First attempt
Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 5:39 pm
A friend contacted me on Friday to say he had found a small group of big barbel whilst fishing for roach on the river Clyde.he said they were in the 12lb+ range and asked if I wanted to join him yesterday which I jumped at.
He has been feeding the pool with lots of hemp and pigeon conditioner for a few weeks now and has caught roach,face and perch so far.
I've never went down the Clyde to fish for barbel before and to say I'm a novice is an understatement.fortunately I've been given some advice from the forum members in tackling these fish.i picked two swims just downstream of a bend.i put a pint of hemp soaked in hemp oil in each swim with a bait dropper and a couple of handfuls of 6mm trout pellets on top of that.
The swims were completely different with one being in mid river and the other under under overhanging willow trees about 100m up from heavy rapids.
After letting the swims settle for an hour it was time to cast into the mid river swim.i went with a 10mm source boilie on a hair with a half dozen boilies in a pva bag.i sat for half an hour before a very big fish top and tailed just downstream and on the same line I had fed.i immediately convinced myself it was a barbel and how I itched for the tip to pull round but after a couple of hours of not so much as a peep I decided to cross back over the bridge and on to the bank side swim.
Like I've said,im no expert but this swim just has it,overhanging trees,5ft deep,just down on the outside of a bend and a nice pace.i went straight in with the same hookbait as the last swim but i also chucked in a few grains of corn now and then.
Again nothing was interested in the boilie so I tried both a trout pellet and corn on a hair but once more nothing.
I felt so confident throughout the whole day from 7am right up til last cast.I now look forward to trying again.a two pounder would do me for my first barbel but who knows what size lurks in the depths of the Clyde.
He has been feeding the pool with lots of hemp and pigeon conditioner for a few weeks now and has caught roach,face and perch so far.
I've never went down the Clyde to fish for barbel before and to say I'm a novice is an understatement.fortunately I've been given some advice from the forum members in tackling these fish.i picked two swims just downstream of a bend.i put a pint of hemp soaked in hemp oil in each swim with a bait dropper and a couple of handfuls of 6mm trout pellets on top of that.
The swims were completely different with one being in mid river and the other under under overhanging willow trees about 100m up from heavy rapids.
After letting the swims settle for an hour it was time to cast into the mid river swim.i went with a 10mm source boilie on a hair with a half dozen boilies in a pva bag.i sat for half an hour before a very big fish top and tailed just downstream and on the same line I had fed.i immediately convinced myself it was a barbel and how I itched for the tip to pull round but after a couple of hours of not so much as a peep I decided to cross back over the bridge and on to the bank side swim.
Like I've said,im no expert but this swim just has it,overhanging trees,5ft deep,just down on the outside of a bend and a nice pace.i went straight in with the same hookbait as the last swim but i also chucked in a few grains of corn now and then.
Again nothing was interested in the boilie so I tried both a trout pellet and corn on a hair but once more nothing.
I felt so confident throughout the whole day from 7am right up til last cast.I now look forward to trying again.a two pounder would do me for my first barbel but who knows what size lurks in the depths of the Clyde.