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The rise and fall

Barry Peck

Barry Peck

Senior Member & Supporter
So with some biblical weather šŸ™„apparently forecast tomorrow my question to the board is ā€¦.

As a Barbel angler which do you prefer .

A rising river
A peak
Or a falling river

Or you donā€™t really care and just fish the lot šŸ„³šŸ„³šŸ„³
 
Love them all but theyā€™ve all got their pluses and minuses.
Rising river is great especially if itā€™s an influx of warm water but you get a lot of debris getting washed off the banks and trees.
Peak is great as long as itā€™s not too high and rendered 90% of the pegs unfishable as the fish feed more confidently in the higher coloured water.
Falling is great as youā€™ve still got the extra water but most of the debris has now gone but your probably losing the temp rise youā€™d gained plus you know the good times are coming to an end until the next rise.
Generally though Iv probably done best on a falling river but Iā€™d probably say I prefer a rising river as you get the buzz of hopefully having a good week
 
On the river Lot, France, a rising river when a barrage lets out some excess the barbel usually feed well - and just about everything else!

If there has been a thunderstorm and torrents of rain the fishing usually comes on in the first few hours, then drops off as the river colours. Silure are the only fish that feed well here in a muddy torrent. As the colour drops out after the torrent most other species come back on the feed.

My "crystal ball" is River App, a tool for canoeists. I have learnt if a barrage 40 miles upriver lets out water it usually arrives at my stretch of the river about 11 hours later. Does not always work for me, there is another barrage in between, but it's proving a significant guide.
 
A rising river, definitely. Depending on the length of the rainfall, a lot of fish will be well fed on the falling river, although this is much the better time for chub.
 
The time of year, the original water temperature and the fresh water temperature going in is very important as to what will switch them on and what will kill it completely.
melting snow will rise a river very quickly as it runs off the banks but this rise is the kiss of death.
yet a few hard frosts on the trot followed by a few warmer days bringing a bit of rain and this rise in both level and temperature will switch them right on.
summer time rises are brilliant especially if weā€™ve had some hot days lowering the o2 levels in the river. Theyā€™ll feed hard in this situation right through the rise, peak and fall and only start to back off when the river starts to reach nsl again.
If I have to pick a favorite I like winter rises the best when the water temperature is sitting around 5-6Ā°c and you get these odd days after a few hard frosts where the air temperature breaks into double figures and it hammers down. The river gets this awesome temperature injection and the barbel just go hell for leather as itā€™s rising.
itā€™s at its peak and drop when things slow back down as the river temperature starts to drop and stabilize again.
 
Most of my ā€œred letter dayā€ sessions have come on rivers rising rapidly and with a subsequent rise in temperature, those sessions where you feel you canā€™t put a bait wrong. Itā€™s seemed to me that the faster it comes up, the madder they go too. In my head writing this is a session on the W. Avon which resulted in 17 barbel to 12lb something, where it came up about 4 feet (a lot of water on the W. Avon, itā€™s hardly a spate river is it?) during the day - I remember having to move further and further up the bank until I was sitting on the path at the top. So, that would be the conditions in which Iā€™d be feeling most confident I think.
 
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