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Maggot Swim Feeder rigs

Neil Smart said:
''Our'' Barbel yep ''Our'' Land too that parochial enough? And I bet the majority of anglers would see it that way if they were perfectly honest NIMBYism is a very strong motivation. Never fished in commercials(well hardly) and don't really go for the easy pickings of the Wye and Middle Severn either, but each to their own ...enjoy:)
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Neil, I can understand your sentiments but the trouble is, where and when does a place go from being "your" locality to being someone elses??

Logically thinking (though these matters are owt but logical) the borders would be the county boundaries.
With that thought; your location is given as Tewkesbury Gloucestershire, by my reckoning that makes you an outsider on the whole river Teme and I know Evesham is in Worcestershire as is Pershore but am not not quite sure where along the Warks Avon's length it enters Warwickshire, BUT keeeep yar grubby paws orf them thar rivers, THEY AIN'T YOWERS!:p

"Easy pickings" IMO you can include the rivers Teme and Warks Avon to that list, not hard at all.
More they are smaller rivers and that equates to a smaller population of fish.:eek:
So it'd be unrealistic to expect 10-15-20+ barbel in a day, whereas on the Severn and Wye it's perfectly achievable.;)
 
Adrian Williams said:
Maggot feeder, back in the day (before the pellet revolution) there were three main methods of targeting barbel, they were meat over hemp, hemp and caster and the all out maggot attack, I was a maggot man, mainly because I got them direct from the farm by the bucket full and cleaned them myself.

I fished the middle Severn and the main rig was a free running blockend feeder running on 8 lb mainline and two maggots on a 16 0r 18 Drennan specialist hook.
To make the rig a snap link swivel was threaded up the line followed by three or four inches of biro tube (later replaced with hard sillicone rubber) and followed by another swivel, the hooklength was tied to the other end of this swivel.
The rod needs to be capable of casting a 2 or three oz feeder easily and have a nice soft tip to show the bites, I used a 1.5lb rod by giant which had a built in fiberglass quiver.
The idea is to find a swim in easy casting distance and cast to it every few minutes, the feeder splash was said to be like a dinner gong to the Severn barbel and catches of 20 or more in a day was not unusual.
There is loads of information about this method out there, look for videos by Dave Harrel, Des Taylor or even early ones by Bob Roberts for further ideas.
This is not a method for sitting behind two rods, to do it properly you will be casting every couple of minutes and on your feet most of the day. In the summer months you can also expect to go through between 6 and 8 pints of maggots in a session.
Do a bit of research, buy a couple of old videos off ebay and give it a go this summer.
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Good post.
 
Thank you Colin, I can rattle on for hours about feeder fishing, dont get me started on hooklengths and feed rates.

Andy,

You are paying too much for your maggots, Bob at Jaynes tackle only charges £1.80.

You can also fish half hemp half maggot or any other combination but you might find that gets the fish preoccupied on the hemp, particularly on gravel where I have seen them tear the bottom up for hemp while the maggots trundle past their nose.

You could tape your feeders up which is a good tactic for winter but in the summer the fish will loose interest and drift off, either that or they will start picking the feeder up and shaking it, that's when you employ the 'dink dink' rig.
 
Colin Gordon said:
Neil, I can understand your sentiments but the trouble is, where and when does a place go from being "your" locality to being someone elses??

Logically thinking (though these matters are owt but logical) the borders would be the county boundaries.
With that thought; your location is given as Tewkesbury Gloucestershire, by my reckoning that makes you an outsider on the whole river Teme and I know Evesham is in Worcestershire as is Pershore but am not not quite sure where along the Warks Avon's length it enters Warwickshire, BUT keeeep yar grubby paws orf them thar rivers, THEY AIN'T YOWERS!:p

"Easy pickings" IMO you can include the rivers Teme and Warks Avon to that list, not hard at all.
More they are smaller rivers and that equates to a smaller population of fish.:eek:
So it'd be unrealistic to expect 10-15-20+ barbel in a day, whereas on the Severn and Wye it's perfectly achievable.;)
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Not at all sure about the Teme being easy pickings now, I had my moments on the Teme a couple of seasons back but the parts I fish have seen a decline in fish caught, well that's my observation and supported by others that I know and talk to. I fish the Lower WA only, and as as far as I know it could never be classed as prolific, there is a stretch, Manor Farm Circus:) that is though, but that's a fair bit up river anyway.

However I must admit catching barbel of the size that is normally caught in the Middle Severn and Wye doesn't really rock my boat, that's not being flash believe me, but I do like the anticipation of catching a big fish over the almost certainty of catching loades of smaller, as is the Wye. Thats why I prefer the Lower WA to most other rivers in my locality, and my average weight of fish is good, with doubles being the norm. Just have to be prepared to blank a few times.
 
Neil Smart said:
Not at all sure about the Teme being easy pickings now, I had my moments on the Teme a couple of seasons back but the parts I fish have seen a decline in fish caught, well that's my observation and supported by others that I know and talk to. I fish the Lower WA only, and as as far as I know it could never be classed as prolific, there is a stretch, Manor Farm Circus:) that is though, but that's a fair bit up river anyway.

However I must admit catching barbel of the size that is normally caught in the Middle Severn and Wye doesn't really rock my boat, that's not being flash believe me, but I do like the anticipation of catching a big fish over the almost certainty of catching loades of smaller, as is the Wye. Thats why I prefer the Lower WA to most other rivers in my locality, and my average weight of fish is good, with doubles being the norm. Just have to be prepared to blank a few times.
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I'm bored now Neil, so I guess you win.:p:D


Andy, I wouldn't advise taping off your feeder purely on the basis of bait conservation and the subsequent economic savings.
As the barbel become more active with warmer water, just change baits, the dreaded pellets are about the cheapest and in my opinion often the best option.
Simple case of feeding your swim according to its individual criteria; fish in the swim (all species), flow rate, feeding activity of fish present...etc...
 
Colin Gordon said:
Andy, I wouldn't advise taping off your feeder purely on the basis of bait conservation and the subsequent economic savings.
As the barbel become more active with warmer water, just change baits, the dreaded pellets are about the cheapest and in my opinion often the best option.
Simple case of feeding your swim according to its individual criteria; fish in the swim (all species), flow rate, feeding activity of fish present...etc...
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Colin, my comments were tongue in cheek, but all the same, good advice from you as always. :)
 
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