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where have the bites gone?

R

Ryan Smith

Member
Ive fished a new stretch of river for the last 3 years and got to know it reasonably welll. Last year was reasonably prolific but this year has been the worst and ive really struggled for bites, even the "banker" swims and spots where I could almost guarantee a bite over the last 2 seasons have not produced anywhere near as much. Ive tried all sorts with just the odd fish here and there.

The barbel caught in the matches on the stretch have also been a bit more sporadic. Im pretty sure the barbel are still there in the same numbers just not coming out as frequent. I was speaking to a old regular who confirmed that its not been a great season so far for barbel but this happens every now and then and next year should be back to normal.

This got me thinking, can a complete stretch of river just "switch off" over a extended period like a season? If so i wonder what would cause it, maybe the crazy weather we have had this year? Predatition? I'd be intrested to hear peoples thoughts.


Also probably totally unrelated but I've caught more eels so far this year than I have in the last 10
 
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If you are prepared to say what river it is you may get some response that is meaningful, Ryan. Otherwise all you will get is guesswork.
 
As above
 
I am only on my second season of barbel fishing so not best placed to comment but will add my observations.

This season I have not caught many fish from the swims that produced last year and I considered to be "bankers". I have caught in places I walked past without a second look last year. One particular swim that produced a good number of fish for me consistently over a few weeks I had virtually exclusive use of as I only ever saw another angler fish there on one occasion.

What has been the difference? Three factors I can think of are:

1. Increased angling pressure, we have had far more anglers on our stretch than the previous season.

2. Last autumn/winter flooding, changes to the topography of the river bed and banks has been evident.

3. Late spawning, we witnessed spawning activity right up to the beginning of July.

Predation is another possible cause. We now have a resident otter and I have caught a fish with a big incised wound on the tail. While the otter may not as yet be having an effect it might just cause the barbel to hold station in areas they feel safer in.

Plenty of eels being caught too.
 
I've not fished for barbel at all this season, other things have taken over my fishing horizons. However, without even checking, I'd hazard a guess that my local river has been tough going for barbel. No summer floods worth mentioning and being very low and clear for extended periods usually makes for tough barbel fishing. The saving grace is that it can make for superb conditions for natural recruitment.
 
Ryan, i doubt the barbel are there in the same numbers as if they were they would compete for food and you would catch them. Using the Teme as an example, its decline in the last two seasons has been shocking, lots of theories as to why but one thing is clear the barbel just aren't there like they used to be ?
 
This sounds exactly like the bath road ps stretch of the river Colne, below the weir,(above the weir the fish are still around).For a number of years its been quite an easy water if you were careful how you fished.The fish were visable,you could stalk them or lay a bit of bait down and they would soon come and feed.This year its been very difficult, in most swims you used to be able to see fish but this season the swims are devoid of them.I have also caught more Eels than ever before,even on boilies.Where are the Barbel? they are certainly not there anymore--you would be able to see them,and lets be honest if the fish are there they will feed,Barbel are a greedy fish.They have a couple of miles below the boundry they can drop down to ,so maybe they are there.I moved on and found success elsewhere.I just hope they have not been poached.
 
I've found the same on the two rivers I fish. The Soar and the Derwent. The last two seasons have been really slow and you can never be any where near sure where they might be. One day you can have a half decent session in a peg and then you begin to think you might have got it sussed but then you never seem to catch in that peg again.
I have been fishing a couple of pegs on the Derwent that look like perfect barbel pegs IE nice pace of flow' depth' cover both weed and over head. Really if you could design a barbel swim these would be the two that would be at the top of the list but the barbel dont know this because there no where to be found..
I'm not a Trefor West or Tony Miles but in my opinion I'n not Noddy either but I've really struggled this season. I like the rest of posters dont have any answers but what I do know is there are very few barbel in the areas I fish.
I've moved around quite a lot and fished new areas/pegs but still cant find barbel in any numbers on a half regular basis. I'm at the stage where I'm having a lot more blanks than sessions where I catch and It's got me wondering if barbel are worth fishing for on these rivers. I'm only about five miles from the Trent so next season I'll be trying my luck on there. It's not my favorite way of barbel fishing' I like smaller river barbel fishing but needs must I suppose.
 
This is interesting - if they are not there where are they as no one as far as i know is reporting major fish kills and it would be a lot of fish to poach. Have they moved downstream to deeper water perhaps? There are never that many on the two rivers i fish so this season has been no different to others, although looking at one thread on here catch rates do seem down.
 
Been fishing the Dove,had 28 barbel in 34 sessions,14 of those barbs have been doubles the biggest 13-7.
 
Ive been averaging 34 over the last 3 seasons off the Dove with 20 plus each season being into double figures, similar to Trev

this year though to present day Ive had 19 barbel, of which 5 were doubles, and 4 of those came in a 3 hour spell in June!, the rest between 4lb and 8lb, they obviously like Trev's bait more than mine
 
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