Have anglers forgotten how to fish rivers?

This forum belongs to the River Trent.
User avatar
Olly
Wild Carp
Posts: 9086
Joined: Sat Dec 15, 2012 12:58 pm
11
Location: Hants/Surrey/Berks borders.

Re: Have anglers forgotten how to fish rivers?

Post by Olly »

Many barbel anglers are "carpers" who bring their styles & tactics with them. It is a similar situation on the Thames in places as much of it is 'one bank' fishing.

In spite of being able to easily trot both on the Kennet & Hants Avon ledgering is my choice for barbel - with the rod high! Also I can no longer afford the cost of a gallon of maggots &/or caster for trotting for the barbel!

JohnL

Re: Have anglers forgotten how to fish rivers?

Post by JohnL »

It wasn't so much the methods but rather the "sheep like" behaviour that was wrong, all crowded into one spot, all using the same (and perhaps not the best) method - probably straight out of last months "Improve Your Coarse Fishing", the noise and the lack of lets engage brain and think "how am I best going catch some fish today". Mind you as long as they are happy and the fish aren't being harmed it leaves much more river for the rest of us.

User avatar
Shaun Harrison
Zander
Posts: 3561
Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2012 4:34 pm
11
Location: Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire Border
Contact:

Re: Have anglers forgotten how to fish rivers?

Post by Shaun Harrison »

Note: I was about to post this when the post from JohnL appeared. I think we are saying similar really.

The only way I barbel fished for years was one rod, holding it all the time and trundling baits around. I caught a lot of barbel doing this and it was so far removed from my carp angling that I swore it was the only way I would fish for them despite seeing a lot of carp anglers carp fishing for barbel and doing really well too. For me I barbel fished to escape from the carp scene.

One evening whilst happily trundling baits around and along on the Derbyshire Derwent I was struggling to find or tempt any fish. I was slowly making my way down the river and everything seemed rather dead to say the least. I ended up in one of my dead cert' swims and as things were so slow I decided to stay put there for the rest of the evening. I explored every inch of that swim with my bait buried inside my bait so as to not get hung up in the weed but nothing other than chub raps.

I then out of the corner of my eye caught sight of a big brassy flash at the side of the rushes on top of the rocky shelf where I could not 'trundle' a bait to without getting snagged up so I simply risked a gentle cast and almost immediately had a take and hooked a good fish but my swan shot link was stuck in the rocks and I must have squeezed the shot too tight because they never slid off. After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing The week link on the swan shot link eventually broke and I was able to land the fish which at the time was one of the largest ones I had caught from the stretch.

Naturally I thought about this capture and it was obvious the fish had for some reason left the main body of river (out of the way of lines possibly or simply taking full advantage of a natural seasonal hatch) and had moved up to the top of the marginal shelves. What ever way it got me thinking and the opportunistic fish I had caught had messed the area up for further action due to having to play the fish on top of where I had hooked it. I decided to break my own personal rules the following evening and returned with a rod with a large lead on a very weak link that would not move around in the rocky margins thus not allow the hook bait to get lodged in anything. It would also allow me to creep up on the spot, lower the rig in with the minimal of disturbance then retreat back up the bank well out of view.

That evening I caught 7 barbel and 6 of them were larger than any others I had caught from that stretch before. Naturally I repeated my method on more than one occasion afterwards. In fact it totally altered my outlook on barbel angling and soon I was catching double figure fish from a stretch where I hadn't previously caught them. I very much try and keep things as un-carpy as I can though despite now adopting big leads but always running - never fixed and I point blank refuse to use bite alarms whilst barbel angling and as far as bivvies are concerned, forget it. My typical barbel session is somewhere between 1 1/2 hours and 5 hours but usually just 2-3. I love river fishing as it allows me to have another life too and because of where I live I don't have to make the 1 1/2 to 2 hour drives that I have made for 30 plus years to fish for the carp in the venues I wanted to be at.

I see so many carp fishing for barbel and find it quite sad really and never really understood the need for a bite alarm when your typical shy barbel bite is often still a 4ft twitch of the rod tip. But once again, each to their own I guess and so long as the individual is happy doing what they are doing without interfering with the angling of others, who am I or anyone else to say they should change their ways?

User avatar
Olly
Wild Carp
Posts: 9086
Joined: Sat Dec 15, 2012 12:58 pm
11
Location: Hants/Surrey/Berks borders.

Re: Have anglers forgotten how to fish rivers?

Post by Olly »

I had a similar experience on the Kennet with "heavy" leads in a flooded winter river! Rolling leads produced nil.

Bite alarms - bivvies - camps! No - no - no! Not for me.

I would rather spend a few hours just before and after dark during June, July and August before doing midday to late evening stints during September - November. From December onwards, unless warm with flooding, I seldom fish for barbel until late February when I return. 60 barbel in 6 weeks cannot be a bad way to end a season!

Pumping Nylon

Re: Have anglers forgotten how to fish rivers?

Post by Pumping Nylon »

I went fishing on the middle trent at gunthorpe notts today and decided that instead of my usual barbel fishing on the bottom,i took the plunge with a 12ft chapman hunter,a pin and a float.10 mins into fishing a passer by decided to tell me that it was useless fishing that way in the trent now as there is nothing in there, and then began to tell me that it was silly fishing with a cane rod as they are way too heavy.In the next 20 minutes while he stood there telling me what a wonderful carp match angler he was and what fantastic space age kit he had i hooked and landed 3 roach 2 gudgeon and one fairly decent perch to which he quietly walked away.My point is that i have fished this stretch countless times and never seen anyone trotting the river,so if you dont fish for em you wont catch em but they are still there.

RiverMease

Re: Have anglers forgotten how to fish rivers?

Post by RiverMease »

It's the same at Alrewas on the Trent.
Neck deep in vegetation.
You had to be there at 06:00 Sundays to get a decent peg when I started.
Now the dog walkers look at you as if you've lost the plot humping all that gear along the bank.
The modern angler does indeed prefer 100lbs of swimming pigs in his net to a few nice red-fins.

User avatar
Match Aerial
Arctic Char
Posts: 1661
Joined: Fri Dec 19, 2014 7:16 pm
9

Re: Have anglers forgotten how to fish rivers?

Post by Match Aerial »

Noticed is is an old post reborn, Does look the norm these days sadly. Wonder how long it can all last ?
We could be the last living souls

We go to the car
I see you walk to the far
And when you get there do you see
You fit the last you need on me

User avatar
Reedling
Catfish
Posts: 5585
Joined: Fri Mar 01, 2013 11:41 am
11
Location: Kent

Re: Have anglers forgotten how to fish rivers?

Post by Reedling »

Match Aerial wrote:Noticed is is an old post reborn, Does look the norm these days sadly. Wonder how long it can all last ?
We could be the last living souls

We go to the car
I see you walk to the far
And when you get there do you see
You fit the last you need on me
Gorillaz! :Thumb:

User avatar
Shaun Harrison
Zander
Posts: 3561
Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2012 4:34 pm
11
Location: Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire Border
Contact:

Re: Have anglers forgotten how to fish rivers?

Post by Shaun Harrison »

Match Aerial wrote:Noticed is is an old post reborn, Does look the norm these days sadly. Wonder how long it can all last ?
We could be the last living souls
The way the Otters are decimating our rivers - not for long.

Post Reply

Return to “River Trent”