• You need to be a registered member of Barbel Fishing World to post on these forums. Some of the forums are hidden from non-members. Please refer to the instructions on the ‘Register’ page for details of how to join the new incarnation of BFW...

Snagged Barbel

Dave Brooksbank

Senior Member & Supporter
It,s bound to have happened to all of us,hooked into a fish and got snagged up,I normally tighten up slighty for the first minute or so and most times they swim out.
Had one recently that after a few minutes was snagged solid in some tree branches,gave it some slack line for around an hour and half didn't swim out so ended up cutting the line.What's the best way in this situation guys.
 
If not to deep get in and free the snagged fish good friends of mine have been snagged and managed to free fish from snag and land the fish but obviously not in to deep of water.
 
I have had to get into the river to free a snagged fish. Luckily it was summer so I could strip down to my underpants and pop the wellies back on. A little precarious but I had a pretty good idea of the depth. It mainly enabled me to get a much better angle.
 
At least you had the good sense to take your trousers off Howard . Many years a go on a very warm summers night ,I strode confidently in to the river Nidd , waders on, to release a snagged barbel for my angling compadre . Without warning the near bank shallow swim I thought I knew well suddenly became 5 ft deep ! No worries I thought , it's warm enough , I pressed on released the fish and hauled myself out . Then the sickening reality dawned on me , in my now sodden pockets were my mobile phone AND car keys . Despite frantic drying neither would work . You can imagine how we laughed as we realised we were stuck 1.5 miles from the nearest road down a remote farm track at 1.am. 15 miles from home . Happy days :)
 
I stripped down to my grundies to go in after a large carp in a lake once. It had kited sideways into a tree in a grotty corner full of all sorts of flotsam blown in by the prevailing wind. I managed to free the carp, but the line then snapped where it had been abraded by the snag, just above the swivel. That wouldn't matter too much, because the lead would then drop off, and it would have got rid of the hook link without probs.

The major laughing point was the fact that my body looked like a barber's pole in green, where the various types of algae and slime stuck to me as I emerged :D

Cheers, Dave.
 
i tend to give a little slack line then if they move wind into them hard and fast with either the rod buried or high depending what i think they are snagged on and what way i am most likely to get them clear.
 
Never get in the river unless you have assistance. It's too easy to get into trouble. As much as I admire your commitment it could easily go wrong.
 
Never get in the river unless you have assistance. It's too easy to get into trouble. As much as I admire your commitment it could easily go wrong.

Ditto the above.
NO fish is worth risking your own life for. I always carry a dog spike and rope, after a friend slid down the bank, trying to land a fish, on a flooded River Severn. Lucky for him, his feet landed on a underwater peg/platform. Who knows what may have happened. Touch wood, ive never needed it, but its there if i do. Take no chances guys/gals. Be safe.
 
Back
Top