Tidal barbel

[Stuart Prescott]

evening folks

im currentley fishing a very tidal stretch of a southern river , something im not really familiar with being a 'norvener'

after sitting there tonight at the peak of the higt tide , watchng it flow one way then the other as darkness fell it got me thinking a little bit


in normal conditions , a barbel will face upstream , yes ?
when the tide is effecting the level , will the barbel turn round ??

will the flow on the river bed change in other words ????

my next issue is the river bottom . im used to feeling a hard 'donk' when my lead or feeder touches down , im now getting dull thud when my end tackle hits the hard silt / mud

everything tells me i should be searching out clean gravel etc , but im reliably informed there isnt any where im fishing but the barbel are present in the stretch but far from easy to put on the bank

will the tide make the area attractive to the barbel due to the level rising twice a day making htem happy to feed in the mud ???

i look forward to more experienced tidal anglers responses

regards

stu

 

[Jim Foxall]

Some very good questions. I believe that Bob Roberts has been filming barbel behaviour under tidal conditions. First rushes indicate that the barbel do not flip direction with the tidal flow but take up a position perpendicular to the flow, changing 180 degrees when the flow changes. Loads of different theories as of yet.

 

[Jon Whelan]

Some good questions there Stuart. I have caught a few barbel in hard clay like bottoms & similar to you I still feel I should be fishing on more gravel like locations. I reassure myself that with seeing catches of other bottom feeding fish such as bream & the odd carp there is no reason why other, add least the odd, fish might be amongst them.

I cannot say as to how the barbel position themselves on an incoming - I truly wish I could. I have a few thoughts but nothing for certain.

Seeing fish on the Tidal Trent is impossible from the bankside. I have had the occasional chat with other anglers that the barbel can be sometimes been seen in high summer cleaning off the rocks on the higher part of the incoming tide. Probably, once the incoming tide reaches a certain point I think that they move from their normal line for a while before returning at some point as the tide turns. I have confirmed this theory with other fish but these have very slightly differing behavioural traits to that of barbel.

Re flow - mostly dependant as to how tidal the area is that one is fishing.

Other questions might include how the saline intrusion/penetration into rivers affect:

1) The diversity & abundance of benthic (bottom) community/populations of invertebrates
2) The ability of barbel to tolerate differing saline concentrations with these relatively sweeping/swift tide (duration) changes

If you google search "saline tidal intrusion rivers" there is quite a lot of reading there which might qualify a few of your thoughts.

Cheers, Jon

 

[Darryl Davis]

I have observed (and sometimes caught) Barbel from a small tidal river where the flow has changed direction.
In normal flow direction the barbel seem to do normal barbel things (like face upstream).
I have seen them face the other way on an incoming flow too.
In heavy floods with murky conditions I have caught more on the downstream rod and then as the flow changed direction (and moved upstream) the upstream rod has seen more action - suggesting a change of direction in the fish.

And it is surprising how far downsteam they go, often prefering the muddy clay stretches over clean chalk and gravel.

 

[John Walker]

hmm, i have asked a few times if anyone knew if barbel fed from an upstream direction or across the current, partly because i am interested in barbel feeding in tidal water and also the salinity levels that they will tolerate,
finally why do a lot of the bigger ones get caught from tidal sections?
any ponderings, veiws and info would be deeply appreciated guys

 

[Darryl Davis]

John
A couple of musings on why bigger ones in the tidal stretches.
Given that the flow may decrease or even reverse, food in the flow hangs around longer
- so more opportunity to feed?
The tidal stretches sees a wider diversity of (and sometimes bigger) invertebrates and crustaceans
- so a more diverse and greater diet and again more opportunity to feed?

 

[Jon Frisby]

when i have hooked Barbel on an incoming tide they generally run withe flow, adversley when the river is still they could run any where.

 

[John Walker]

apologies if this is hogging the thread but Darryl do you think the average size barbel is larger in tidal stretches than further up the river?