Trotting for barbel

[Stephen Scaysbrook]

I've been barbel fishing for 20 odd years but never trotted for them so if you don't mind I have a question.. I suppose there could be plenty of different answers but let's see.

I just need to know do you fish the bait way over depth to drag it along the bottom or just dragging bottom or is it better just off bottom.

If over depth would you drag an ollivett on the bottom for instance.

Sorry two questions.. Any help on this topic would be gratefully appreciated.

 

[Cliff Turner]

Stephen, if you were only going to fish one depth ever then I'd personally go for over depth but by the very nature of float fishing you need to vary the depth on the day to see what works best and of course it also depends on the swim your fishing, depth and flow. the best advices i can give you is start over depth and try and slow the float down but keep ringing the change until you finds what work best.

 

[Kevin Stephenson]

I've been barbel fishing for 20 odd years but never trotted for them so if you don't mind I have a question.. I suppose there could be plenty of different answers but let's see.

I just need to know do you fish the bait way over depth to drag it along the bottom or just dragging bottom or is it better just off bottom.

If over depth would you drag an ollivett on the bottom for instance.

Sorry two questions.. Any help on this topic would be gratefully appreciated.

Hi Stephen as you are only down the road from me I will take you as a guest on the trent on the float show you how to go on. I had a lot of barbel on the float last year.

 

[Mark Swaby]

I have always found if you drag the bait along the bottom you often foul hook many more Barbel in their pectoral fin than you would if just above bottom. These then either badly disturb your swim whilst playing or come off. Barbel unlike most species mostly swim with their pecs open so provide a wide area for the hook to catch up in. There is no need to drag bottom because Barbel often like to take just above the bottom and bites are really positive when fished this way. The float will often bury and run off at an angle when just under depth. When dragging the bait along the bottom you get tempted to strike at what looks like a small positive bite but its your line getting picked up by a pec of a Barbel swimming backwards and forwards taking freebies. I often trot just inside where the loose feed is going in to try to avoid foul hooking because along the feed lane you can often have numbers of Barbel competing for the bait and more foul hooking. Burying your hook can also help.

 

[Jon Frisby]

I've been barbel fishing for 20 odd years but never trotted for them so if you don't mind I have a question.. I suppose there could be plenty of different answers but let's see.

I just need to know do you fish the bait way over depth to drag it along the bottom or just dragging bottom or is it better just off bottom.

If over depth would you drag an ollivett on the bottom for instance.

Sorry two questions.. Any help on this topic would be gratefully appreciated.

Bit of a quandary here Steve.
To fish over depth you more or less have to fish no more than one rod out. Have a snag free bottom, top and bottom float and ensuring the float goes down the peg bait first, ie holding back the float.
Ha e a peg in mind, then find the solution to how best to fish this peg...

 

[Dave Taylor]

Some of my best days fishing both D.Stour and HAvon for barbel have been with the float. Admittedly this was back when the barbel population of both rivers was higher than present day.
If I was trotting ( trundling) meat I would fish over depth,… hold the float back probably using a 5ssg loafer bulk shotted a foot or so from the bait. I watched some guys doing this on one of my first Royalty visits back in the 70’s who were wading and trotting meat down to the Pipe Bridge and cleaning up. Live and learn.
A gallon of maggots still brings all day success with the float when a feeder fails. I fish at different depths with a heavy float. I’ve often been feeding chub with maggots to gain their confidence when a big barbel has ghosted up out of the dark water to take them a foot below the surface.
Here’s one of my better fish from the float off the Stour.

 

[Stephen Scaysbrook]

Thank you all for your input. I'll take note of all of it..

Kevin Thank you very much for your kind offer. which club do you have a ticket for.. I've got Newark Piscatorial this year. I had Scunthorpe last year and fished lady pit farm.. I've also got Derby Railway ' Burton mutual and pride of Derby but there upper Trent .

 

[Paul Richardson]

Just watched this recently. Interesting on a number of fronts ( including Andrew's accent) and clearly it works for him!

Last season I did well using a speci waggler and light shotting but the swim was pacy and relatively shallow

 

[Kevin Stephenson]

Thank you all for your input. I'll take note of all of it..

Kevin Thank you very much for your kind offer. which club do you have a ticket for.. I've got Newark Piscatorial this year. I had Scunthorpe last year and fished lady pit farm.. I've also got Derby Railway ' Burton mutual and pride of Derby but there upper Trent .

Stephen i have a golden ticket lol. Notts Piscatorials, many excellent float swims. You are free to join me as a guest all bait and tackle supplied. I cant say anything about the fishing as we have a publicity ban. But its there for a reason. Kevin

 

[Jon Frisby]

Speci wag or Truncheon float are great for swims up to 10 foot deep, ideally 6 foot and below. Have a look at some of Dave harrells videos. Gives you a great insight on how it's done.

 

[Neil Maidment]

Virtually all my trotting is done on the Dorset Stour and Hampshire Avon so very different to the Trent. My target is usually big chub but barbel turn up fairly often most recently on my final session of last season on Throop:

I've yet to find a swim with a uniform depth throughout so fishing overdepth is a bit subjective. I play around with the depth and shotting patterns a lot whether that's a bulk olivette or individual shot. That applies to top and bottom floats, usually 8grm/10grm balsas/missiles, or short fat wagglers fished with little or no shot down (chub and barbel can quickly become "shot shy" as the olivette/bulk shot continually goes through the swim). I've had barbel on all the above, hard to the bottom, mid depth, sometimes on the drop or even very close to the surface. But that is also a product of the loose feed going through the swim at different depths and speeds.

I've trotted the Severn in the general Bridgnorth area a few times although not recently. I applied the same process to that venue and had successful trips. Fishing meat or corn on the hook worked well. I also found those barbel backed off maybe partly because of the bulk going through but came back well with just a single BB or AAA shot down the line. The meat/corn would have behaved very differently as well.

My advice would be to keep it simple, stick to it but with a bit of flexible thinking!

 

[Ady Brayshaw]

Some of my best days fishing both D.Stour and HAvon for barbel have been with the float. Admittedly this was back when the barbel population of both rivers was higher than present day.
If I was trotting ( trundling) meat I would fish over depth,… hold the float back probably using a 5ssg loafer bulk shotted a foot or so from the bait. I watched some guys doing this on one of my first Royalty visits back in the 70’s who were wading and trotting meat down to the Pipe Bridge and cleaning up. Live and learn.
A gallon of maggots still brings all day success with the float when a feeder fails. I fish at different depths with a heavy float. I’ve often been feeding chub with maggots to gain their confidence when a big barbel has ghosted up out of the dark water to take them a foot below the surface.
Here’s one of my better fish from the float off the Stour.View attachment 19408

Cracking photo there Dave.