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When to strike??

D

Daniel Watt

Member
Good Afternoon all,

I have been pondering on this question for quite some time, when to strike?

I come to the river's after spending much of this past summer sat lakeside on the commercial carp fisheries.

Basic tactic as I'm sure most of you will know is to get your line on the deck, get your rod tip as close to the water as you possibly can, engage the bait runner and wait for line to start peeling off.

I went out last night for a few hours and had a very distinct bite on my 1.75 rod (tip bent over 90 degrees very fast and then pinged back and resumed its generally wafting motion with the current) and to my surprise, the fish didn't get hooked on my barbed size 6 hair rig with a barrel shaped piece of garlic luncheon meat.

To summarise: Do Barbel hook themselves like carp often do or do I need to be ready by the rod 24/7 looking for a distinct twitch and respond with a swipe up?

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Kind Regards,

Daniel
 
Was the bait gone when you wound in?,If it was gone it could have been a big Chub.The Dorset stour used to be one of those places where the Barbel anglers would say 'i have had 3 barbel bites and missed them all',we watched big Chub picking up the boilie and deliberately ripping it off the hair with a massive bite, and not hooked(very educated fish).The 'bite 'may have been a liner,or with the rivers high a big piece of debris could have hit the line.Small barbel can also pick up the bait miss the hook and get away.Usually unless you are getting small solid 'donk' type pickups a 'Barbel will pull the rod round and it will keep going,hooking itself.If you are fishing one rod,sit comfortable, rod on the rest, butt on your thigh,hold rod around the reel,relax and do not use a baitrunner,you will know a bite when your arm gets dragged out of its socket.If you still miss bites side hook the meat,forget the hair.
 
It's the million dollar question really. If we all knew when to strike we would all catch loads. I know I miss loads of bites waiting for a big pull but always worry about spooking fish and ruining my swim by striking too early. Also I've found I've foul hooked fish before striking early which must mean it was just a line bite. I probably get done loads by fish but don't think I do too bad really by waiting for proper pulls.
 
Daniel, almost certainly chub,try a light link ledger,mound some cheese paste around the hook,use a 2oz quiver,hold the rod and catch them!!!

Much more fun that blanking for barbel especially at this time of year
 
I am sure some of the bigger chub which are wary of tackle will grab a bait between their lips, then release it if they feel resistance. Giving those savage bites, especially with hair rigged baits!
 
Personally I wait for a pull which is in progress. I feel there's no reason striking at plucks as the fish likely doesn't have the bait in the mouth.

I have a friend who strikes at the first sign a fish is at the bait. The logic doesn't seem right to me but then again he banks way more fish!

With hind sight I have struck several times when the pull has seemingly stopped to find that the fish did indeed have the bait in its mouth.

Stephen
 
Fishing commercials for pond pigs is a light year away from targeting river Barbel. Different rivers have different stocking densities, there are lots of different combinations of conditions, some conditions will see the barbel hitting the baits hard, sometimes they will just give tentative plucks like a chub.. so many variables ..
There are some barbel anglers that have a sit and wait for the wrap around bite attitude, I do that myself sometimes,very much as a "commercial " carper does, and it can pay off with good results, but other times that would be not worth the time spent.
Best way I have found is to match your technique to the river and conditions, no quick answer, vary your approach until you find what works for you.

David.
 
Sounds like chub to me, they're notoriously difficult to hook using hair rigs as they tend to mouth the bait as opposed to suck it up, I personally don't see any need to hair rig meat anyway.
Ordinarily I'd wait for a wrap around, though I remember two of us fishing the lower middle/upper lower Severn a few years back and getting loads of small bites but none we thought worth striking.
Eventually we had enough and started to strike them and started to catch barbel. Never really learnt from that as I still wait for a wrap around! That wasn't meat though but on the pellet feeder.
 
daniel,that was probably a chub, and they can be very cute at times,usually aggresive ,but sometimes they just gently hold the bait and drop back to see if it is tethered,
regards
 
Snatchy bites almost always chub and as has been said they are very hard to catch on a hair. In my experience the most confident chub bites come to bread.
 
following advice from a Barbel fishing legend i fish with a fair bit, i rarely wait for the big hit and the rod bend. Barbel are very good and picking and spitting bait with little or no reaction on the rod tip. a few good fish have come with a very slight bounce of the tip followed by an equally small lean on the tip. The fish has the bait, has realised something is not quite right and is going to try and eject the bait. The reason he knew thats what was happening was years of fishing crystal clear rivers for Barbel. He made his reputation stalking them and striking by sight and not waiting for the rod to go or the pin to spin except in poor light.
 
I have had bites that have been a nod, nod, weird but I knew it was on. Underwater it had the bait in its mouth also the hook, the hook was always at an aggressive angle. The boilie was blown out but the hook was just pricked in. The nod of my rod was the Barbel shaking it's head. It nodded again. I was in....... 15.05 on the bank.
 
John, i have had the same types of bitel like a tapping shake without bolting,nearly always a good fish pricked and trying to eject the bait but quite rare.The type of bite you describe Robert is what i call being donked they are a regular type of bite a lot of people think they are small fish(we know different).Usually if i miss this type of bite i re-position the hookbait, some people think they then come back and wrap the rod round.I am not so sure i think another fish in the shoal has it more positively.
 
Was that MH Richie?

Yes same opinion re bites. Watched many times on a clear Loddon. Sometimes they just keep feeding as well!;)
Giving a similar indication.

Chub. Easier to catch on a hair...if its the right length. ie.
Tight to the bend. Winter cold chub will sometimes just mouth a bait as if they are sucking on it...very small intermittent trembles just like minnows.
 
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