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Specimen barbel size

It was always good for pike where the black ox beck runs into the Swale and barkers corner another 100 yards up stream.
We had some real crackers out of there in winter time on sea baits.
 
I went over the Tees last autumn Paul. In Middlesbrough. It looked quite promising. With it being close to the sea, I would guess that seals migrate up there quite easily reaking havoc on the barbel and pike populations.
 
Ady Brayshaw said:
I went over the Tees last autumn Paul. In Middlesbrough. It looked quite promising. With it being close to the sea, I would guess that seals migrate up there quite easily reaking havoc on the barbel and pike populations.
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Bingo Ady
Seals come up through the barrage and I have heard It is quite the tourist attraction as they feast on salmon at the fish pass
I read that in previous years if the salmon had got past the seals it would have been the best salmon river in England such were the runs
Unfortunately I missed the prime Tees pike fishing which was also excellent as I was always on the Hull
I heard of a big barbel today off the Tees but details sketchy. If it proves to be true it’s a monster for the North.WTS
 
If it's any consolation, the middle reaches of the Tees are fishing their heads off for silver fish. Dace, grayling, roach, perch, and bream all turning up in excellent mixed bags. The pike won't be far behind them. Though it hasn't happened to me, I'm hearing plenty of tales of good pike being a pest for those bit bashing. The closest I've got was a dirty great otter nicking a good grayling as I was about to land it.
 
Speaking of the Tees barrage and its potential as a Salmon river :-
There's now a concerted effort to improve the performance of the fish passes on the Tees barrage. Presently they do very little other than to provide a tourist attraction whereby people can see the Seals eating the Salmon and sea Trout that have been trapped against the barrage.
There's a petition, now up to around 1500 signatures. Please sign and share chaps.
http://chng.it/ZcH9z9s9yN
 
Ady Brayshaw said:
Hi Sean. Yes the Trent seems to skew barbel fishers expectations these days. I fish it myself, and have many happy experiences on there in the last three years. It's certainly changed somewhat from when I last fished it regularly over 20 years ago. Nice 13.15 lb er by the way.
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Thanks pal 👍 just out of interest what was the average stamp of fish 20 years ago
 
Sean Spencer said:
Thanks pal 👍 just out of interest what was the average stamp of fish 20 years ago
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Sean I used to fish it for pike for 2 years in about 1992-94. There were plenty of doubles with the odd rare twenty which I was lucky enough to catch. It was mainly chub then, although barbel were appearing more often. I was fishing the middle river for chub and pike then but weighed an 8.8 lb barbel for a fellow angler one day.
 
I think it all depends which river you fish,I mainly fish the ribble and a ten pound fish which I have caught a couple of times is classed as a very good fish for that river..
 
Mark Swaby said:
We are all obsessed with weight and possibly we need to bring length into the equation, like most European anglers. What is the difference with a summer 8lb and the same fish over 10lb a couple of months later. Same fish, same length, another double to your list but just eaten more bait. I have witnessed a known Barbel put on over 5lb from June to October. Last month a lure only angler caught a very fat chub on the stretch of river i try to manage. He did not weigh it but it was lying on a metric scaled unhooking mat so its length was easily known. When checked on the chub study groups weight to length graph it was anything from 6lb 15 oz to 9lb 2 oz, he won our club specimen of the month award
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Iv been thinking about this recently. I don’t know how long it takes for a fish to digest food but imagine a big fish ate a big tin of spam, which I recon it could easily do if you then caught that fish straight after in theory that fish would be 12oz heavier than it really is
 
Its a question that is often asked, without doubt barbel respond well to higher river temperatures so very large barbel are a thing of our times, the warmer the river, they longer the feeding periods, so they are getting bigger.

Richard Walker once was asked what constituted a carp angler, his reply basically said that anyone who fishes regularly fishes carp is a carp angler, he should be not be judged on the size of carp he catches, , as it depends on the water he fishes.

My old friend Fred Crouch (RIP) probably caught fewer double figure barbel and much smaller barbel in his life than someone who regularly fishes Cromwell weir on the tidal Trent in a year, but Fred just loved catching any barbel and was a passionate barbel angler, barbel swam through his veins, he loved all barbel, he was a true barbel specialist who relished fully understanding the barbel in all its complexities, his approach was basic but his knowledge of the barbel was supreme.

I have fished for various species over the 55 years as an angler and up until about 7 years ago I had never had a 30lb carp, I joined a syndicate and after two years I had caught 27 twenties and 3 thirties to 33lb 3 oz and numerous upper doubles, had a i suddenly morphed into a super carp angler? er...no.

The water I was fishing was heavily stocked with big carp, a bad result was a 15 pounder, every year the place was netted and anything under 10 pound was taken out and buried in a trench.

So its all about the river you fish, you can't compare the Swale to the tidal Trent, well at the moment you cant compare any river to the tidal Trent, in essence you can only catch what is in front of you.

Its tragic however how the weekly papers cant seem to judge barbel captures and will choose a 16 pound Trent barbel as being more worthy than a 14 pounder from the Middle Severn or Kennet, yesthe Trent fish is bigger, but the significance of the Severn or Kennet fish is greater.

So to conclude, I think it's about the river you fish, and to me a ten pounder will always be a worthy barbel, and in essence that could be from any river.
 
IIRC .... in the 60's the Angling Times used to award 'Specimen' badges for all the main species caught. These 'Kingfisher Guild' badges, with a certificate, were not solely based on weight but again, if I remember correctly, took into account where the fish was caught. I think there were 3 areas/zones (the 'top' area of the time including the Hants Avon, which was then 'in its pomp').
9061
Just found this :)
As with all endotherms, the warmer their environment the more active they are. The more active they are, the more they will eat. The more they eat ...... (e.g. the old 'Electric Cut' catches, and power station outlets etc.)
 
Terry Simner said:
IIRC .... in the 60's the Angling Times used to award 'Specimen' badges for all the main species caught. These 'Kingfisher Guild' badges, with a certificate, were not solely based on weight but again, if I remember correctly, took into account where the fish was caught. I think there were 3 areas/zones (the 'top' area of the time including the Hants Avon, which was then 'in its pomp').
View attachment 9061 Just found this :)
As with all endotherms, the warmer their environment the more active they are. The more active they are, the more they will eat. The more they eat ...... (e.g. the old 'Electric Cut' catches, and power station outlets etc.)
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Kingfisher guild was a junior page in the Angling Times and you got a badge upon joining not for catching a specimen, well not when i was 12 years old...I did join the Kingfisher guild though, i wished i still had my badge
 
I must be thinking of some other award thingie made by AT then @Lawrence Breakspear. I know there were 3 'zones' so that, for example, a 12oz roach from the Midlands would be equivalent to a one and a half pounder from down south/south east.
Anyway, I'm digressing from the OP, so I'll 🤭
 
Somewhere I've got a similar AT badge denoting my membership of the "Mermaid club"
This was awarded for falling in the water while fishing. The river Wey at Burpham in my case.
Health and safety would no doubt have banned this today.
 
Paul, I could have opened a scrap metal yard if i had known about 'the Mermaid club' as a kid , once fell in 3 times in one week. 1) Ruislip Lido pushed a bank stick into a hard hollow bank,the sudden release of resistance saw me flipping into the drink. 2)Waded across a shallow weir sill and the silk weed made me loose my footing,i ended up holding onto the sill,body in the gusher, 3) Whilst Crayfishing on the Misbourne in welly boots i started to realise i was getting a bit wet so spotting a shallow spot stepped into it. Did not see that a tree had fallen over pulling its roots out. The 12inch of water was lying on top of 4 + ft of silt that filled the root hole perfectly.
 
Lawrence Breakspear said:
Its a question that is often asked, without doubt barbel respond well to higher river temperatures so very large barbel are a thing of our times, the warmer the river, they longer the feeding periods, so they are getting bigger.

Richard Walker once was asked what constituted a carp angler, his reply basically said that anyone who fishes regularly fishes carp is a carp angler, he should be not be judged on the size of carp he catches, , as it depends on the water he fishes.

My old friend Fred Crouch (RIP) probably caught fewer double figure barbel and much smaller barbel in his life than someone who regularly fishes Cromwell weir on the tidal Trent in a year, but Fred just loved catching any barbel and was a passionate barbel angler, barbel swam through his veins, he loved all barbel, he was a true barbel specialist who relished fully understanding the barbel in all its complexities, his approach was basic but his knowledge of the barbel was supreme.

I have fished for various species over the 55 years as an angler and up until about 7 years ago I had never had a 30lb carp, I joined a syndicate and after two years I had caught 27 twenties and 3 thirties to 33lb 3 oz and numerous upper doubles, had a i suddenly morphed into a super carp angler? er...no.

The water I was fishing was heavily stocked with big carp, a bad result was a 15 pounder, every year the place was netted and anything under 10 pound was taken out and buried in a trench.

So its all about the river you fish, you can't compare the Swale to the tidal Trent, well at the moment you cant compare any river to the tidal Trent, in essence you can only catch what is in front of you.

Its tragic however how the weekly papers cant seem to judge barbel captures and will choose a 16 pound Trent barbel as being more worthy than a 14 pounder from the Middle Severn or Kennet, yesthe Trent fish is bigger, but the significance of the Severn or Kennet fish is greater.

So to conclude, I think it's about the river you fish, and to me a ten pounder will always be a worthy barbel, and in essence that could be from any river.
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Spot-on there Laurence.

It's not just barbel captures that are unfairly judged, I recall around 10 years ago Gary Knowles not winning a weekly Drennan award in the AT with a cracking 6.5 Chub from the Dove. I think it was won by a 7lb'er from the Stour, a fantastic fish but surely not as significant as Gary's fish. I know which fish I'd rather have caught!
 
I used to be a member of the Kingfisher Guild. Then Angling Times re-branded it the Rodbenders! I didn't bother joining.
 
Mark Swaby said:
Paul, I could have opened a scrap metal yard if i had known about 'the Mermaid club' as a kid , once fell in 3 times in one week. 1) Ruislip Lido pushed a bank stick into a hard hollow bank,the sudden release of resistance saw me flipping into the drink. 2)Waded across a shallow weir sill and the silk weed made me loose my footing,i ended up holding onto the sill,body in the gusher, 3) Whilst Crayfishing on the Misbourne in welly boots i started to realise i was getting a bit wet so spotting a shallow spot stepped into it. Did not see that a tree had fallen over pulling its roots out. The 12inch of water was lying on top of 4 + ft of silt that filled the root hole perfectly.
Click to expand...
Been in recenlly too, son slipped in and got a bootfull, Oh! how I laughed, only for me to go completely in and under a few moments later, wee had to go home...sob.
But the most memorable was when I took my then 3 young sons to the big weir at Keynsham...spelt....(ask the Old Timers;)) for a few hours in the school holidays. Some will know there is a narrow ledge that leads to the weir basin, but with a 12 foot or so drop. Phillip was catching the odd small gudgeon, and then a better fish was on, he managed to get in a larger than average 'bootlace' and was so made up he forgot where he was and took a step forward, right off the ledge. He made the perfect entry c/w with rod reel and eel in hand, hardly a splash, only to submerge a moment later with his blue Drennan cap still in place with his rod and Eel.
All was well, but how we laughed...😃
 
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