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what will barbel feed on??

P

Peter Bowles

Senior Member
On Friday night a family member was fishing the river ribble on an evening session when after dark he landed two barbel and noticed they had bits of fluff in there mouths.. about 10 minutes after the second fish he got a very slow take.. and he had hooked a dead sheep, from the fluff in the fishes mouthes it would appear that the fish had been feeding on the sheep..... has anyone heard of anything like this before
 
Sounds like some session!! Must say though with all the sheep that are washed into the Severn, it might be an idea to give it a go.:eek:
 
"...their propensity for human flesh was well known..."

Thomas Boosey - Piscatorial Reminiscences And Gleanings - 1835

a number of my old fishing books name "human flesh" and "man fat" as barbel bait and ingredients.
It makes you wonder if these used to be readily available!
 
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Tim Lennon said:
"...their propensity for human flesh was well known..."

Thomas Boosey - Piscatorial Reminiscences And Gleanings - 1835

a number of my old fishing books name "human flesh" and "man fat" as barbel bait and ingredients.
It makes you wonder if these used to be readily available!
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Read this in a book about weird angling stories , the guy using man fat was getting it from someone involved in capital punishment and added he had tried woman fat and that was even better but hadnt tried child fat , maybe bringing back the death penalty will have more than one benefit :D
 
maybe mr barbel, likes lambs fries, ?????
 
I think a better question might be what wont they feed on.

As far as farm casualties are concerned if the corpse has been on the bank for around a week or so before it got in the river then it would be alive with maggots which the fleece would be full of.

Does anyone have any contacts in a liposuction clinic? I can see a niche in the market for their waste products.
 
might give anglers a shock as well, especially when wading up to your bits...lol
 
Adrian Williams said:
I think a better question might be what wont they feed on.

As far as farm casualties are concerned if the corpse has been on the bank for around a week or so before it got in the river then it would be alive with maggots which the fleece would be full of.

Does anyone have any contacts in a liposuction clinic? I can see a niche in the market for their waste products.
Click to expand...

Well at least that would reverse the usual scenario, where the fat cats make a killing, while the poor suckers loose out.

Cheers, Dave :D
 
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If thoughts of Ade's liposuction clinic, or the rotting sheep being washed into the river didn't make you feel queasy, consider this....

It's not unknown for crows or other corvids to perch on the backs of live sheep and peck through the skin to feed on the fat layers underneath. The open wound often gets infected, and that is soon smelled out by a blowfly, which promptly lays it's eggs on the rotting flesh in the wound. Hey presto, before you know it....the poor sheep has a back infested with maggots. If that had occurred, and the hapless sheep had fallen into the river in it's efforts to escape the maddening irritation....the poor thing could have become a giant maggot feeder before it was even dead :eek:

Cheers, Dave.
 
Some great replies. One point, Dave, maggots only eat dead meat, hence used in days of yore to clean wounds and get rid of gangrenous flesh. Doesn't seem to work for necrophilial bacteria attack which kills healthy flesh.
 
As a youngster growing up in the country and going to school with farm lads I was no stranger to maggots on sheep, one of the jobs which was always done before dipping was shearing round the tail end to remove the dirty maggoty bum wool and it was always the lads who got the job.

Cue all the sheep shagger jokes...........
 
Adrian Williams said:
As a youngster growing up in the country and going to school with farm lads I was no stranger to maggots on sheep, one of the jobs which was always done before dipping was shearing round the tail end to remove the dirty maggoty bum wool and it was always the lads who got the job.

Cue all the sheep shagger jokes...........
Click to expand...

I can't see why Ade....as long as the maggots were being taken out of the sheep's tail end....

Cheers, Dave :p
 
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