Approach to a water that may contain Barbel.

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I've recently gained access to a decent bit of river that may contain a few Barbel.
They are present in other stretches but not in great numbers.
The stretch is a good mixture of deep slow pools, 10ft plus in places, knee high to 4ft deep faster stretches, shallowish slower stretches with the odd deep hole, and fast riffles.
What would be my best approach to see if any are present, and what type of water should I target? The water isn't fished by anyone else, except a few salmon anglers on the other bank.
Pre baiting wouldn't be a problem as I live 5 mins away.
Any advice much appreciated.
Ben

 

[binka]

I would be inclined to adopt a roving approach, have an hour here and an hour there in likely looking spots and on leaving a swim put some feed in and cover it again on the way back.

Nice position to be in and very rewarding when you find one, good luck.

 

[Lord Paul of Sheffield]

Spend some tine walking and watching the water to see what fish are where

 

[Keith M]

I would get a good pair of Polaroid glasses and spend a lot of time without my rod just looking for and noting features such as gravel depressions on the bottom, runs between streamer weed, undercuts on the outside of bends, trees that have fallen into the water, and cattle drinks (just above and below them) and around obstructions and rocks; or if you can't see the bottom; looking for flashes lower down in the water where barbel are rubbing against the bottom and turning over,, and surface boils indicating an underwater obstruction etc. and even more important looking in the areas where there is very little mud or silt ie. Looking for clean gravel and stoney or rocky bottoms etc.

I know that they can very occasionally be found in silty areas like backwaters branching out from rivers but nine times out of ten I've found that they congregate more on the cleaner bottoms such as gravel, stones an sand etc.

I would also take some smallish halibut or crab pellets with me and throw a hand full in likely spots then sit quietly out of sight and watch closely for a while keeping very quiet; it's fairly common to see barbel suddenly appearing from nowhere and start mopping up your pellets.

You are very fortunate to be able to fish a relatively unfished venue like that and I look forward to reading how you get on.

Tight lines
Keith

 

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Thanks guys, I'll be down there at some point this weekend, having a good look.

 

[tigger]

With the water being so close to your home you can try out all the methods you wish to at your own leisure. It sounds as though your new water is pretty much perfect for all types of targeting barbel... trotting, legering/quiver tipping and touch legering, even laying on with a float....sounds like a dream venue!

 

[thecrow]

If you are walking the river looking for signs of Barbel it may pay to spend plenty of time looking into swims as Barbel can be very difficult to spot unless they are very active, fish can remain unseen until the move slightly and their shape becomes clearer.

I haven't put this very well but what I mean is don't just take a quick look and move on, give each swim time.

 

[bullet]

With the water being so close to your home you can try out all the methods you wish to at your own leisure. It sounds as though your new water is pretty much perfect for all types of targeting barbel... trotting, legering/quiver tipping and touch legering, even laying on with a float....sounds like a dream venue!

It's been interesting so far,only been fishing it for a couple of weeks and it's produced some nice Chub, plenty of Dace, a few trout and some small grayling.

 

[Chevin]

Thanks guys, I'll be down there at some point this weekend, having a good look.

Just remember though, the barbel can be one of the most difficult fish to spot until you have seen a few and have learned what to look for. More than one angler has spent time looking at barbel, but they haven't seen the fish. Very often it is the pectoral fin that gives them away so don't just look for the shape of a barbel, scan your swim for anything that looks a little bit different.

 

[peterjg]

If there is one bait barbel go potty for it is hemp. Pick a couple of likely spots where you can see the gravel, put a couple of pints on both spots. When the barbel find the hemp you will see their white undersides as they flash over the bed of hemp. Barbel will easily take a matchbox size piece of luncheon meat but I suggest you start with much smaller bits, 12mm pellets, or sweetcorn. No fancy rigs are required, don't walk away from your rod or you will lose it.

 

[The bad one]

If there is one bait barbel go potty for it is hemp. Pick a couple of likely spots where you can see the gravel, put a couple of pints on both spots. When the barbel find the hemp you will see their white undersides as they flash over the bed of hemp. Barbel will easily take a matchbox size piece of luncheon meat but I suggest you start with much smaller bits, 12mm pellets, or sweetcorn. No fancy rigs are required, don't walk away from your rod or you will lose it.

Couldn't agree more Pete my go to bait to find barbel quickly on lengths I don't know well.

 

[Philip]

....another vote for the hemp approach.

I am in the fortunate position to also have access to some waters that look good but with little or no track record and thats exactly what i would do. i try to put a little corn in there too which can sometimes help as a visual indicator of if anything is mopping up the bait.

 

[flossy]

Couldn't agree more ,find some fish or spot,s and by useing a bait dropper introduce some hemp maybe a few hook baits of your choice as well ,just keep rotating the spot,s and see if they are getting visited ,once you see a few fish ,don't rush too get a bait in build up their confidence as you may find more fish may turn up ,I did this on a small river last winter and it resulted in 5 doubles in 3days too 16.8 and the biggest fish turned up on the third morning,so be patient.

 

[tigger]

I must be the odd one out as I think hemp is seriously overrated and and imo there are far better baits. I suppose if the barbel do get onto it and get their heads down it would help to keep them in the swim, but again imo there are other alternatives tha t do that job better.

 

[flossy]

Tigger you have a valid point i have in the past used just small pellets or parti mix ,or even crumbed up boilie ,but it,s a good starting point for most venues .