what you want from your fishing.
I’ve mentioned on here before about getting in the mindset to fish a large water close to me for pike - 15 or so consecutive blanks just made me more determined and eventually I finally started to get a few
Did it all myself
No fishing off peoples backs
No scouring Facebook
Just a simple plan and the right headspace
The buzz of that first fish, no matter how modest will always be one of them landmark moments
That’s the challenge.
Re barbel, float fishing is this seasons objective and consequently I’m sitting it out as no flow at all. If a biggun comes along great, but it’s more about watercraft and learning about the best approach with the right set up to suit the seasons - still very motivated and not currently interested in numbers of fish I catch, more how I catch them
That’s the plan now and can’t say it won’t change , which is ok- we all like getting our strings pulled
I stay off social media as it’s so easy to get sucked into all that , thinking everyone is catching and you’re not
Ignorance can be bliss
 
ive no mojo to fish for barbel with rivers being low 180 mile round trip to the severn for one or two fish is not worth it
with the price of fuel
 
Losing my Derwent mojo a bit but i know it's a hard river in June (early season) and the usual banker swims are turning up nothing.

I'm going to change it up a bit, the Barbel aren't hiding near the usual banker swims to maybe they're somewhere else, not yet returned from wherever they bugger off to spawn?

Luckily i have a couple of weirs near me so will be giving those a go to tempt at least one Barbel, with the rivers low, clear and warm i'm wondering if they'll be in the more oxygenated water of the weirpool.
 
Iv not been as much so far this season as I normally would. Partly down to fuel costs but the 3 times Iv been to middle Severn it’s been way too busy for my liking. Iv been doing nights on the lower on the weekends knowing I’m not likely to catch but Iv had the place to myself so that suits me fine. Not had a single fish yet this season and only had a couple of knocks but I’ll be back out the weekend
 
Paul Richardson said:
If you’re fishing a low stock river, respect to you.
To have barbel to 14 is some achievement.
It really does boil down to what you want from your fishing.
I’ve mentioned on here before about getting in the mindset to fish a large water close to me for pike - 15 or so consecutive blanks just made me more determined and eventually I finally started to get a few
Did it all myself
No fishing off peoples backs
No scouring Facebook
Just a simple plan and the right headspace
The buzz of that first fish, no matter how modest will always be one of them landmark moments
That’s the challenge.
Re barbel, float fishing is this seasons objective and consequently I’m sitting it out as no flow at all. If a biggun comes along great, but it’s more about watercraft and learning about the best approach with the right set up to suit the seasons - still very motivated and not currently interested in numbers of fish I catch, more how I catch them
That’s the plan now and can’t say it won’t change , which is ok- we all like getting our strings pulled
I stay off social media as it’s so easy to get sucked into all that , thinking everyone is catching and you’re not
Ignorance can be bliss
Click to expand...
One of the best posts I've read for a while 👍
 
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