Unexpected 'cut-offs'

[Jim Ufton]

Had that happen on the dove a few times, i did land a pike on one occasion ,nice fish around 10lb took a krill boilie if memory serves, quite a few came out over the years on non pike bait ,ie boilie,pellet, meat, i suppose its all good stuff if your hungry enough and no energy used to chase it,
Regards

 

[Graham Elliott]

Happens quite a lot with meat on Severn.

But also grab the feeder and bite off above it

 

[Ady Brayshaw]

Yes, as I lifted into the run.

Nothing certain. But seems to me to be highly probable a pike Bob. I've had gear taken by pike on a few occasions over the last two years on the drop, whilst fishing static and whilst being retrieved. While tench and barbel fishing.

 

[Ady Brayshaw]

I've had this before on the Trent, and also on a stillwater. I put it down to a tight line coming contact with a snag with sufficiently 'sharp' edge.

On the stillwater, it seems it may have been the remains of an old boardwalk / jetty post which could be seen on old aerial photos, although impossible to see from the bank now. Other anglers have reported the same. Line (12lb GR60) snapping like it had been cut with scissors with an angry carp in the other end.

Could be any number if snags on the bottom of the trent, they don't have to be big.

Equally, swan mussels are well capable on cutting your line easily.

It could well be swan mussels. I know mussels of other sorts , zebra mussels in some Irish Lough's, have been problematical in cutting anglers lines. But it's curious that this is happening to Bob at certain times and not continually. Joe do you know if the SM open or are ajar at specific times of day? A very interesting phenomena if so.

 

[Lawrence Breakspear]

a bed of Freshwater mussels with the opened shells pointing up and open, they are like the providable Stanley knife blade and give the cleanest of cuts ...

 

[Phil Heaton]

I believe its either mitten crabs or crays. I fished a stretch on the upper Trent last Monday and late afternoon my luncheon meat and hard pellet baits were disappearing progressively faster up to dusk, so much so I packed in at 8pm out of frustration. This is an area not particularly known for such problems, maybe the warm water and low flows have made it easier for them to move upstream.

 

[John Wilkins]

Last week I was fishing with a pal on the Trent. We shared a productive swim, chosen so my guest and I could fish together and so we could expect to catch a few. The day went to plan with us landing 10 barbel and 4 chub between us, leaving me with the satisfaction of seeing my guest having a day to remember.

Now to the purpose of this post. The bottom that we were fishing over is clear gravel with no snags and boulders. Up until lunchtime and beyond, everything we hooked we landed. The sun became quite fierce but the bites kept coming. However, both of us lost a fish with 15 lb mono being cleanly cut. There was no abraision, just a clean cut in both cases. Now I have experienced this before over the years in 2 other swims and always in the afternoon after hooking and landing multiple barbel in the morning. In all cases the cut was clean, with no other damage to the line. I always change line regularly and use very good stuff which we have tested well when I was a Barbel Catchers member.

I have a theory that this could well be caused by swan mussels, which are quite common in the river. The edges can be like razors, so could they be opening up to feed as the day warms up? I think this is a definite possibility. Have others experience this problem in their rivers? If so, do you this my theory may have some validity, I would be interested to hear your views.

I had this a couple of weeks ago at Ladypit, landed 5 , 2 hookpulls and 2 with the hook missing. I put it down to Chub bite offs. I was using korum 10lb b.s. smokescreen braid. I do know they'll bite your line through just above the hook with no indication.

 

[Deleted member 2708]

You might laugh at this - but it might be the leading edge of the barbels dorsal fin. There really are "barbs" along it!

I had a little barbel this morning that flipped in the net and got that fin stuck right in the weave of the mesh. It was solidly fixed in and I tried to ease it out. The fish wriggled a bit (no surprise!) and I felt my finger being sliced.

A very clean cut with a shallower slice just in front of the bleeding wound.

I think normally there is a membrane over this main support of the dorsal fin. But if that is damaged these barbs are quite sharp. Imagine a fish with the line over its back bolting on the take, or maybe dragging the line over another barbel in the shoal!

Makes me think this may explain a few cut-offs I have experienced

 

[Ben Marr]

Happens quite a lot with meat on Severn.

But also grab the feeder and bite off above it

I've had this happen a couple of times, sharp tug and everything snipped off!

 

[Jon Frisby]

I fished the tidal trent the other day. I had a quite a few taps during the day. Twice coming back with no boilie on. Once coming back with my 20lb flouro hooklink cut as if by a knife. I can only put that down to mitten crabs . They are in the middle trent also.

 

[Richard Isaacs]

Pike are certainly being a nuisance in these warmer months so perhaps it is that they are grabbing your leads and feeders during playing fish.
I’ve been doing a lot of float fishing for chub recently and having some fantastic bumper days but the pike have been properly crashing the party and some of them have been very big too.
Some recent casualties on my float sessions here.
They’ve also wrecked a couple of floats

The bigger of the two chub I’ve actually caught again last week and is healing really well which is a bit of good news
The skimmer unfortunately was in too bad a way to go on and I had to do the no more suffering thing with it

 

[Deleted member 2708]

Surprised no-one has commented on my earlier post - even if to rubbish it!

The leading support spine of a barbels dorsal fin has a serrated edge to it. I think these serrations probably help that rigid ray bond to the soft rays. If the line catches between this rigid ray and the soft rays it will be trapped and cut in.

If you ever find a barbel with this damage test this area for yourself - you may be surprised. I certainly found out the hard way!

I am sure we have all seen the occasional barbel with damage in this area. As they rummage along looking for your bait the line goes over their head and spooks the fish. Its dorsal fin pops up and the fish runs - trapping the line.......SNIP!

Seems a very likely scenario - any opinions on this?

 

[Richard Isaacs]

Surprised no-one has commented on my earlier post - even if to rubbish it!

The leading support spine of a barbels dorsal fin has a serrated edge to it. I think these serrations probably help that rigid ray bond to the soft rays. If the line catches between this rigid ray and the soft rays it will be trapped and cut in.

View attachment 20699

If you ever find a barbel with this damage test this area for yourself - you may be surprised. I certainly found out the hard way!

View attachment 20700

I am sure we have all seen the occasional barbel with damage in this area. As they rummage along looking for your bait the line goes over their head and spooks the fish. Its dorsal fin pops up and the fish runs - trapping the line.......SNIP!

Seems a very likely scenario - any opinions on this?

It is definitely a plausible explanation Steve. I’ve had those sharp fins cause damage to net mesh before and probably terminal tackle too.

 

[Phil Heaton]

I had this a couple of weeks ago at Ladypit, landed 5 , 2 hookpulls and 2 with the hook missing. I put it down to Chub bite offs. I was using korum 10lb b.s. smokescreen braid. I do know they'll bite your line through just above the hook with no indication.

I was only a few hundred yards upstream from you

 

[Deleted member 2708]

It is definitely a plausible explanation Steve. I’ve had those sharp fins cause damage to net mesh before and probably terminal tackle too.

If I remember the original post question I think it asked about why this should happen more in the afternoon.

This last trip brought it home to me that barbel will seek shade as the sun peaks in early afternoon. Early in the morning I was getting bites casting almost anywhere around mid-stream. There was a large shoal of small barbel spread out over the whole of this section of river.

As the sun got higher a shadow was cast by the steep slope opposite and the trees on that slope. There was a shadow over the water about 20 metres wide and I had to cast to that shadow to continue getting bites.

By midday the sun was high and the only significant shadow was formed by a big tree that hung over the river. It was a 70 metre cast to get the bait into that shadow but when I hit it accurately bites were almost instant.

I think that might be the answer to increased cut-offs in the afternoon. The shoals are packed close wherever they can find shade - it might be a tree or just some weed. A greatly increased chance of a hooked barbel pulling the line over others in the tight packed shoal.

This stretch of river has seen me frustrated by these cut-offs several times. Mid-river does not have many snags here but occasionally these events still happen.