Martin Osmond
Senior Member & Supporter
I'm sure some of you are thinking, "Not this guy again!" every time I start a new thread but this time I'm not asking about yet another rod, I've actually got some pictures of some actual barbel to share.
So, a couple of years ago when I wasn't enjoying chasing carp I dabbled in a bit of barbel fishing up my local River, The Blackwater. Its not a River I've seen spoken about much on here but its a real gem. Small, intimate, snaggy and fairly low stocked, especially for bigger fish. A double out of there is pretty rare. So that was my target, I like a challenge. My carp fishing has always been about targeting certain fish, generally from difficult, low stocked places and most importantly they have to be fairly quiet. That's one of the main reasons I've lost the buzz for it, everywhere is rammed.
I'm fortunate that I only fish mid week and the stretch of river I fished was fairly quiet. In fact I didn't see another angler fishing. Saw a fair few walking, although most of them were carp anglers fishing the lakes that the river runs alongside, the odd barbel angler I did bump into was nice enough but couldn't wait to tell me I was doing it all wrong and wouldn't catch the way I was fishing but I'll get onto that in a bit.
The river is generally pretty shallow and after a long, dry summer it was running very low and tap clear so finding them was never going to be difficult. You could rule out vast areas simply because you could see pretty much everything. After walking miles and miles over a number of days I found a good group of fish in a deeper area with a fallen tree across most of the river. It's not very wide, maybe 20 yards across, at best.
Having never fished for barbel before I thought it best to keep it simple. Fish are fish after all and once you've found them, if you can get them feeding they can be relatively easy to catch, well that was my thought process anyway. I baited up with a few boilies. Not loads, just a couple of handfuls and i threw them a few feet away from the fallen tree. I figured I'd fish for them the same way I fish for carp. Small amounts of bait, on a regular basis, off the snag. The idea being to entice them out and get them actively looking for my free offerings. I planned to do this for as long as it took for me to actually see them feed and I wouldn't put a rod out until then.
After a few bait ups over the course of a week or so one evening I watched them coming out of the snag, taking a bait or two and then circling back under their sanctuary. I watched them do this over and over again but instead of fishing for them I waited until they had cleared up all the bait and went back under their snag before giving them some more, a bit more than normal with the intention of going back at first light the next day.
I got up their the following morning about an hour before sunrise to ensure I had a rod on the spot before the sun came up. After a few hours I had my first ever barbel bite and it was a full blow whack round on my brand new 11ft 1.75lb Torrix. I kept the tip low and pulled it away from the snag before it went absolutely mental in the open water. The fight was outrageous and I was sure I was connected to, not only my first barbel but a double too, it had to be. Little did I know. Now, every angler has heard about how hard these fish fight but you can never be prepared for it. Doesn't matter your angling experience or what you've caught before, these fish are just different.
Anyway, I did want to keep this short but it's already far too long winded so I apologise and appreciate anyone that has got this far so here's a photo of my first ever barbel and although it wasn't the double I'd have bet my house on it being, weighing 6lb 4oz, I was absolutely delighted.
I fished for the rest of the day but didn't catch anything else although was taught a lesson by another barbel angler that told me I was doing everything wrong. " How longs your hook length?" He asked. "About 12 inches" I replied. "You won't catch them like that" he said. "You need 5/6 foot so it can get right under the snag". I just smiled and thanked him for the advice although it didn't stop there!
He asked me how long I was fishing for. I told him I had to pick my boys up from school so would be leaving about 14:30 to which I learnt I would never catch them in the daytime. All the bites come after dark on long fluro hook lengths so I was basically wasting my time as my rig of choice was a simple hair rig using a short section of coated braid and fishing it away from the snag. Along with only being able to fish from morning to early aftenoon I quite simply stood no chance.
I will wrap this up now as it's way too long and my actual barbel fishing up there was incredibly short, just one more session doing exactly the same thing. A bit of bait when I left that first afternoon and I returned an hour before sunrise the very next morning. About 15 minutes after daybreak I had my second barbel of 8lb 2oz.
I assumed that was game over as the disturbance of the fight and it all happening so close to where they were basically living I assumed they would just hold up under the fallen tree for the rest of the day and hide. Not long after, I can't remember exactly but it wasn't even half an hour after returning that fish and lowering in my small mesh pva bag of crumbed boilies I had another one. I knew straight away that it was a better fish, as much as I thought, during the fight, the first one was bigger than it turned out to be there was no mistaking I had hooked a better fish and when I first saw it on the surface I was in no doubt. My 3rd bite in only a few hours fishing, over the course of a couple of days and I'd done it, had what I set out to achieve and landed my first double figure barbel of 10lb 4oz.
Anyone that has actually read all of this I thank you for taking the time and hope I have many another tale of catching plenty more barbel as my journey starts properly this summer and I can't wait!
Cheers
Martin
So, a couple of years ago when I wasn't enjoying chasing carp I dabbled in a bit of barbel fishing up my local River, The Blackwater. Its not a River I've seen spoken about much on here but its a real gem. Small, intimate, snaggy and fairly low stocked, especially for bigger fish. A double out of there is pretty rare. So that was my target, I like a challenge. My carp fishing has always been about targeting certain fish, generally from difficult, low stocked places and most importantly they have to be fairly quiet. That's one of the main reasons I've lost the buzz for it, everywhere is rammed.
I'm fortunate that I only fish mid week and the stretch of river I fished was fairly quiet. In fact I didn't see another angler fishing. Saw a fair few walking, although most of them were carp anglers fishing the lakes that the river runs alongside, the odd barbel angler I did bump into was nice enough but couldn't wait to tell me I was doing it all wrong and wouldn't catch the way I was fishing but I'll get onto that in a bit.
The river is generally pretty shallow and after a long, dry summer it was running very low and tap clear so finding them was never going to be difficult. You could rule out vast areas simply because you could see pretty much everything. After walking miles and miles over a number of days I found a good group of fish in a deeper area with a fallen tree across most of the river. It's not very wide, maybe 20 yards across, at best.
Having never fished for barbel before I thought it best to keep it simple. Fish are fish after all and once you've found them, if you can get them feeding they can be relatively easy to catch, well that was my thought process anyway. I baited up with a few boilies. Not loads, just a couple of handfuls and i threw them a few feet away from the fallen tree. I figured I'd fish for them the same way I fish for carp. Small amounts of bait, on a regular basis, off the snag. The idea being to entice them out and get them actively looking for my free offerings. I planned to do this for as long as it took for me to actually see them feed and I wouldn't put a rod out until then.
After a few bait ups over the course of a week or so one evening I watched them coming out of the snag, taking a bait or two and then circling back under their sanctuary. I watched them do this over and over again but instead of fishing for them I waited until they had cleared up all the bait and went back under their snag before giving them some more, a bit more than normal with the intention of going back at first light the next day.
I got up their the following morning about an hour before sunrise to ensure I had a rod on the spot before the sun came up. After a few hours I had my first ever barbel bite and it was a full blow whack round on my brand new 11ft 1.75lb Torrix. I kept the tip low and pulled it away from the snag before it went absolutely mental in the open water. The fight was outrageous and I was sure I was connected to, not only my first barbel but a double too, it had to be. Little did I know. Now, every angler has heard about how hard these fish fight but you can never be prepared for it. Doesn't matter your angling experience or what you've caught before, these fish are just different.
Anyway, I did want to keep this short but it's already far too long winded so I apologise and appreciate anyone that has got this far so here's a photo of my first ever barbel and although it wasn't the double I'd have bet my house on it being, weighing 6lb 4oz, I was absolutely delighted.
I fished for the rest of the day but didn't catch anything else although was taught a lesson by another barbel angler that told me I was doing everything wrong. " How longs your hook length?" He asked. "About 12 inches" I replied. "You won't catch them like that" he said. "You need 5/6 foot so it can get right under the snag". I just smiled and thanked him for the advice although it didn't stop there!
He asked me how long I was fishing for. I told him I had to pick my boys up from school so would be leaving about 14:30 to which I learnt I would never catch them in the daytime. All the bites come after dark on long fluro hook lengths so I was basically wasting my time as my rig of choice was a simple hair rig using a short section of coated braid and fishing it away from the snag. Along with only being able to fish from morning to early aftenoon I quite simply stood no chance.
I will wrap this up now as it's way too long and my actual barbel fishing up there was incredibly short, just one more session doing exactly the same thing. A bit of bait when I left that first afternoon and I returned an hour before sunrise the very next morning. About 15 minutes after daybreak I had my second barbel of 8lb 2oz.
I assumed that was game over as the disturbance of the fight and it all happening so close to where they were basically living I assumed they would just hold up under the fallen tree for the rest of the day and hide. Not long after, I can't remember exactly but it wasn't even half an hour after returning that fish and lowering in my small mesh pva bag of crumbed boilies I had another one. I knew straight away that it was a better fish, as much as I thought, during the fight, the first one was bigger than it turned out to be there was no mistaking I had hooked a better fish and when I first saw it on the surface I was in no doubt. My 3rd bite in only a few hours fishing, over the course of a couple of days and I'd done it, had what I set out to achieve and landed my first double figure barbel of 10lb 4oz.
Anyone that has actually read all of this I thank you for taking the time and hope I have many another tale of catching plenty more barbel as my journey starts properly this summer and I can't wait!
Cheers
Martin
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