BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE
I'm no Barbel fisherman that's for sure. If I was I would have turned up equipped for the job with a great deal more terminal tackle than I had with me. Obviously the Wye is famed for the sheer number of Barbel in particular, and quality Chub in general, that it holds. My only claim to Herefordshire fame is as the man who struggles to catch any of the former and more than a few of the latter. In short I am clueless, inexperienced and reluctant to resort to heavy rods and 3oz feeders.
Fortunately, having a full week to sort things out enabled us to put a few fish on the bank but whether the lessons learned will be of any relevance next time is open to question. Last year's lessons were no help this time. Despite the ongoing drought conditions, there was more water in the river than last year mainly due to the much greater amount of weed; Stan's considerable fishery management proving beneficial. Last year we had some quality Chub fishing right at the far end of the fishery and despite receiving advice to the contrary, we more or less wasted two days trying to repeat previous results.
It was our own fault but in the end with Stan's help we did at least finish with a respectable number of fish particularly given the conditions. It was obvious pretty quickly that the fish were in the faster water and in our particular circumstances that meant the duffer's peg or either side of the bridge pillars. The former produced all of our Barbel, half a dozen in total with a couple more slipping the hook. It also provided me in particular with the opportunity to catch Chub that I could see and it was very interesting to watch their behaviour.
After we had been fishing for a while I spotted decent fish moving in under my feet to hoover up spilt pellets. Obviously I began introducing more; testing groundbait and different sizes of pellets to see if there were any preferences (there weren't) and eventually dropping hookbaits in amongst the free offerings and catching fish. The results were interesting. The Chub would sneak in using cover pick an item or two and then sneak out again only to reappear a minute or so later. Eventually, one or two more would join in and they would get their heads down a bit longer each time. They never ate the lot in one go but even when it had all gone they would still come back for another look round.
Moving up to fish the bridge pools, above and below the old stone pillars was similarly instructive. Chub, once more, came in close to hoover up spilt bait along with eels and the inevitable small species. I even caught a small Stone Loach which got stuck in the mesh of my landing net as it lay in the edge and I haven't seen one of those in a long time. In fact the last one impaled itself through the chin striking at the treble hook flashing beneath an enormous jerkbait on the Trent.
We both lost a Barbel here; Pete's embedding itself immovably behind a rock and mine outwitting me by running upstream just far enough to give it the line required to race back down between the two farthest pillars and cut me off on the stonework. Some compensation came in the form of two dace of 7oz apiece and a new PB of eight.
The real winner though was the river. It ate about ten of my feeders; in fact in the end, I ran out. Being so low and clear it wasn't hard to see why. Where there wasn't any weed; the river bed was a sea of boulders and huge slabs of rock. Interestingly once I had to resort to straight leads, I lost no more weights. Feeders are definitely more prone to escaping from my tackle bag than leads. We were using much lighter leads than most anglers do; as little as 4SSG link legers and 1/2oz bombs being more than adequate and that may have contributed to tackle losses. I could always tell when my feeder had emptied because it would shift a foot or two. Maybe it was moving just far enough to stick under the next rock.
I suppose I am coming to terms a bit more with fishing for Barbel on the lead although I would always prefer to catch them on the float. I try to think of feeder fishing more as static float fishing where small amounts of feed go in regularly rather than in huge dollops followed by an hour dozing off in the sun. To that end, I stick to smaller feeders and lighter leads often catapulting feed in at the head of the swim. Bait-wise I prefer smallish pellets or casters on small hooks of size 10 and below. This may not be as efficient as a 3 oz feeder and a hair rig, but it is more enjoyable and I feel that the fish are earned rather than trapped on what is effectively a set line.
I've booked again for next year but it remains to be seen if this year's lessons are still applicable. Sod's law suggest the river will be bank high and any leads under 4 oz will float.
Fortunately, having a full week to sort things out enabled us to put a few fish on the bank but whether the lessons learned will be of any relevance next time is open to question. Last year's lessons were no help this time. Despite the ongoing drought conditions, there was more water in the river than last year mainly due to the much greater amount of weed; Stan's considerable fishery management proving beneficial. Last year we had some quality Chub fishing right at the far end of the fishery and despite receiving advice to the contrary, we more or less wasted two days trying to repeat previous results.
It was our own fault but in the end with Stan's help we did at least finish with a respectable number of fish particularly given the conditions. It was obvious pretty quickly that the fish were in the faster water and in our particular circumstances that meant the duffer's peg or either side of the bridge pillars. The former produced all of our Barbel, half a dozen in total with a couple more slipping the hook. It also provided me in particular with the opportunity to catch Chub that I could see and it was very interesting to watch their behaviour.
After we had been fishing for a while I spotted decent fish moving in under my feet to hoover up spilt pellets. Obviously I began introducing more; testing groundbait and different sizes of pellets to see if there were any preferences (there weren't) and eventually dropping hookbaits in amongst the free offerings and catching fish. The results were interesting. The Chub would sneak in using cover pick an item or two and then sneak out again only to reappear a minute or so later. Eventually, one or two more would join in and they would get their heads down a bit longer each time. They never ate the lot in one go but even when it had all gone they would still come back for another look round.
Moving up to fish the bridge pools, above and below the old stone pillars was similarly instructive. Chub, once more, came in close to hoover up spilt bait along with eels and the inevitable small species. I even caught a small Stone Loach which got stuck in the mesh of my landing net as it lay in the edge and I haven't seen one of those in a long time. In fact the last one impaled itself through the chin striking at the treble hook flashing beneath an enormous jerkbait on the Trent.
We both lost a Barbel here; Pete's embedding itself immovably behind a rock and mine outwitting me by running upstream just far enough to give it the line required to race back down between the two farthest pillars and cut me off on the stonework. Some compensation came in the form of two dace of 7oz apiece and a new PB of eight.
The real winner though was the river. It ate about ten of my feeders; in fact in the end, I ran out. Being so low and clear it wasn't hard to see why. Where there wasn't any weed; the river bed was a sea of boulders and huge slabs of rock. Interestingly once I had to resort to straight leads, I lost no more weights. Feeders are definitely more prone to escaping from my tackle bag than leads. We were using much lighter leads than most anglers do; as little as 4SSG link legers and 1/2oz bombs being more than adequate and that may have contributed to tackle losses. I could always tell when my feeder had emptied because it would shift a foot or two. Maybe it was moving just far enough to stick under the next rock.
I suppose I am coming to terms a bit more with fishing for Barbel on the lead although I would always prefer to catch them on the float. I try to think of feeder fishing more as static float fishing where small amounts of feed go in regularly rather than in huge dollops followed by an hour dozing off in the sun. To that end, I stick to smaller feeders and lighter leads often catapulting feed in at the head of the swim. Bait-wise I prefer smallish pellets or casters on small hooks of size 10 and below. This may not be as efficient as a 3 oz feeder and a hair rig, but it is more enjoyable and I feel that the fish are earned rather than trapped on what is effectively a set line.
I've booked again for next year but it remains to be seen if this year's lessons are still applicable. Sod's law suggest the river will be bank high and any leads under 4 oz will float.
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