Hooked on Barbel

by Alistair Hopkins

Introduction

I don't recall now what it was that triggered me to go, but one day last spring I found myself in the Tadley Angling tackle shop asking if it was possible to be kitted out with some basic fishing gear for £100 or less.

It had been a while since I'd last been in a tackle shop and before plucking up the courage to ask, I'd spent a few minutes wandering around the shop looking at the bewildering array of gear and baits. What was a boilie? Was some sort of carbuncular growth? And a pop-up? Perhaps one that bursts from the skin, shouts BOO! then pops back in again? Method feeders, pole fishing (what on earth would a lady from Spearmint Rhino be doing fishing?), hook links, hair rigs, swivels ........ it was a completely different world to the one I'd left some 25 years earlier.

I was brought up in Wraysbury, near Staines, and wasted many youthful hours on the Thames catching Bleak and Gudgeon. I then graduated to the local lakes and bought a permit from Leisure Sports that allowed me to fish a couple of lakes a short bike ride from my home. My friends and I caught Roach and Perch and we dreamed of Tench and Carp.

One memory that stays with me and cemented my love of angling and the connection it has with the environment, our beautiful countryside and wildlife, is an evening spent quietly sitting on the bank, sharing it with a pair of otters a few metres away, frolicking in the warm summer waters (them, not me!).

Little did I know that these lakes, Fox Pool and Road Lake, would enter angling folklore many years later.

Anyway, back to my £100.


I left that day with all I needed to embark on my angling comeback along with directions to a local day ticket water (this was also a new concept to me) where, I was advised, the fish "will jump onto your hook before it's in the water". That first day was a revelation. I spent £7 on a day ticket, 6 hours on the bank and caught my first ever Carp of 4 or 5lb. I'm not sure exactly what the weight was as my £100 didn't stretch to scales and weighing sling!

'My first ever Carp'

I couldn't believe my luck when I caught 6 more in that same session!! I was definitely "back to angling".

Interestingly, I've since lost count of the number of people who are also returning to angling after many years away. There's a lifestyle message in there somewhere but I'm buggered if I can decipher it! I visited twice more with similar results before deciding that I should expand my environs and began searching the web for clubs and associations. So, there I was, a confirmed angler back in the fold, looking for information, advice on techniques, baits, methods of fishing, types of rigs (by now I'd learnt that this wasn't some anorak's hobby of collecting the identifying numbers of Nth Sea oil platforms!) and WOW, was there info available !!

The internet is a fantastic media and communication vehicle, and, being in the software business I fully understand the impact it's had on the world but, as you will discover later, I was about to experience one of the negative effects - information overload.

I joined my local club and my first venue last summer was a lake in Newbury but, after my earlier successes, a dispiriting blank. Straight away the doubts crowded in; what was I doing wrong? Why couldn't I catch? Was I using the wrong bait/line/hook/rod/reel/ rig/ hooklink/method? Did I have the right chair? Were my sunglasses the wrong shape? Fighting my dejection I returned the next week and ....... result! I landed a bream between 3 and 4lb. Interestingly, I thought I was fishing for Tench (ledgered sweet corn) so how I came to hook a Bream was beyond me at the time.

Nonetheless, I now had another new species in my book to add to the Carp. Next I had an overnight session on a different lake. A beautiful late summer evening, cool night with bats, mice and other cheeky wildlife, a misty morning and another new "PB" - my first Tench at c.5lb caught with sweetcorn on the hook and groundbait on a method feeder.

'Another new species, a decent Tench'

My new angling world was looking good until I figured it was time to diversify. I'd read all about fishing the canals and rivers so thought I'd give it a shot.

In the next 6 weeks I blanked on the Kennet & Avon canal with float fished maggot, sweetcorn and bread. I tried a delightful swim on the Kennet at Aldermaston but blanked having tried trotting bread, maggot and casters and ledgering pepperami, cat food, halibut pellets and luncheon meat. Although this session on the Kennet was a blank, I was now hooked on river fishing - what a location! The scenery was stunning and just sitting watching the wildlife was enough in itself.

'The stunning Kennet at Aldermaston'

A few days later I had a spare hour so took an evening stroll around a lake that by now I knew was one of the Club's "specimen" lakes.

I came upon a young man who had just landed what looked to me like a monster from the deep! Turned out it was a 27lb mirror and I thought he said he'd caught it "on a floating dog biscuit". I was sure I'd misheard until I spotted that the big sack with Pedigree Chum written on it was filled not with sandwiches and angling paraphernalia but with ....... Pedigree Chum! I just had to give it a go.

I arrived for a short evening session and the surface was rippling with a few fish as I catapulted some biscuits out and this seemed to stir them into a frenzy as they all converged on the floating morsels. It took me a while to get the presentation right with the elastic band securing the biscuit to the hook but when I did it worked and I landed a nice Carp - my first ever on the floater and what a way to catch them! The anticipation is intense and the adrenalin soars as the fish approach the bait. Then, as those big lips surface and suck in the biscuit, the strike and then the fight - what a way to fish, fantastic.

A couple of weeks later I found myself on yet another lake fishing with boilies on the bottom and hedging my bets with some spicy luncheonmeat on the float in the margins. By now, you see, I'd bought a second rod, upgraded my permit and was into spicing up my baits (much to the annoyance of the missus who saw the available freezer space diminishing!). I had some success with my first double - a 12lb mirror - lovely! It came on the float with light gear as well so was a great fight. Also had a 9lb fish in the same session.

'My first "double", a 12lb mirror'

As I said, I'd now invested in a second rod and I must say that the amount of gear that's available in tackle shops is unbelievable - a pleasure angler could spend many hundreds of pounds, and even thousands I'm sure, and still not have all the gear. I took Tadley Angling's advice to "keep it simple" and always went for the mid priced version of what I was looking at. Keeping it simple, however, still meant that I had to clear 2 full shelves in my garage just to keep the gear and various baits!

As the summer wore on I started to look at the maps of the Club's waters and decided to give another Kennet stretch a try. As I looked around I found this area to be quite diverse and it was difficult to decide where and how to fish. The backwaters, main river and weir pools all had different characteristics and I eventually plumbed for the backwater, which looked fantastic, and I was sure would hold some good Roach and Perch.

'A Kennet backwater nr Newbury'

However, I blanked here and then again during another session on the main river and a couple of hours at dusk on the canal. Another blank was had soon after during a session where I started on the Kennet and ended with a few hours on the lake next door. Things were going downhill and I was losing confidence rapidly.

It was a while before I got out again and the next occasion was a club competition on the Kennet in early January. I'd decided to try this as it would be good to meet some of the other members and I'd be sure to learn something. Learn something I most certainly did! I learnt that to stop your rod rings from icing up you need to continually dip the tip into the water - the day started at minus 7C and warmed up to a high of minus 3C! Needless to say I had a blank that day (as did many others I was quietly glad to see)

Shortly after this I returned to the river and tried out the swim that had resulted in the winning bag in the competition (2 Chub if I remember correctly). This turned out to be a good choice and I caught my first ever Chub - albeit a small one - by trotting red maggots, a lovely way to fish I've decided. Next outing was to a lake in February; very pleasurable with two kingfishers darting around and entertaining me. Even better, I caught a couple of nice Tench and a big "stripey" of about 2lb!

'A nice Tench'

As you can see, by now I'd discovered that you can buy an adaptor that attaches a camera to a bankstick!

Next session I fancied a go at catching a "golden torpedo" and someone had told me that a particular Kennet stretch was as good a place as any to start. Conditions weren't ideal but nonetheless I persevered and was rewarded with what looked to be a medium sized Barbel on the hook - I'm not sure of the exact size though because I didn't actually land it.

This was my first experience of hooking a Barbel and it was quite a shock! When I was young our family had a Golden Retriever and she liked nothing more than to play with an old shoe; she'd have me hold it and then she'd pull backwards and shake her head from side to side with all her strength and vigour. The feeling that produced is the best description I can think of for when I hooked that Barbel. It was unbelievable!

This one however, wasn't destined for the bank. I've since learned that all Barbel fight like mad and particularly at the last minute as they break the surface and see the angler or the landing net. This one did just that and I lost it right at the edge of the net! It was an amazing fight and I vowed to catch me a Barbus Barbus as soon as I could.

2 weeks later that's what I did! It was a really cold February afternoon and I almost didn't go but the lure of a Barbel was so strong that I arrived at my swim with air temperature not much above freezing and water temperature not much higher! I set up with a quiver and alternated between and halibut pellets, hair rigged with a hemp/hali crush mix in a small feeder. For the next 3 hours of daylight and the first of darkness nothing, not a twitch. Then just as my hopes were fading a small knock had me on the edge of my seat. Seconds later the tip rammed around and I was up with the rod bending round and a fish definitely on. The water was pushing through quite fast so even though the fish felt like a good 'un I wasn't sure. Inch by inch it came closer and then, in the darkness I caught a glimpse and it looked like a nice fish. I was by now very wary of the last few inches of the fight and when the final lunge came I was ready for it and a few seconds later it was mine my first Barbel.

'8lb 7oz Kennet Barbel, my first.'

What a fish! Caught on lobworm (can't believe you can buy these on the internet now!) and weighing in at 8lb 7 oz Barbel fishing had me hooked! In the next eight weeks I had five more sessions at Brimpton but failed to land another one - must have lost 5 or 6 in the process though, even hooking one when fishing for Chub on breadflake! One by-product of targeting Barbel was that I did manage to catch a couple of decent Chub

'41lb 2oz Chub with a weird shaped head'

This one was the best of a couple caught in consecutive sessions. This particular session started late one afternoon in March and was planned to end at midnight or so. The weather forecast wasn't good with rains and a strong SW wind scheduled to arrive that evening but I'd read that these were good conditions to fish for Barbel. Well, the Met Office were bang on and by 6pm it was chucking it down. I was biteless though and beginning to wonder what on earth I was doing there.

For me, one of the most intriguing elements of angling is that it seems to me that fish know when you're not entirely focused on the rod tip. Invariably, after hours of no action at all, the bite comes when you're rooting around in your kit for a sandwich or pouring a cuppa out of the flask and you miss out on the only knock of the session!

Well, there I was, no bites, awful weather, rain dripping down my neck and the wind howling in, when nature called. So, I took a few steps to the back of the peg and was "answering the call" when the rod tip whacked round in classic fashion - typical! I leapt for it and managed to get to it in time to strike and land a nice Chub. I can't imagine what would have happened if someone had been on the opposite bank during this episode as I'd just spent the last 5 or 6 minutes playing the fish with my todger hanging out for all to see! Luckily no-one was out otherwise I may have been reported for some sort of sexual deviance or "fishing whilst exposing one's bits"!

My last session of the season was Friday 13th March and I fished until 1am to no avail so just have the one Barbel to my name this season. But, frankly, I am delighted with my comeback season. I've managed 24 outings, 12 of them on 7 different lakes, 10 on 4 different stretches of the Kennet and a couple on the canal. I've caught Roach, and Perch, and my first ever Bream, Chub, Barbel, Carp and Tench.

What have I learnt?

I've learnt that there's too much info around for me to take in at once. Too many types of bait, methods, rigs, hooks, rods and reels.

I learnt most when I kept things simple and stuck at it, spending several sessions on one stretch of river or lake and learning what works and what doesn't. Spending just a few short hours at each of several locations just didn't work for me.

I've learnt that there are a lot of people who are, like me, back to fishing after a long break and if this story of my season helps them catch more then that would be great.

I've learnt that I love to be outdoors, fishing. That I love our beautiful countryside with it's rivers and lakes, the dawns and sunsets and even our storms, wind, rain, ice and all!

But mostly I've learnt that June 16th and the start of the River season and targeting those fabulous Barbel looks to me be an awful long way off.

Happy Angling!

back to top

Alistair ( ahop0911) Hopkins 2009