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River Records 2004 and 2014

Ian Hugo Arnott

Ian Hugo Arnott

Senior Member
i have been browsing through Barbel Rivers and Captures by the Barbel Catchers, which was published in 2004.

It is amazing how things have progressed. Many rivers did not even merit a mention and I think that only one river record remains and that is from the Somerset Frome.

Now I am aware of the fact that many captures are not reported but that would mean the advances are even more impressive.

Regards

Hugo


 
Shurely this cannot be right Ugo. Otters, Cormorants, EE's, crayfish; please look again, you must have misread something.
 
Now who would have believed that....fewer adult barbel due to predators + poor recruitment due to spawn eating crays eventually = larger individuals. Uncanny :D

Cheers, Dave.
 
Jason Murray said:
The records in both books are the barbel catchers records not national river records.
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True and the records shown on here are not national bests too, only the ones people submitted.

I'm pretty sure there is not a set of national river records that is conclusive due to many reasons... So whilst BFW has a list, I'm pretty sure the Barbel Society and Barbel Catchers also have their own, but non of these will concur with each other....
 
Does the Association of Barbel Fishers have a list as well , does the ABF still exist ? I would tend to refer to the BFW list as it's the easiest to access and seems to be regularly updated . Who currently holds the old barbel records documentation ? I seem to recall that these were very exhaustive records put together by a very dedicated chap [ Brian? ] , perhaps whoever holds them should be recognised as the '' official '' list ? and arbiter of records ,it would be nice to have a definitive record which all barbel enthusiasts could refer to
 
Barbel Fishing World also publish the list and it's synchronised with the BS one.

Many of the recent record claims (the past 5/6 years) have come through BFW and the BS recognise that, hence we're working together. I'm very pleased that they have a panel who are validating the claims from now.

Barbel river records

Cheers,

Andy F
 
Mike Hodgkiss said:
Does the Association of Barbel Fishers have a list as well , does the ABF still exist ? I would tend to refer to the BFW list as it's the easiest to access and seems to be regularly updated . Who currently holds the old barbel records documentation ? I seem to recall that these were very exhaustive records put together by a very dedicated chap [ Brian? ] , perhaps whoever holds them should be recognised as the '' official '' list ? and arbiter of records ,it would be nice to have a definitive record which all barbel enthusiasts could refer to
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Yes, growing nicely.
 
Who decides what the official list is? Is it the British record gadjes? And what is the official requirements for claiming a record??
 
Andy Frances said:
Barbel Fishing World also publish the list and it's synchronised with the BS one.

Many of the recent record claims (the past 5/6 years) have come through BFW and the BS recognise that, hence we're working together. I'm very pleased that they have a panel who are validating the claims from now.

Barbel river records

Cheers,

Andy F
Click to expand...


Here is your answer Paul . Follow the links and it tells you how to claim
 
This list highlights some interesting facts: the records for the Yorkshire rivers Ouse, Wharfe, Nidd, Swale and Don were all caught in 2007. Nothing bigger claimed over the last seven years...rather worrying.
 
Anthony Pearson said:
This list highlights some interesting facts: the records for the Yorkshire rivers Ouse, Wharfe, Nidd, Swale and Don were all caught in 2007. Nothing bigger claimed over the last seven years...rather worrying.
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Plenty caught, nothing claimed for obvious reasons. I've never had a river record I hasten to add.
 
Dan Birkett said:
Do you seriously believe that Tony?
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Hello Dan . To be fair Anthony did say nothing bigger claimed rather than no barbel exceeding the current record being caught . I am not sure why Anthony is worried though . If he feels that the lack of higher weight records is an indicator of decline in barbel in the named rivers then I don't neccessarily think this is a cause for concern . Bigger fish may have been caught but not publicised / record claimed . I also don't think that the lack of big fish is neccesarily an indication that something is wrong with the barbel population . My experience of the rivers mentioned is largely confined to the Ouse , Swale and Nidd , the Ouse in particular can be very fickle , you can fish hard one year and catch 3 all season , another year many barbel will come to the net , why ? , who knows . Largely down to prevailing conditions in my view . With regard to the Nidd , clearly a smaller river .From my experience barbel catches in number terms have decreased over the years , I reckon predators [ Otters ] have definetly had some detrimental influence , but they clearly haven't scoffed the lot
 
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Thank you to Andy Frances for his earlier clarification of the River Records situation;the Barbel Society has purchased the hard copies of the records and the copyright of the listings, and we are delighted to be working together with BFW in publishing the up-to-date record list on both websites.
Claims can be made via either website, and will be directed to the BS Records Committee, currently composed of Dave Mason, Phil Smith, Rob Swindells, Tom Herbert and myself.
We look forward to working with BFW in displaying the list, and we are in the process of digitising the 18 A3 ring binders of records compiled originally by Brian Dowling. They make absolutely fascinating reading, and will be on display at the Barbel Show on 4th May, and at the Berkshire Regional meeting on the 30th April.

These records are crammed with interesting data, which we are also sharing with a couple of University departments as part of barbel-related PhD work that the BS is supporting.

Pete Reading
 
Query from Dan Birkett
Do you seriously believe that Tony?
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No I don't Dan and perhaps 'rather worrying' was the worng phrase to use. Unfortunately I don't move in the right circles to have seen photographs of bigger fish (with one exception) but am aware of others. As someone who only started barbel fishing after 2007, I wonder if it was around this time that anglers became reticent about publicising their catches (no connection of course) as there was a sudden interest in this branch of the sport. It's just a shame that the data being passed on to the University Departments as mentioned above is slightly misleading as a consequence.

As regards the Nidd Mike, there are indeed an awful number of otters present on the stretches I fish, but I did manage my first Nidd double last year which was a personal milestone. This year I'll be trying for another. ;)
 
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