Hooked on Barbel - update

by Alistair Hopkins

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Some of you may have read my article that I wrote in March 09 following my first year back to fishing after a 25-year break - Hooked on Barbel. I ended it by describing my first ever Barbel, caught in February '09 on the River Kennet near Newbury........ It was a really cold afternoon and I almost didn't venture away from the fire at home, 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 lobworms (can't believe you can buy these on the internet now!) 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 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, YES, it was a Barbel and it looked like a nice fish! I was 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 and weighing in at 8lb 7oz Barbel fishing had me hooked!

And so ended my first year back to fishing. I'd fished many different venues with a wide variety of methods, catching several different species and right at the end I caught my first Barbel - and now I wanted more!

During the recent Closed Season I spent much of the time researching Barbel, their habits and habitats, methods of locating them, rigs & tackle and baiting strategies amongst other things! As I said in the original article - there's more than enough info out there, the difficulty is in working out which advice you want to take (or believe!).

I read hundreds of articles in magazines and on the web, several books and bought a few DVD's. I found the following particularly useful :

After much notetaking and deliberation I made a few decisions :

Having made these decisions, I looked at my approach :

Armed with this newfound knowledge and brimming with confidence the season approached! Opening Day and I managed to get the day off. I'd selected a stretch that I'd only fished once before and had blanked but was confident that I would catch this time. I arrived at 8ish and was surprised to find that no-one else was on the River at all so I was able to follow my plan meticulously, baiting, fishing, moving, baiting, fishing, moving. It was a hot, sunny day and by early afternoon I had fished at least 6 swims and I was hot, tired and fishless. Biteless even. Newfound confidence gone! I decided to cut my losses and move to the stretch where I'd caught my first (and only!) Barbel. Arriving mid p.m I expected to find others already there and the good swims gone but, again, there was no-one around - where was everyone? I saw only 3 other anglers all day on both stretches, which I found surprising for Opening day.

Again, I baited 2 swims and fished the first. After 30 minutes or so nothing, so I moved to the second swim and put my bait right under the overhanging branches and on top of the hemp that I'd put in a little earlier. 5 minutes later - WHAM, the rod tip wrenched round and I was into a Barbel. That heartstopping moment reminded me what this was all about and the adrenalin was coursing through me. I had to make sure that it didn't get snagged in the roots that were undoubtedly down there, and as I had reasonably strong tackle (8lb) on I gave it some welly and had it in the landing net a few short minutes later. It looked a good fish! After resting it for a while I unhooked and weighed it - the scales zoomed round to........8lb 11oz! I'd caught a new PB on opening day! RESULT!


8lb 11oz - an opening day PB!



I had nothing more that day but a week later I managed a short evening session at the same venue and tried 3 different swims using the same tactics but to no avail this time - apart from this clonker of a Chub! At 6lb 4 oz another PB!!


6lb 4oz Chub, complete with weird unplanned lighting effect!



So that was week one of the season gone, 2 sessions and 2 PB's - chuffed or what! Over the next 3 weeks I managed 3 more sessions at the same venue and as I refined my tactics my "luck" improved. I caught another 8lb'er in the first, then 3 between 4.1/2 and 5.1/2lb, then 4 in the last session, all around the 5lb mark.

The refinements I made included switching between braid and fluorocarbon hooklengths, adjusting the length to a variety between 12 and 48 inches, using a bomb leger vs cage feeder and others.

During one of these sessions I caught........a bat!

I'd been pestered by bats flying into the line for an hour or so but they almost stopped as it got darker. Then, I had what I thought was a sudden bite, struck hard and felt something. As I reeled in I decided it wasn't a fish and then, suddenly, the line jammed on the top of the rod. I switched my headtorch on and discovered this poor little chap! I'd lasso'd it as I struck and unfortunately it was now a very ex-bat.


A million to one chance?



Back to the Barbel. So far I'd caught some fish, learnt a lot and achieved a PB - two with the Chub! So I was feeling quite good.

A few days later I planned a session on a stretch I'd never fished before. I spent an hour or so reconnoitering the evening before and so arrived with a plan in mind. I got to the river at 3ish and baited what I thought looked like the best swim with my (by now usual) 5 baitdroppers of hemp. It had a fairly steady glide which, just downstream, all but disappeared under the branches of a couple of trees which extended almost to the far side of the river. There had to be Barbel under there!

Then I moved upstream, baiting one or two others before finally fishing at the top end of the stretch. After 20 biteless minutes I found myself impatient to get back to what I thought was the best swim, the first. I was worried someone was going to take it and reap the rewards of my baiting strategy! I spent another 20 minutes in a second swim and then "heeded the call of the first". As I settled down in my chosen spot a couple of guys arrived and I discovered that a) this swim had a good reputation and b) they'd been hoping to fish it! Perhaps I'd timed my return well?

I cast in and just as I was tightening the line the tip wrenched around and I was in! A few minutes later I had a fish of around 6lb on the bank and was a very happy bunny! Little did I know what would follow........

In the next 6 hours I had 11 fish; 3 Chub and 8 Barbel, the best at 9lb 10oz - a new PB!


A lovely 9lb 10oz Kennet summer Barbel



All (except that first one) were hooked with a remarkably similar bite pattern; first there'd be a very small twitch on the tip - one of those that makes you sit up and think "that wasn't smooth enough to be the water flow, was it?". Then between 10 secs and 5 minutes later there'd be 2 or 3 bigger knocks where the tip moves 3-6 inches followed almost immediately by the classic, wrenching bite that we love to see and feel.

Each and every one put up a good strong fight and most were in lovely condition. I say "most". Actually, one was in a pretty poor state with a couple of sores in it's mouth which I assume were caused by heavy handed anglers removing hooks without the approriate care and attention. This caused me to review my own handling techniques and I've subsequently bought a bottle of adcortyl-in-orabase (as recommended by the Barbel Society and Barbel Fishing World) that I can apply to any fish that I catch.

So, 11 fish in one session, 8 of them Barbel and one a PB - if I ever repeat such a session I'll be amazed.

I decided that some of the research I conducted and decisions I'd taken in the closed season, together with subsequent refinements, were paying off. I can't pin it down exactly, but I now have enormous confidence in Trefor's recommended summer bait - I hardly used the luncheon meat back-up and didn't catch on it anyway. I feel that the 2 refinements that made the most difference were probably hooklink and hair rig lengths. I settled on an 18-24 inch fluorocarbon hooklink length and made sure that the bait was no more than 1/2", preferably 1/4", from the hook.

So, here we are, half way through the Summer and I've gone from one Barbel last season to 17 so far in 6 sessions. I've a holiday planned shortly ........ I wonder what the barbel are like in Mallorca ........ ?!!??

Happy Barbeling

Please free me to contact me with any advice / feedback on this article at alistair.hopkins@oracle.com



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Alistair ( ahop0911) Hopkins
Jul 2009