"The Fear Factor"

by Paul Hayes

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It's taken me a little while to decide if I should write this article or not, but as I found it fascinating and was something I'd never seen before, I thought some, if not all of you may be interested in how I caught my first Hants. Avon barbel and the sequence of events that led up to it.

I first started visiting the Avon in the autumn of '92 when when of my regulars (I was a publican in those days) Andy, asked if I fancied a few days away fishing. Ever keen to get away fishing I jumped at the chance and we made plans to visit the Famous Royalty fishery on the Avon, a water we had read and heard so much about and one we both wanted to fish.

Rather than ramble on about what we did and didn't catch, although no barbel were forthcoming, we both enjoyed ourselves, bit of a blokes break away if you like, so much we were determined to make it an anual event. The following year found us enconsed in a Chritchurch guest house overlooking the Royaty (you all know the one I mean) and this was to become quite a regular haunt for us.

In September '96 Andy had his first Avon barbel a lovely fish of just over 9lbs, caught from near the pump house at Bisterne, as for me I was becoming known as the chub king although I hadn't yet caught an Avon barbel I was averaging two chub a day with nothing under four and a half pounds. This trend continued for the next two years until one day in September '99 when I finally broke my Avon duck.

We arrived as usual around lunchtime on the Monday and decided as there was still plenty of daylight left we would get a half day ticket on the Lower Royalty just upstream of the bypass bridge. My initial approach was to bait two lines one just a rod length out and only about 3 yards downstream of me, the other about a third of the way across straight out in front of me. After dropping in two pints of hemp, corn and casters in the near bank swim, I then fed about the same with a big heavy feeder into the chosen swim in front of me.This was to be my first line of attack. Hookbait initially was three grains of corn on size 8 to 8lb hook length and 10lb main line. After the bombardment of bait I decided to let things settle and go for a walk and smoke.
I made my first cast about 30 minutes later into the chosen area and immediately the tip bounced once then twice and then developed into a steady pull round, the culprit was a 5lb river bream, which incidentally gave quite a good scrap in the strong current. After taking 4 more snotties things then went very quite and I decided to concentrate on the near swim. The dace and small chublets which had been hovering around the baited area were no longer there and I reasoned something bigger had probably moved in and pushed them out. I rebaited with my favourite spiced meat and corn combination and sat back waiting for something to happen. By now it was starting to get dark and Andy who had only had two small chub was starting to put his kit away, knowing that any time now they would be asking us to pack up for the night. After cleasring away most of my kit I just reached over to unscrew my landing net when my rod butt shot skywards and the tip headed for the river, I grabbed it straightaway and shouted Andy, by the time he got to me it was to late, after ploughing through god knows how much streamer weed, the hook pulled out. I was devastated, that would have been my first Avon boris and the first either of us had caught from the Royalty. Andy tried to cheer me up by saying at least I'd had one on this year and my luck would change soon.

The following day found us both on a favourite stretch of mine, Glen's Osiers at Bisterne, Andy chose the second peg in and I went for the next one downstream. Hemp and caster was again the chosen feed with just a little corn added, both of us went for big bunches of caster on size 8 hooks. It looked crude but we had been assured that it does work.
After half an hours fishing Andy was into his first barbel which, when safely landed tipped the scales at 9-12, twenty minutes later he repeated the feat with a 9-2 and yet another followed this time a 7-3.
I was starting to get a bit frustrated as after two hours fishing I had not had a rap off anything, until without warning, my rod tip bounced once then twice followed by a real sharp pull. I struck and connected with what seemed to be quite a big fish although the bite was not anything like I had been expecting. Once I saw the fish I knew why, I had on the bggest chub I had ever seen and after Andy had done the honours with the net she was weighed at 6-12, the biggest either of us had ever seen. This was follwed by 4 more chub, one of 6-4 another of 6-2 a 5-12 and a 5-3. Normally I would have ben ecsatic but while pleased especially with the 6-12 I was disappointed I hadn't yet had an Avon barbel, especially as Andy ended the day with 3 more from 6-4 to 8-10.

The evening found us in the Royalty pub and depite all the jibes from Andy about joining the chub study group instead of the barbel society, I was congratulated on a super haul of chub.

After talking to some guys in the pub they told us they had been fishing a liitle farther downstream on the opposite bank at Weekes Farm, and although they had baited heavily they hadn't seen or caught any barbel and were spending the next day on the Royalty. After getting directions from them Andy and I made a decision to go and have a look at the Weekes Farm stretch early the next morning. Smashing lads even told us which pegs they had baited.

On the 9th September 1999 I was first to climb the stile and look into the water and was amazed, in the first peg they had baited three barbel, although not massive, were busy gorging themselves on the free offerings. We both stepped back from the water and put our kit down very gingerly as we did not want to disturb the feeding fish, and slowly walked back upstream to the next swim, This was quite a large gravelled area with hardly any weed cover close in and there some 10 yards downstream was the biggest shoal of barbel I had ever seen. "You can have this peg" whispered Andy "your bound to break your duck today".
As I was tackling up I kept glancing into the water observing the behaviour of the fish and I noticed something very unusual, well something I had never seen before, the smaller fish in the shoal, which incidentally numbered some twenty plus fish, kept coming forward one by one, taking some of the feed and dropping to the back of the shoal, the bigger fish weren't coming forward at all they were staying near the back of the shoal and only moving forward when the smaller fish dropped back after feeding. I called Andy to have a look and he couldn't quite believe what he was watching as the fish in his swim were still grubbing around in the bottom stirring up clouds of silt.
The only thing we could put it down to was the fact there was no weed cover in this swim, Unlike Andy's where they were grubbing around under the streamer weed, this was just open water less than six feet from the bank.

I was trembling as I tackled up and opted for a small blockend feeder filled with hemp and caster as I reasoned they were feeding on the small particle baits. End rig was the same as I used at Bisterne a size 8 with a big bunch of casters for bait but with an eighteen inch tail as I wanted the baited hook to roll into the feeding area and the feeder to stay slightly upstream of it.
By the time I had lowered my bait into the river Andy was already into his first fish a fin perfect barbel just over 8lb.
I sat watching a motionless tip for another half an hour occassionally peering into the water to see if they were still there. They were and I as looked for about the fith time I saw one of the larger fish in the shoal move forward and start grubbing around, I saw my feeder slowly start to move downstream then my rod tip started to pull round, grabbing it I struck and the fish headed for the sanctuary of the mid river streamer weed. "Andy I'm in" I shouted "and it's a good fish". He came running up the bank to me encouraging me to take it easy and not to rush the fish to the net, eventually he slipped the net under my first Avon boris. "8-12 on these scales" he said and my own confirmed it. I was over the moon, after seven years of trying I had my first Avon barbel.
The fish was taken up stream and carefully returned to the river and I returned to my swin expecting all the other fish to have bolted, how wrong can you be, they were still there with the same pattern being observed. Smaller fish coming individually first, with the bigger fish near the back of the shaol inching forward. I was really up for it now and determined to catch another and half an hour later I banked another near perfect fish of 6-8, Andy also had a 6 and I completed the day with another of 7-5.
Strangely despite keeping the swim topped up with feed after the third fish the shoal vanished. Was this due the disturbance of catching the previous three or had they just had enough food. And why the unusual feeding pattern smaller fish coming forward before the bigger fish. It was at times like a procession, a 5 maybe 6 pounder would come forward take some food then drop to the back of the shoal this would be repeated until the bigger fish in the 8/9lb bracket were positioned at the front, they would then come in turn and drop back.

Over a few celebratory beers that night we were chatting to some more Avon regulars about how the fish had fed. They put it down to the fear factor. With lack of cover in the swim the small fish test the ground so to speak for the bigger fish. But I reasoned that if the case was fear why did the shoal not disperse when I took my first fish. The argument came back that as I had not played and landed the fish in the middle of the shoal, each fish had gone to the middle of the river directly in front of me and not sped off downstream, they had made for where they knew there was cover, the other fish just hadn't been disturbed. Whatever it was it was fascinating to watch and certainly taught me a bit more about fish behaviour and feeding patterns.

 

by Paul Hayes

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© Barbel Fishing World 2004