Paul Richardson
Senior Member & Supporter
I recently traveled down South for a 4 day session. Long story short it was a grueller. We fished hard from dawn til dark for paltry returns, but every fish worth it's weight in gold due to the effort exerted. After 3 long days, we decided to head for home and spend some of the final day on a familiar river up North.
We arrived on the fishery at mid-day tired and weary , with just enough motivation to get some gear out of the van.
It was a beautiful hot sunny day about 25C, about the worst possible conditions to barbel fish on a low, slow, clear river.
Rule 1 - Barbel Don't Feed in Bright, Hot, Sunny Conditions
I opted for a peg that nearly always holds some chub and a few barbel if you're lucky but I normally only every fish hemp/caster or maggots in this swim. I don't think I've ever fished with pellets in here, but as that was all I had that's what I was going to do.
Rule 2 - Early Season, natural baits are the way to go.
I rummaged around in the back of the van and picked out a rod I'd had made for winter chubbing but as we couldn't get on last winter, I'd used it once. So why the hell not, what do I have to lose( apart from a snapped rod)? It's a 1.25 Torrix with 2 top sections so I decided to use the one with a spliced in 2oz tip. Clearly the fatigue and 4 hour drive had blurred my thinking. I'd trialled some new line in the close season and although high breaking strain ( 15lb) it was very low diameter so I thought I'd have a go with it for the first time, just in case a barb turned up. The only thing was it was on an 8000 series reel which was too big for this rod, but again what the hell and I put the combo together
Rule 3 - Only use Balanced Tackle.
I'd put some bait in and rested the swim whilst pontificating about how to fish it ,and finally arrived in the peg. In my rig bag I found some pre-tied DH mono hooklinks ( 12lb) with Gripz hooks and pellet bands. Another combo I had never used - again why not?
Rule 4 - Use tried & tested terminal tackle & light hooklinks in low, clear water.
So what about bait? The only pellets I could find suitable for the bait bands were big Halibut pellets, which I never use as a bait, only light feed, but on it goes
First chuck and ' whack' - tip pulls round and I miss it. Then again, and again. Clearly the chub are at home. So I rummage in my bait and find some old, pre-glugged Barbel Blitz pellets. They are that old that they have gone soft and I discover that I can actually mount them straight on the hook. So I cut off the hair/ bait band and fish a pellet straight on the hook - another first.
Rule 5 - Only use Fresh and Proven Bait
Next cast with the pellet on the hook, there's a bit of a lull before the tip pulls right round and fish on, which feels a very good chub. But to my surprise and delight, its a shoal barbel. I repeat the process continually feeding a few pellets by catty, exactly as I would fish if I was fishing naturals. Another, and another, and another...then it slows
So I switch back to the hair rig/ pellet band/ halibut pellet. Cast out, rod is nearly pulled out my hand. This time it is a good chub, and the process continues with one after another, all pristine 4-5 pounders.
Rule 6 - Use Hair rigs for Barbel, mount on the hook for chub.
The rod/ reel/ line combo worked like a dream. It shouldn't have but it did. I got onto bites in a flash, I could hold the fish in the first few seconds of the fight and using just the fighting curve of the rod with it held vertically and almost behind me , stop them going into snags before turning them. Then plenty of power so as not to prolong the fight( something I've found with heavy feeder rods) yet plenty of give for the net lunges/ last minute dashes. An amazing piece of kit, and can't think of a better session for pure enjoyment and using a rod to it's full potential, due to the strong line/ hooklink combo.
The Gripz hooks were excellent and I didn't have to use forceps once, every hook coming out cleanly and they were good for keeping their points.
And possibly the best bit is not one fish left the water. I was in a peg where I could land , unhook and rest in the net without taking the net out of the water.
So not over-playing them and giving them all plenty of rest whilst I re-baited the swim and filled the feeder was very satisfying and great to see everyone one swim off strongly.
I ended up with 20odd fish, mainly shoal barbel but some quality chub in there as well. Again an absolute pleasure with the smaller 4-5 pounders on the lighter rod.
One of them sessions that according to the rule books should have been an absolute disaster for a whole host of reasons. But it wasn't, just one of them that comes along when you least expect it and reminds us why we endure all the hardship and blanks and love our sport.
I'm not sure what the moral of the story is : " Dare to be different" " Go with your gut feeling" " Don't overthink things" or probably more accurately " right place, right time". And I bet if I tried to emulate that again I'd never repeat it in 10 years, but some interesting stuff learned - fish don't read the same books as us
p.s. if anyone knows the ' max' line rating for a 1.25TC Torrix Tip rod please let me know as I really don't want to court disaster, do I Richard
We arrived on the fishery at mid-day tired and weary , with just enough motivation to get some gear out of the van.
It was a beautiful hot sunny day about 25C, about the worst possible conditions to barbel fish on a low, slow, clear river.
Rule 1 - Barbel Don't Feed in Bright, Hot, Sunny Conditions
I opted for a peg that nearly always holds some chub and a few barbel if you're lucky but I normally only every fish hemp/caster or maggots in this swim. I don't think I've ever fished with pellets in here, but as that was all I had that's what I was going to do.
Rule 2 - Early Season, natural baits are the way to go.
I rummaged around in the back of the van and picked out a rod I'd had made for winter chubbing but as we couldn't get on last winter, I'd used it once. So why the hell not, what do I have to lose( apart from a snapped rod)? It's a 1.25 Torrix with 2 top sections so I decided to use the one with a spliced in 2oz tip. Clearly the fatigue and 4 hour drive had blurred my thinking. I'd trialled some new line in the close season and although high breaking strain ( 15lb) it was very low diameter so I thought I'd have a go with it for the first time, just in case a barb turned up. The only thing was it was on an 8000 series reel which was too big for this rod, but again what the hell and I put the combo together
Rule 3 - Only use Balanced Tackle.
I'd put some bait in and rested the swim whilst pontificating about how to fish it ,and finally arrived in the peg. In my rig bag I found some pre-tied DH mono hooklinks ( 12lb) with Gripz hooks and pellet bands. Another combo I had never used - again why not?
Rule 4 - Use tried & tested terminal tackle & light hooklinks in low, clear water.
So what about bait? The only pellets I could find suitable for the bait bands were big Halibut pellets, which I never use as a bait, only light feed, but on it goes
First chuck and ' whack' - tip pulls round and I miss it. Then again, and again. Clearly the chub are at home. So I rummage in my bait and find some old, pre-glugged Barbel Blitz pellets. They are that old that they have gone soft and I discover that I can actually mount them straight on the hook. So I cut off the hair/ bait band and fish a pellet straight on the hook - another first.
Rule 5 - Only use Fresh and Proven Bait
Next cast with the pellet on the hook, there's a bit of a lull before the tip pulls right round and fish on, which feels a very good chub. But to my surprise and delight, its a shoal barbel. I repeat the process continually feeding a few pellets by catty, exactly as I would fish if I was fishing naturals. Another, and another, and another...then it slows
So I switch back to the hair rig/ pellet band/ halibut pellet. Cast out, rod is nearly pulled out my hand. This time it is a good chub, and the process continues with one after another, all pristine 4-5 pounders.
Rule 6 - Use Hair rigs for Barbel, mount on the hook for chub.
The rod/ reel/ line combo worked like a dream. It shouldn't have but it did. I got onto bites in a flash, I could hold the fish in the first few seconds of the fight and using just the fighting curve of the rod with it held vertically and almost behind me , stop them going into snags before turning them. Then plenty of power so as not to prolong the fight( something I've found with heavy feeder rods) yet plenty of give for the net lunges/ last minute dashes. An amazing piece of kit, and can't think of a better session for pure enjoyment and using a rod to it's full potential, due to the strong line/ hooklink combo.
The Gripz hooks were excellent and I didn't have to use forceps once, every hook coming out cleanly and they were good for keeping their points.
And possibly the best bit is not one fish left the water. I was in a peg where I could land , unhook and rest in the net without taking the net out of the water.
So not over-playing them and giving them all plenty of rest whilst I re-baited the swim and filled the feeder was very satisfying and great to see everyone one swim off strongly.
I ended up with 20odd fish, mainly shoal barbel but some quality chub in there as well. Again an absolute pleasure with the smaller 4-5 pounders on the lighter rod.
One of them sessions that according to the rule books should have been an absolute disaster for a whole host of reasons. But it wasn't, just one of them that comes along when you least expect it and reminds us why we endure all the hardship and blanks and love our sport.
I'm not sure what the moral of the story is : " Dare to be different" " Go with your gut feeling" " Don't overthink things" or probably more accurately " right place, right time". And I bet if I tried to emulate that again I'd never repeat it in 10 years, but some interesting stuff learned - fish don't read the same books as us
p.s. if anyone knows the ' max' line rating for a 1.25TC Torrix Tip rod please let me know as I really don't want to court disaster, do I Richard
