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Tackle Talk

Danny Ash

Active Member
Evening all, just wanted to try and clear something up! I have only spent a season fishing the river for chub and barbel, caught a few chub but no barbel. Iv been fishing the dove, however I now have access to the Prince Albert waters so I have much more water to target. Dove, dane, sow, Trent, severn, dee, Ribble, Derwent ext! I don't even know where to start, but that's for another day I guess. I just wanted to know how you tackle up and fish for chub and barbel, I know its hard to say due to changeable conditions, swim choices ext, but lets say on a perfect day where you can use your preferred setup do you fish with a quiver tip rod and strike your bites? Or do you sit back tips up and let the fish do the hooking? Due to the chub being funny takers is there potential to miss fish when sitting back from the rod? My pb chub did come to a rod fished bolt rig style, it absolutely flew off, but I have noticed on occasions iv seen a few sharp taps of the rod and as soon as iv got to the rod the fish has gone? But I do feel that on most occasions on the dove I struggle to present a rig on my feeder rod ( Shimano hyper loop medium feeder ) without a huge bend in the rod.
I look forward to your thoughts guys, would really appreciate some proper angler feedback on this one,
Cheers
Dan
 
I personally don’t rig up for both chub and barbel. If I’m targeting one or the other I have different methods and tackle for either one.

barbel gear for me is always quite heavy duty simply because of the nature of the beast and beast been the operative word. Hook a proper one in a snaggy swim particularly in clear water and take it from me sometimes it feels like you need a ships toe rope to tame the initial bolt.
Rod 1.75 through action
Reel shimmy 4000D
My rig for big barbel on the small snaggy waters I fish is 15lb mono main line to a 15lb soft coated braid hook length. 2-3ft been the norm.
Semi fixed (Koram bolt and run) rig size 10 Nash claw with a hair rigged bait. Never need to strike just wait for the rap around. I personally don’t use the bait runner facility as it’s cost me dearly in the past I just sit right on the rods.

Chub I actually prefer to float fish for.
Or at least where ever possible give them a moving or suspended off the bottom bait. If you look carefully at a chubs mouth it wasn’t really designed to bottom feed that well. They are snappy chompy creatures that would much prefer to take a bait washed down to them. In this case I’ll either bury or band a bait and place it under a float or simply bounce it along the bottom. Catch way more chub doing this than static baits imo. 6-8lb main line and power float or an Avon rod depending on method. Hook length and hook size again depending on bait.
Quite often I’ll go straight through cos the chub don’t care and it gives me a bit of security if I do hit a barbel.
You can hook barbel and chub on all the above methods but Imo it’s best to target 1 or the other properly and just be prepared if the other turns up. If you haven’t caught a barbel yet then concentrate on that 100%. Fix your bait hard down, or roll it on heavier gear, fish in higher coloured water that’s on the drop. This time of year aim for warmer days and deeper water.
If a chub comes along then great but target the barbel.
When the river is lower and colder or on the rise barbel tend to switch off. Then trot a couple of maggots or a lump of cheese paste under a tree 👍🏻
 
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I personally don’t rig up for both chub and barbel. If I’m targeting one or the other I have different methods and tackle for either one.

barbel gear for me is always quite heavy duty simply because of the nature of the beast and beast been the operative word. Hook a proper one in a snaggy swim particularly in clear water and take it from me sometimes it feels like you need a ships toe rope to tame the initial bolt.
Rod 1.75 through action
Reel shimmy 4000D
My rig for big barbel on the small snaggy waters I fish is 15lb mono main line to a 15lb soft coated braid hook length. 2-3ft been the norm.
Semi fixed (Koram bolt and run) rig size 10 Nash claw with a hair rigged bait. Never need to strike just wait for the rap around. I personally don’t use the bait runner facility as it’s cost me dearly in the past I just sit right on the rods.

Chub I actually prefer to float fish for.
Or at least where ever possible give them a moving or suspended off the bottom bait. If you look carefully at a chubs mouth it wasn’t really designed to bottom feed that well. They are snappy chompy creatures that would much prefer to take a bait washed down to them. In this case I’ll either bury or band a bait and place it under a float or simply bounce it along the bottom. Catch way more chub doing this than static baits imo. 6-8lb main line and power float or an Avon rod depending on method. Hook length and hook size again depending on bait.
Quite often I’ll go straight through cos the chub don’t care and it gives me a bit of security if I do hit a barbel.
You can hook barbel and chub on all the above methods but Imo it’s best to target 1 or the other properly and just be prepared if the other turns up. If you haven’t caught a barbel yet then concentrate on that 100%. Fix your bait hard down, or roll it on heavier gear, fish in higher coloured water that’s on the drop. This time of year aim for warmer days and deeper water.
If a chub comes along then great but target the barbel.
When the river is lower and colder or on the rise barbel tend to switch off. Then trot a couple of maggots or a lump of cheese paste under a tree 👍🏻
Appreciate that reply Rich, some cracking info there mate. Cant wait to get stuck in now. From what you've told me mate im pretty well set up really and now you mention the float fishing, iv had better sessions trotting a bunch of maggots than I have fishing static. I have a stretch of dove that is nicely suited to trotting, how long would you spend fishing a particular run before you fish another section?
 
"Sitting back" bait runner style is a Carp fishing method which has no place on a river targeting Barbel and certainly not Chub.
Turn off the bait runner, sit right next to your rods, with a suitable clutch setting, and grab the rod before it's about to be dragged into the river.
If you haven't got a "big bend in the rod" having cast out you could well be fishing a swim without enough current to hold Barbel.
To me quiver tips are great for shy biting Roach or Chub but totally unnecessary for Barbel, in fact they're a positively negative addition to the set up, reducing any feedback if touch ledgering and hooking 3ft twitch bites.
Not necessarily but Barbel seek out the fastest swims so do similarly or close to If the swim is ultra shallow. 2 ft is quite deep enough.
Forget Carp, simple set up, running lead, hook link 1 to 3ft long. Fish where the Barbel are when they're feeding and you'll catch some.
Hair rigging is totally unnecessary, a buried hook in a large lump of luncheon meat is probably the most successful Barbel bait of all time. Size 2 hook, matchbox sized pieces of meat, torn rather than cut.
Then there's the pellets approach.
Dampened small pellets, cage feeder, short hook link. Sit back and expect the 3 ft twitch.
I'm currently using 4mm pellets for the feeder and 6mm Banded on a size 12 Drennan super specialist hook.
Works for me.
 
Appreciate that reply Rich, some cracking info there mate. Cant wait to get stuck in now. From what you've told me mate im pretty well set up really and now you mention the float fishing, iv had better sessions trotting a bunch of maggots than I have fishing static. I have a stretch of dove that is nicely suited to trotting, how long would you spend fishing a particular run before you fish another section?
Float fishing is so underrated for chub (even more so for barbel) and people tend to adopt the more relaxing cast out and sit back approach for both.
Now I’ve only ever caught 1 barbel on the float which was by accident but I’ve never really been on the right venue for it where barbel are plentiful and regular feeding will encourage a shoal and competing. If I was a Trent or wye fisherman I’d be trotting for them at every opportunity as I love the method so much.
I’m always hunting and fishing for 1 fish on a short session, small snaggy swims into darkness and static baits with minimal loose feed. Its more appropriate in this case I believe.
Chub for me is cold weather sport. When conditions are just soooooo wrong for the barbel (cold, low, rising river with falling temps) they can be soooooo right for a winter chub. There are case scenarios where I will drop a lump of cheese paste into a hole on the bottom and drag out a chub but in 90% of cases I’ll trot or roll for them. Chub don’t go looking for food and they don’t start becoming active and hoovering up the river bed. They sit usually in numbers and wait for food to come to them. It makes sense to give them it how they want it.
How long I’ll give a swim depends entirely on whether I’m catching. If I’m trotting for chub and haven’t had a bite in 3 or 4 run downs I’ll move. Your bait should be passing right by their noses so if response isn’t instant it probably isn’t gonna happen and time for a move.
Barbel I give a bit longer because although I’m relying on them been in the swim but my bait is static usually so I’ll give them time to find it.
Daytime summer barbelling im much more mobile and trundling baits under trees and down the side of streamer weed etc. Again I’m looking for a more instant bite. I usually get one on this method too but more often it’s chub again 😂
 
Blimey, quite a bit above that I’m not sure I agree with, although mostly relating to chub rather than barbel. For another thread another time though - don’t want to detract or distract from very good and thoughtful responses to Danny’s question 👍
 
quite a bit above that I’m not sure I agree with, although mostly relating to chub rather than barbel.
I’d say it was the perfect thread for it Stuart. You certainly know how to catch some good ones looking at your recent pics so your thoughts on how you go about it would go highly recommended. From my part anyway. More ways to skin a cat n all that 👍🏻
 
I fish 1 rod only either with a running ledger or fixed,my hooklinks is 3ft to a size 12 hair rigged pellet or boilie,and that’s trying to catch barbel.I upped my boilie to a 20 mm to try and avoid the chub but guess what plenty of chub to 5 pounds and they shot of like a barbel so there’s not a lot you can do about it,if targeting barbel I will leave the little knocks until I get a screamer,when targeting chub I hit every decent pull and my catch rate is fairly decent,I also move swims every half hour 👍
 
"Sitting back" bait runner style is a Carp fishing method which has no place on a river targeting Barbel and certainly not Chub.
Turn off the bait runner, sit right next to your rods, with a suitable clutch setting, and grab the rod before it's about to be dragged into the river.
If you haven't got a "big bend in the rod" having cast out you could well be fishing a swim without enough current to hold Barbel.
To me quiver tips are great for shy biting Roach or Chub but totally unnecessary for Barbel, in fact they're a positively negative addition to the set up, reducing any feedback if touch ledgering and hooking 3ft twitch bites.
Not necessarily but Barbel seek out the fastest swims so do similarly or close to If the swim is ultra shallow. 2 ft is quite deep enough.
Forget Carp, simple set up, running lead, hook link 1 to 3ft long. Fish where the Barbel are when they're feeding and you'll catch some.
Hair rigging is totally unnecessary, a buried hook in a large lump of luncheon meat is probably the most successful Barbel bait of all time. Size 2 hook, matchbox sized pieces of meat, torn rather than cut.
Then there's the pellets approach.
Dampened small pellets, cage feeder, short hook link. Sit back and expect the 3 ft twitch.
I'm currently using 4mm pellets for the feeder and 6mm Banded on a size 12 Drennan super specialist hook.
Works for me.
You’ve made me think about my style of fishing there mate 👍good information 👍
 
I’d say it was the perfect thread for it Stuart. You certainly know how to catch some good ones looking at your recent pics so your thoughts on how you go about it would go highly recommended. From my part anyway. More ways to skin a cat n all that 👍🏻

Well firstly, I agree with the vast majority of what you’ve said, but there were just a couple of things that struck me as slightly over-simplified/ generalised (which makes sense in the context).

The idea that chub don’t go looking for food and just wait for it to come to them would be the first - would certainly make life tricky on rivers with little flow and still waters 😂 I haven’t fished the rivers Danny mentioned, so can’t give any specific advice, but I certainly fish rivers where the chub are fairly mobile, so in this scenario, you have to go find them. Sometimes, as you say, a swim or stretch can be most effectively explored by trotting, but actually more commonly for me anyway, 30 mins of feeder fishing tends to be a better option (based on flow, swim types and other river characteristics). Assuming they are feeding (big assumption 😂) that will get a bite from anything in situ, but will also provide enough of a scent/ feed trail downstream to draw in nearby fish. Just a thought, but if the fish is moving to the static (maybe popped-up and wafting 😉) bait rather than attempting to move bait to mobile/ hypothesised (assuming not sight fishing) fish, perhaps it’s reducing the chances of the two missing each other?

The second thought, which sort of follows on from the first, is on the very cold conditions that you mentioned. While chub will absolutely carry on feeding at lower temps than barbel, for example, my experience is that it still affects their behaviour and therefore how we might fish for them. Just a theory (borne out of much observation), but in the really cold conditions they do seem to ‘slow down’, possibly to manage energy expenditure(?), meaning on many occasions i’ve been able to get a bite from fish that were apparently happy to slowly move to bottom baits to feed but haven’t shown any desire at all to be darting in and out of the flow or up in the water column to pick off passing baits.

On the “how long in each swim?” question I completely agree that keeping mobile is best, although I’d tend to give a swim more than 3 or 4 casts. Goes back to that point of missing the fish I guess - wouldn’t take much to be slightly off the right line or to have distracted that 7lber with another loose offering that was just ahead of the hookbait!! No idea on exact number of casts - no doubt directly correlated to confidence in the swim holding something! If I’ve liked a swim enough to stop for some trotting though, probably little chance of me moving on again without having had at least 10 casts say

Happy to be challenged on any of the above - just my thoughts and observations, so could very well be wrong!

Danny, if you do target the chub on the quivertip at all, I’d recommend using as light a quivertip as the conditions allow and absolutely hitting the bites early - not always of course, but often the bigger chub are the more wary and gentle biters, so can’t always afford to wait for it to fly round like you can with the barbel. Good luck mate 👍
 
Yeah I was perhaps a bit direct saying they don’t move for food as of course they do when they have to.

my post was more based on ive had far more success on moving baits regarding chub numbers caught from a swim than i ever have a static approach. I also find you can offer a more controlled feeding pattern by following a moving bait with moving loose feed. and you reduce the chances of chub becoming line wary. I’ve witnessed those big chub in clear conditions plucking at and even totally ignoring fixed baits but they’ll fly out of hiding to make sure they don’t miss something that’s sailing by. Just my own experience but I’ve found moving baits nearly always to be better Personally.
Water temps
Some of my best sessions chub fishing have been carried out when the ground is frozen solid and I couldn’t feel my fingers. I think all fish slow down when things get really cold but my point was these conditions are pretty much a waste of time for barbel especially if the river is low but for chub these can be brilliant conditions and I’ve had some of my fattest lumps out in these conditions. Certainly wouldn’t be ignoring them but I’d probably not bother with the barbel as they will be sitting in the corner rapped in blankets with the Horlicks on the go 🤣.

yeah 3 or 4 runs with a float generally will give you an idea of if there is anything there. My experience is chub in the swim will react pretty immediately to particle feed passing them by. I often get a bite first or second trott down or nothing. I’ve stood in swims for an hour and trott feed after trott feed and nothing. So many times. It’s usually pretty instant if there in the swim.
static baits yeah that’s different. You depend more on the fish doing the finding so you’ve got to give them plenty of time. Same as with my barbel fishing.
I had 3 lovely chub out of the offord Ouse millstream on Thursday all on trotted cheese paste. No real big sizes 2-3.5lb
Was a decent morning and nice to be catching
 
Haha, well as long as we’re both catching, that’s the main thing! 😂

Different experiences for different anglers on different rivers... no rights or wrongs, just preferences, no doubt. Let’s call it ‘thought provoking debate’ and hope Danny can still try and glean something out of it! 😊
 
The rivers and streams that I target chub on, when under their normal height are a few feet deep and crystal clear any time of year. Winter it’s even better because it’s just clean gravel. It’s great because a pair of polarised glasses and a loaf of bread and I’m able to walk for miles and find them and watch them react to different bait presentations.
There is a road bridge in offord cluney that is a great hot spot as a shoal of ten or more tend to sit under it and some of them are huge. I can stand on that bridge and feed them all day it never gets boring.
In summer it’s impossible to fish. In winter I like to freeline a bait right through the middle of it and actually watch them nip out and snatch it. Love it.
 
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