Small leads and short hooklinks

[Craig Lea]

The river Chew in Keynsham was the first river i fished that held a variety of coarse fish. Before that i was only able to fish my local Cam brook which only had trout and minnows. We used to fish in the park in Keynsham from the weir to where it joins the Bristol Avon as it was free to fish. On occasion I'd even catch a flounder here. Another favourite spot was the weir in Keynsham (Jackie whites if I'm not mistaken) on the Bristol Avon as again another free spot that held massive bream and good chub and eel fishing. These places are where I learnt to fish as a kid. I did hear recently that there's been a stocking of barbel on the river Chew. Hopefully they do well there and breed.

the first river i fished was the chew as well . used to catch huge roach in the park .
i think there was a barbel stocking a few years back , i had 3 from the weir last season.
i only live a ten minute drive away, so it’s handy .

 

[Neil Smart]

The river Chew in Keynsham was the first river i fished that held a variety of coarse fish. Before that i was only able to fish my local Cam brook which only had trout and minnows. We used to fish in the park in Keynsham from the weir to where it joins the Bristol Avon as it was free to fish. On occasion I'd even catch a flounder here. Another favourite spot was the weir in Keynsham (Jackie whites if I'm not mistaken) on the Bristol Avon as again another free spot that held massive bream and good chub and eel fishing. These places are where I learnt to fish as a kid. I did hear recently that there's been a stocking of barbel on the river Chew. Hopefully they do well there and breed.

All my old stomping grounds Etienne, yes there were barbel stocked in Keynsham, probably found their way into the Avon, well certainly I would say, upper Chew too shallow imo.
I am old as dirt, and used to fish Shepherds Boat House weir Keynsham before Barbel were a thing, trout and even the odd salmon were present.
Happy memories.

 

[Neil Blood]

I can see the sense in this Neil, but I very rarely put any feed in preferring to fish a single large smelly bait , the only exception being when fishing maggots in winter when I will use a feeder full of maggots . I primarily fish the Yorkshire Ouse , feeding lots of pellets , groundbait , boilies simply attracts Bream and small chub which abound in the river , particularly in the warmer months . I believe that a large smelly bait is sufficient attraction to bring the Barbel in to my swim , I want to catch them not fill them full of freebies !

Horses for courses, when I fish half a tin of spam on a hook, its an 18” hooklength