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Road Salt

Mark Anderson

Mark Anderson

Super Moderator
Staff member
Hi men ,

With a thaw on the cards , are we all agreed you wont catch a barbel with snowmelt / road salt going in ?.


Hatter
 
I've no idea if that's the case. It's irrelevant to me as the banks are too dangerous and it's too damned cold for me to bother anyway. I like my fishing but I won't risk dying for it.
 
Its the ensuing flood thats going to be a bigger problem than road salt IMO. Glad i do not live on a flood plain.....
Not going barbelling until its all run though, and had a influx of fresh.
 
I just checked the weather and the SW is due to warm up over the weekend (in comparison to the last few weeks anyway!). I wonder if this will produce enough of a rise in temps after the cold spell to encourage some feeding, or will the salt and snowmelt negate this? Only way to really tell is to get out there and have a go I suppose!
 
I'm out next Monday afternoon/night for a session on the Bristol Avon - I reckon there's every chance of a fish as the temps look like being 7-8 degrees for 3 days previous and there'll be a bit of extra water in. The temps have been low for so long and are still low, so the snowmelt shouldn't alter the temps much, but the warmer weather and rain will raise temps.

I'm not sure if the salt will put them off... yet to be convinced on this.

However, you've got to be in it to have a chance!
 
I'm not convinced road salt has an impact, the dissolved content must be absolutely tiny, at most.

Ian
 
Would also imagine it depends on the stretch.
ie How near it is to a main road etc.
If the salt does have an impact, nearer the main road the greater the concentration of salt would be.
 
Some anglers add salt to their paste or boilie mixes which suggests to me barbel have no problem with salt, they may even like it.

It may be taking a conclusion too far, but if the barbel are tasting the raised salt levels in the water, might they see it as a source of food and are searching out the salty food that's producing the taste? Has anyone tried salty baits after a thaw? Just a random thought.
 
Jon Frisby said:
Its the ensuing flood thats going to be a bigger problem than road salt IMO. Glad i do not live on a flood plain.....
Not going barbelling until its all run though, and had a influx of fresh.
Click to expand...

Count me in m8...;)
 
We didn't see much road salt up this end of the country - the council said they'd run out. Therefore not a problem :)

The rise in temps is very positive if it means a chance of a barbel.....
 
I'm convinced Salt has an impact on the Ribble especially on the middle and probably on the lower because of the proximity of some of the major roads to the river and it tributaries. Roads like the M6 A59 A666 etc. but I'll still be having a go at some point next week - I'm sick of being stuck in this central heated hell hole...
 
I think the cold snow melt will have far more impact than any small percentage of road salt. I'm also a believer that barbel tolerate salt a lot more than most of us think. We may get some warm rainfall to help us along, but i wont be rushing to go barbel fishing until we get stable moderate weather as until then, the feeding spells are likely to be very short and knowing my luck, not when i'm on the river.;)

Paul
 
I don't like the idea of snow melt carrying salt in to the river, it doesn't do much for my confidence.
But i think we needn't worry too much with this coming thaw, from what i hear most of the councils are skint, and haven't been putting very much at all on the roads.
Certainly i haven't seen much evidence of it anyway.
I agree with paul though, the cold snow melt is my main concern. :(
 
How do the Barbel "sense" the small percentage of road salt in the water??

Can they "smell" it at such a low dilution??



Paul
 
It doesn't change the PH, it changes the salinity, salt water and fresh water are both PH Neutral in the 6 to 8 range.........
 
The salt shouldn't have a diverse effect on the fish for the short amount of time it will be in the rivers, if anything it will be a benefit as it has medicinal properties and helps kill off parasites.

I do occasional work for Salt Union at their Winsford Mine and asked why the grit salt they had stock piled was brown, whereas the newly mined salt is clear. Apparently they add molasses to it, as otherwise it reverts back to rock while it is stored.

I suppose the next question is what will the molasses do to the fish?? :D

Also is there any mileage in the melt water depleting the oxygen levels of the water? I have heard this many times over the years but not sure of the validity of it.
 
John Walker said:
i would love to know if barbel are in brackish water in any numbers, i have a pet theory there is....j.w
Click to expand...

Hi John,
It's long been known that freswater fish can inhabit regions of high salinity, such as the coarse species that are found in the estuaries of the baltic.

I would think barbel are no different in that they are capable of it.

The physical factors that prevent a freshwater fish from a rapid transformation from fresh water to high salinity, is the process of Osmosis, which will by a natural process affect the natural balance of salt in the fishes body. The the transisition was sudden wether from fresh to salt or vice versa, the fish would die very quickly.

The process would see a fish from freshwater absorb salt too rapidly for it's system to cope, it would basically die from dehydration very quickly.

The reverse would happen for a saltwater fish where if it where put straight into fresh water, the process of Osmosis would see the fish absorb fresh water faster than it's system could cope with, and also die quickly.

In the case of brackish waters - estuaries, the difference of salinity between
fresh river water and pure sea water is not so great either way that fish from both enviroments would not be able to cope with the change provided that it was gradual enough.

Theres an interesting article on some studies done on how the transition from fresh to salt water affects the cell structure of the gills in freshwater fish, the studies wre done on trout, if you can wade through the nuclear science :D it makes interesting reading.

Here...... http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/209/23/4591.pdf
 
Well I'm going to find out tomorrow!!:)

I happen to think it makes a very real difference; I am not so sure about snow melt, the fact that it is cold, is enough to slow the fish feeding.
Fish tend not to feed when we get road washing water going in the rivers, this will contain many other materials :- Oil, Tyre material, Salt and now it seems Molasses as well, it seems to me that under normal conditions a small amount of these materials go into our rivers as a matter of course but when it snows they are all mostly trapped until the thaw, when the lot gets dumped into the water in one go, perhaps that is what makes the difference.


Many years ago when Gods dog was a pup I did a lot of Match Fishing, we used a lot of continental ground bait, this stuff was heavily laden with salt (which is why Bloodworm and Joker would die when mixed in the ground bait, the salt killed them), the salt was there because as fish ingested the salt it acted as a laxative, the more they ate, the more they excreted, becoming a vicious circle causing the fish to eat more.
In fact as you used it, you would notice most of the fish you caught would make a mess in your hand as you removed the hook.
 
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