Tag Archives: River Trent barbel

Over the closed season, I readied myself for the impending re-opening of the rivers by reading various books and magazine articles by very successful Barbel anglers. My main focus was Summer river tactics, because this is the time of year that sees me make most of my Barbel sessions; short after-work ones mainly. This has an added advantage of taking me to some fantastic, natural places. The type of habitats barbel frequent are some of the most breathtakingly beautiful swims imaginable (Tidal Trent excepted!) and there is no better time to appreciate rivers as when they’re in full bloom, in the height of Summer. Many of the articles I read took what I’d regard as a “romantic” angle on Barbel fishing. They talked of shallow, clear, weedy, fast, intimate rivers (which I’m lucky enough to regularly fish two of, in the Dove and Derwent); with each writer discussing a slightly different approach to the same sort of conditions. I get taken in by these angling “romance writers”, just as I do when I watch A Passion For Angling. I suppose this is how, in an ideal world, I’d love all fishing to be; solitary man pitting his wits against nature, …

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By mid-August, I am usually well into my stride catching river fish, especially barbel. This year, however, I’ve struggled to even get a bite! The problem with becoming confident in certain methods, baits and even venues, is that it’s easy to become set in your ways with your approach. The old adage “If it aint broke, don’t fix it” springs to mind. But what happens when it is broke, and your tried and trusted methods fail you time and again? It’s so easy to dwell on glories past, sticking with the same setup in the hope that it will work eventually. The truth is, conditions change, swims change, fish can become wary of certain rigs and baits. If you find yourself struggling, you must start ringing the changes until you find something else that works. Two chance meetings earlier in the month inspired me to get out of my recent rut, and I’m so relieved! With very few bites, and a single measly 10 ounce chub to show for several after-work river sessions, I knew I had to change something. My initial focus, along with trying a variety of different swims, was to change my baits until I found one …

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At the start of the river season I had my sights set on catching my first double-figure barbel. To give myself a bit of confidence before tackling the “biggies”, I fished two sessions on a small river where I had a chance of hooking a few fish. Unfortunately, no barbel showed themselves on either trip, and I had to settle for 3 chub on the first evening and a complete blank on the second. Not an ideal start to the river campaign, but barbel often take a few weeks of the season before they start to feed heavily, so I was not too worried. My tactics for barbel have slowly evolved over the past 4 or 5 years. I started off quivertipping a swimfeeder, with casters and hemp. Then went through various groundbait mixtures, with luncheon meat on the hook, before eventually reaching my current tactics. Nowadays I have put the quivertip rods aside, in favour of Avon-style rods of 1.5 to 1.75lb test-curve. These bend to the handle and have stacks of power. I couple these with Shimano 5000 baitrunner reels to absorb the fierce takes which barbel are famed for. Because barbel often inhabit snaggy swims, I use …

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