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Thoughts on Barbel wising up to rigs

Neil Lumby

Neil Lumby

Senior Member
Just wanted to see people’s thoughts on this..
I’ve caught a fair amount of barbel on my local river over the years, always on the same method, running lead, rod on the rest and wait for it to “3ft twitch” and away. That’s becoming less and less the case now and the majority I’ve had this season I’ve started off with rod on the rest, had an hour approx of knocks and bangs on the tip but nothing more (chub you’re thinking right?) then resulting to holding the the rod touch ledger style and hitting bites with the result being barbel every time.
Last night went out done the same on a spot I’ve had a few from recently. I spent the best part of 2 hours holding the rod getting constant bangs and pulls but hitting into nothing… I finally resulted in getting a real bright headtorch I have out walking round to the spot, full beam only to find about 5 or 6 barbel, not a chub in sight!!!! Didn’t have a fish in the end but was shocked I didn’t have one. Not a bait issue surely as they definitely seemed to want it constantly picking it up plus I’ve had loads on the same bait. I couldn’t even hook them touch ledgering!
What’s your thoughts on this? Anyone had similar experiences??
 
Jon Frisby said:
Hi Neil what bait and size are you using?
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I’m using paste Jon normally a lump of 20 - 30mm roughly but have been known to put much smaller lumps out if I feel that’s what’s needed, I tried this last night.
I will also say, the first time I came across this group of barbel in the same spot it was daytime so I started off feeding some pellet which they did feed on but didn’t go mad and to be fair a carp moved in and was demolishing it. So having some of my paste on me that carp don’t like lol, I threw a few bits in and the barbel went mental literally fought over it.. the first bit I freelined one of the better fish took straight away… they like the bait :). I’ve had 3 off the spot now, maybe that’s what’s making them more cautious??
Maybe I’ll try pellet again tonight just to be sure?
 
I get this a lot with bigger fish. Invariably it will start with a 'dink' on the line/tip. Not a full blown chub 'twang' - way more subtle.
Assumption is they have picked up the bait and rejected it?
This might be followed after some time by the smallest movement on the line , akin to vibration which I assume is them working the baited area and picking off 'safer' or smaller pellets, cautious of the hookbait.
More often than not this will stop and then the bite comes when everything calms down. From the first ' dink' I would say the majority of bites come within 20 minutes.
Does greed get the better of them or does another fish move in having had the sentinels do the recce and building some confidence? I don't know.
But that pattern whilst not nailed on , would result in a good hook up and a better fish 75% of the time.
And as Jon says, sit on your hands - exciting stuff.
This would be nigh on impossible to see at night , so it might be that touch ledgering gives you a lot more feedback?
If it's paste, have they worked out that nudging it, breaks it down and results in freebies?
I'd try a hard hookbait wrapped in paste and see what comes of that, but the good thing is your on fish.
You could possibly try a shorter hooklink too, so they are more likely to hook themselves against the lead. If it's at night then you don't need long hooklinks and providing your line is pinned down to avoid liners this could work?
Fluro hooklinks with a soft braid hair are excellent for this. Bit of a faff on to tie but hook-up ratio is really good, and heavy fluro is going to be sat on the bottom.
See below link and good luck

gardnertackle.co.uk

Coarse Fishing - Rob Young's Favourite Barbel and Chub Rig - Video - Gardner Tackle

In this video Rob Young, on one of his local stretches of river, where he talks us through his favourite barbel and chub rig
gardnertackle.co.uk gardnertackle.co.uk
 
Paul Richardson said:
I get this a lot with bigger fish. Invariably it will start with a 'dink' on the line/tip. Not a full blown chub 'twang' - way more subtle.
Assumption is they have picked up the bait and rejected it?
This might be followed after some time by the smallest movement on the line , akin to vibration which I assume is them working the baited area and picking off 'safer' or smaller pellets, cautious of the hookbait.
More often than not this will stop and then the bite comes when everything calms down. From the first ' dink' I would say the majority of bites come within 20 minutes.
Does greed get the better of them or does another fish move in having had the sentinels do the recce and building some confidence? I don't know.
But that pattern whilst not nailed on , would result in a good hook up and a better fish 75% of the time.
And as Jon says, sit on your hands - exciting stuff.
This would be nigh on impossible to see at night , so it might be that touch ledgering gives you a lot more feedback?
If it's paste, have they worked out that nudging it, breaks it down and results in freebies?
I'd try a hard hookbait wrapped in paste and see what comes of that, but the good thing is your on fish.
You could possibly try a shorter hooklink too, so they are more likely to hook themselves against the lead. If it's at night then you don't need long hooklinks and providing your line is pinned down to avoid liners this could work?
Fluro hooklinks with a soft braid hair are excellent for this. Bit of a faff on to tie but hook-up ratio is really good, and heavy fluro is going to be sat on the bottom.
See below link and good luck

gardnertackle.co.uk

Coarse Fishing - Rob Young's Favourite Barbel and Chub Rig - Video - Gardner Tackle

In this video Rob Young, on one of his local stretches of river, where he talks us through his favourite barbel and chub rig
gardnertackle.co.uk gardnertackle.co.uk
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Thanks Paul, great reply. I’ll take a look at that video. The paste I use doesn’t break down quickly at all always still there’s once reeled in hence why I use a hair and not directly round the hook. Was planning on going back this eve and trying smaller baits but feels a lot colder out today than yesterday and being a small shallow river not filling me with confidence, I’ll see.
 
I’ve started to fish braided mainline, it gives a better hook set in my opinion and if fished with a heavy backlead to minimise weed clumping round your lines and debris being able to pass over. This may help but I do agree with the above I put paste round boilies knowing it’ll be knocked off or breakdown slowly. Maybe try that tactic it’s worked well for me the past few years.
 
Michael Perrin said:
I’ve started to fish braided mainline, it gives a better hook set in my opinion and if fished with a heavy backlead to minimise weed clumping round your lines and debris being able to pass over. This may help but I do agree with the above I put paste round boilies knowing it’ll be knocked off or breakdown slowly. Maybe try that tactic it’s worked well for me the past few years.
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I fish braided mainline Michael have done for my river barbel/chub fishing for about 15 years now, love it.
 
I’d try wrapping your paste round a boilie or pellet personally. I used to pop paste in the microwave for 15 seconds it made it stay on a short hair rig a little stiffer when. Apart from that as Paul said the bigger fish certainly knock how to knock it off.
Just out of interest are you getting any bream? Reason I ask this as my own experience is when the bream have gone the big fish are around feeding. I don’t know what hooks your using but I use curves shanks and my bait right to the back of it. Although unlike Paul mentioned I use big baits I must admit.
I don’t think the rig itself is the issue mind just maybe the bait.
Anyway mate tight lines go bag yourself a big one 👍
 
The paste I’m using is not being pulled off, I was having plenty of pulls last night and every time I reel in the paste is still on. I’ve used this paste for a long time. It’s a milk protein basemix and the consistency is fairly firm almost like putty. I’m that confident it won’t be pulled off I wrap it round a small 8mm esp bead that is hair rigged or occasionally a small corkball to give it some neutral buoyancy and make it a bit more natural behaving. A small group of anglers I know of all use the same or very similar bait and all mount it on a hair the same way round a bead as it won’t be pulled off. One of the reasons it’s used on the thames to name one river is for whatever reason it’s a great bait for barbel and chub but never catch bream or carp on it. Which is a godsend on the thames, the bream can be a nightmare.
My local river has no bream in it but does have quite a few nuisance carp haha! So I like to avoid those.
Either way I’m thinking smaller baits like pellet might be worth another go so I’ll try that if I go later…..
Loving the feedback on this from those that have replied. I do think it’s a really interesting subject when it comes to barbel fishing.
 
i’ve been banging on about this for ages we are definitely getting done all the time … everyone talks about chub knocks on the rod tips … are they chub ? … how do we know they are chub ?
at the start of the season i started using different rigs looking at what the carp boys do ( they wised up to this 25 years ago ) and i did have some success using anti eject rigs .. rod top quivering where they had hooked there selves but not bolting just sitting on the spot trying to get rid of the hook …. don’t know what it is with barbel anglers we seem to think we have cracked it but we haven’t…. there will be those that come along and say i catch plenty on my rigs….. the question is how many more would they catch if they tried something different
 
It's amazing how the fish will pick up a 6mm pellet ignoring a 10mm.

The other key thing can be matching a hook size to bait size. I always try to use a hook that just exceeds the edge of bait size with the bait sitting tight to the bend when hair rigged..

The river Loddon was notorious for crafty fish.
An indication from the bigger fish was simply the appearance of a leaf on the line.
An inch of rod top pressure . Within a minute or two it would often wack around.

Chub also, but often with small movements like a hooked minnow....until it went around.

More common in Winter conditions.
 
Terry Harman said:
i’ve been banging on about this for ages we are definitely getting done all the time … everyone talks about chub knocks on the rod tips … are they chub ? … how do we know they are chub ?
at the start of the season i started using different rigs looking at what the carp boys do ( they wised up to this 25 years ago ) and i did have some success using anti eject rigs .. rod top quivering where they had hooked there selves but not bolting just sitting on the spot trying to get rid of the hook …. don’t know what it is with barbel anglers we seem to think we have cracked it but we haven’t…. there will be those that come along and say i catch plenty on my rigs….. the question is how many more would they catch if they tried something different
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Great reply Terry, love it. I feel exactly the same. Had the same discussion with a guy who as an angler I really look up to, great all rounder caught a lot of big fish over the years.. BUT.. he was sat with me a couple of winters back in a swim id been having a few from. I was fishing he wasn’t. I started getting a few knocks and bangs on the rod, same as usual, a kind of build up to when I finally hooked and landed a barbel. It happened a lot like this. He said they were definitely chub and basically in so many words the only time a barbel picks up your bait is when it gets hooked and bolts off and your rod buckles over…. We had to agree to disagree. I don’t recall catching a chub from that swim but I had plenty of barbel and it was quite a pressures swim for a while, I definitely think those barbel wise up to the pressure and overtime became harder to catch.
 
Terry Harman said:
i’ve been banging on about this for ages we are definitely getting done all the time … everyone talks about chub knocks on the rod tips … are they chub ? … how do we know they are chub ?
at the start of the season i started using different rigs looking at what the carp boys do ( they wised up to this 25 years ago ) and i did have some success using anti eject rigs .. rod top quivering where they had hooked there selves but not bolting just sitting on the spot trying to get rid of the hook …. don’t know what it is with barbel anglers we seem to think we have cracked it but we haven’t…. there will be those that come along and say i catch plenty on my rigs….. the question is how many more would they catch if they tried something different
Click to expand...
The last 6 of the last 7 double figure barbel I've had on the Middle Trent have all come from 'bites' in exactly the same manner you've described Terry. To my mind it can't be anything other than the fish trying to shed the hook on the spot. Carp are known to do this on pressured venues, so why not barbel? I get the 3-foot twitch bites on unpressured venues and from smaller barbel. Stands to reason the fish educate themselves as they get older and bigger.
 
all my rigs now have kickers …to aid the hooking potential
51A41E44-44FF-4548-8AA6-2925F851F3CF.jpeg
 
I think if they wised up to rigs we’d never catch them. The oldest rigs still work after decades. I’d say they probably wise up to certain baits in the same swims if they keep getting caught but pretty sure they forget before too long as they’ll get caught again sooner or later. If they are hungry enough they’ll take anything without thinking about it. I think one thing we probably don’t think about too often is the fact that someone may have fished the peg the night before or even before you got there that day and caught a few so that’s made them weary for a bit.
 
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