"The Fear Factor"
by Paul Hayes
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
© Barbel Fishing World 2004