| SEAN MEEGHAN | |
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Fishing the Yorkshire Rivers for Barbel Part 4 – Summer Dog DaysWE’RE NOW INTO September and the rivers are often in a dour mood. Loud choruses of “There’s no bloody fish in this river” echo through the lower reaches of the dales. But some people carry on catching. A low, clear river after the Sunday match Some of the stretches I fish are regularly booked for matches and some, like Asenby, are fished on Saturday and Sunday on many weekends. I’ve got into the habit of fishing a Sunday afternoon session, timed to start as the matches finish. This gives me a chance to see how the river is fishing and spot new hot areas. Let’s look at fishing a low, clear river after the Sunday match.
On a warm, sultry summer’s afternoon I trudge along the banks of the Swale, head buzzing from the heat and last nights excesses in the pub. I can tell the club fishing the match is from Leeds from the sprinkling of white and yellow replica shirts strung out along the river. Over the years, judging from the names on various shirts, a team good enough to win the Champions’ League has fished the Swale. If a football club ever cottons on to the advantages of Realtree for its away strip then the fish of the Yorkshire rivers are in for a shock! The river is gin clear (well gin clear for the Swale!). You can see the bottom in 5 ft of water, so I’m not surprised that not much has been caught. I stop for a chat with one of the Championship’s top scorers who is fishing the ‘two trees’ swim, one of the hot swims on the length. He hasn’t had much action, except when he fined down to try to get a bite and was comprehensively smashed. The match won’t finish until 4 o’clock, but he says I’m welcome to drop into the gap between him and his mate downstream. He shouts down to Erik Bakke to let him know that I’ll be fishing between them.
I cautiously edge my way down the bank through the dense Himalayan Balsam, pausing occasionally to let the bees I’ve disturbed disperse, and taking care to walk quietly and not slip. I keep low and move slowly as I arrive at the water’s edge. This swim has a classic ‘barbel bush’ on the far bank and dense patches of ‘eel grass’ streamer weed on the near bank. I feed some casters and pigeon conditioner to the downstream end of a bay in the streamer weed and set about tackling up. My Tackle I’m using a Fox Barbel Special with its quivertip top section, a baitrunner reel, 12lb big game line, an 1/8 oz Arlesey bomb and a 3ft tail with 4 inches of 10lb breaking strain Drennan Sinking Microbraid and a size 14 Barbel Specialist hook at the business end. Definitely not carbelling. Just a word on using a quivertip When you’re barbel fishing many people will tell you that a quivertip isn’t necessary in most circumstances, and I would tend to agree with them. However, when fishing light weights and small baits I find that the softness of the quivertip gives you a bit more ‘feel’ when casting. The quivertip also allows a fish to take a bit more line without a large build up in resistance, so I think you’re less likely to spook a fish that brushes against the line. The softness of the tip gives you a lot more control over the tension in the line which I think is important in many circumstances. I set up the rod-rest so that the quivertip is just touching the water’s surface. Two casters are impaled on the size 14 and out it goes. I over-cast and draw the end tackle quietly back into the baited area. Line is retrieved until there is a reasonable curve in the quivertip then I set the baitrunner and let a little line out until the tip is almost straight. This allows a deeper curve to form in the line and hence more line is on the bottom. Right, we’re ready! I settle back in my chair just as “Aaalll iiinnn” echoes down the stretch. Weighing in doesn’t take long and as I’m playing my first barbel people are trudging back to their cars. “Jammy bugger! Why didn’t you peg that swim in the match?”
I bait another swim in a similar manner to the first and go on to catch another couple of barbel, including a 9-pounder, by alternating between the two swims. Well, was I a jammy bugger or did I beat the combined might of the Morley branch of the Leeds United supporters club by using a bit of grey matter? Let’s look at things in a bit more detail. Colour and Movement OK, I was playing the replica shirt card a bit heavy! To be honest you can fish in a replica shirt and still catch. Its not so much the bright colours as the movement of them that spooks fish. The left bank at Asenby is rented by the Barbel Society and it’s Realtree city at weekends, but people still spook fish. Even if you can’t see the bottom of a river it is still likely that a fish can see you. Refraction at the water’s surface causes a ‘looming’ effect that makes you appear bigger and closer than you really are. In addition the fish are in a relatively dark environment looking up into the bright world above. Just think of sitting in your dark front room looking out into the brightly lit street. You can watch the neighbours having a fight on the way back from the pub, but they can’t see you. You don’t need the latest photo realistic camouflage gear, that’s just a fashion accessory. The solution is to wear subdued colours, keep low, move slowly, and don’t throw tackle about. Be particularly careful in the early morning or, as the evening draws in. Its easy to forget that you cast a long shadow at these times. Noise Noise and vibration are the kiss of death. How many times have you opened a bait box at the water’s edge and seen the fry scatter in panic. Fish can hear very well, just as they can feel a heavy footfall. If you are going to chat with your mate, do it quietly. If you fancy going for a wander then leave and enter your swim slowly and cautiously. Think before using a feeder, a heavy lead or a large bait. There is a time and a place for these, but the loud plop as they hit the water can spook fish. As a mate of mine says, the sound of a string of widely spaced shot hitting the water is very like that of a few pellets. In fact Steve Ringer used exactly this to good effect in a recent Fish-o-Mania final by repeatedly casting his rig into the water to attract carp without feeding them. I often keep more than one swim on the go and switch between them after I catch a fish. This allows each swim to recover from the disturbance of catching a fish. More about Tackle Like all wild creatures fish are very aware of their environment. Our tackle is obviously artificial and in a low clear river it stands out like a sore thumb. Like our Championship striker you can sometimes buy a bite by fining down, but you’ll need to be extremely lucky to land the barbel on light tackle. The secret is to make your tackle as inconspicuous as possible. There is a fashion for fishing for barbel with sky high rod tips, but 99% of the time this isn’t necessary. It’s one of the tenets of river fishing that you need to keep the line out of the water to allow you to use a lighter lead. Cobblers! Lets consider a situation where you’re fishing at about 20 yards’ range with a 1oz lead. By fishing with the rod tip low you’ve typically got about 2 to 3 yards’ more line in the river. Let’s say that this increases the force of water on the line by about 15%. The increase in weight between a 1oz and a 1  When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission, which supports our community.
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