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Sandy Bottoms!

M

Matt White

Senior Member
Just wondering if areas where the river bed is just sand (no gravel, rocks etc) are worth targeting for barbel. There are a few swims like this on my local and I only seem to get chub from them, that says nothing though as I am starting to forget what barbel look like!

Matt
 
Matt most of my fish last year on the Swale was from a stretch where a sandy bottom was majority of the river bed, never deterred old whiskers.:D
 
Sand is a depositional feature of river beds, where the flow isn't strong enough to move it. This does suggest that food would also be depoosited here and you'd expect the fish to have worked that out. However, the flow may be sufficient to carry said food particles from off the sand, so it may be worth thinking about the next 'drop-off' where such particles (and fish) may find a home. This is all theory, so let me know if you (or anyone else who puts it to the test) have any success.
 
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Matt, Some of the best swims on the Thames can be found opposite warning bouys (for warning boats of shallow water). These areas are usually a very fine sand and slope up towards the bouy. Barbel love to feed on a slope.
 
Agreed - there's a very prolific swim on my local river that has a sandy bed. It's just after a shallower rocky stretch, which adds weight to Anthony's theory.
 
Hi men,

Me and Sue found a swim on one of our stretches with this type of bottom , sheltered between two trees , the flow slows , and swirls back on itself . A bag and a palm full of pellets see the barbel start bubbling when disturbing the bottom . We have had takes while watching the bubbles right over the bait !!!, great to watch , but drives us mad when you don't get a bite !!, shows they get away with it more than you think !.


Hatter
 
Dave Gaskell said:
Don't need one - it is in the gallery 12 fish in a session - for those who have missed it.
Click to expand...

And I'm sure most had, before you brought it to everyone's attention. I'm sorry you have such a sad life, David, and mundane activities such as 'baiting' others has become the highlight of your day. :(
 
Richard Parsons said:
And I'm sure most had, before you brought it to everyone's attention. I'm sorry you have such a sad life, David, and mundane activities such as 'baiting' others has become the highlight of your day. :(
Click to expand...

Hi Rich,

I am sorry that you have had to resort to personal insults, I was only thanking you for confirming the swim, I had always suspected that the swim was a 'good' one.

Back on thread -

Sorry for the apparent hijack, it was unintentional.

Regards,

Dave
 
I forgot to say that the sandy bottom swims for me are the ones I walk past because of the local crayfish population.

When I do fish sand bar swims I will either fish the gravel / bedrock section when the river is low or cast there and hold back until my bait drops in the crease between the main flow and sand bar when there is more water on. If the crayfish turn up I look elsewhere.
 
Mark Anderson said:
Hi men,

Me and Sue found a swim on one of our stretches with this type of bottom , sheltered between two trees , the flow slows , and swirls back on itself . A bag and a palm full of pellets see the barbel start bubbling when disturbing the bottom . We have had takes while watching the bubbles right over the bait !!!, great to watch , but drives us mad when you don't get a bite !!, shows they get away with it more than you think !.


Hatter
Click to expand...

I used to fish a swim just like that on the middle Trent, one of the deeper slower sections where the bottom was mainly sand. Plenty of Barbel in that stretch and a good average size. Matt - if the river bed is mainly sand on the whole stretch look for features like depressions and overhead cover as these will be the holding spots.

Think about how you present your bait on sand, as others have already mentioned if the flow is strong enough to move food items over the sand the fish won't expect to see food items sat there. I can vividly remember watching a very big fish on another river more recently that always entered the swim i was baiting via the same route - between two rocks at the downstream end. It would be a doddle to catch, i thought - just place a bait between the rocks and next time she visits she's mine! What i hadn't thought of was the fact that the flow increased slightly as it went between the rocks and this was enough to keep the sand between them clear - any freebies that went into that area were whisked away by the flow so when the fish returned and saw my carefully placed bait sat there right in the middle it bolted off in panic. No happy ending i'm afraid but it was a lesson learned.
 
SANDYBOTTOMS.jpg

i love a sandy bottom...:p
 
Lol I was expecting a post like that much sooner! Thats a very nice sandy bottom, I certainly wouldn't walk past it.

Thanks for all the advice fellas.

Matt
 
Ah , but would you take Mr Gaskells advice and hold back until your bait dropped in the crease ? Dirty boy !
 
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Now I am starting to feel ill....the thought of all that food gathering in the crease :eek:

Actually, I have had it in mind from the very first post in this thread that I only experience 'sandy bottom' if I eat too many nuts. However, I commendably refrained from mentioning this fact until the thread deteriorated, in a way we all knew it inevitably would. As it has now reached rock bottom (as it were :p) I felt free to comment :D

Cheers, Dave.
 
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