Thomas Turner
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There’s no doubt that to the purist, float fishing is the preferred way to catch these superb fish and indeed the method is effective, challenging and always glamorous. Back a while, I travelled to the Trent with float maker maestro Andy Field and there we caught extraordinary numbers of barbel on 5BB floats and maggot, fishing 12 foot deep swims after piling in vast quantities of maggots and casters. It was exceptional fishing and using 4lb line straight through ensured massive battles with fish to well over ten pounds. But this is rather Andy’s story. I’ll stick to the float fishing I have most of and that is generally based on the Wye.
A float caught barbel
THE SWIM
Wading is always an advantage ..when it’s safe to do so.
You can of course catch barbel from deep, slow swims but that is not where I have done real business. I look to the quicker shallows with a good pace and depths between 3 and 6 feet. I like a relatively even bed of sand , gravel and small stone- snags, boulders and undulations only cause problems. Again, if I can , I like to get in and wade as far as possible so this is mainly a summer/autumn occupation. This when the barbel are most active and most likely to take a moving bait, so nothing lost there. Obviously, if I know there are barbel there, confidence increases and when is that not a major advantage?
TACKLE
Caught barbel with a TT Classic+ float
The Thomas Turner Classic+ 13ft float rod fulfils all my dreams. The 14 footer is great but if I can get close to the fish, then the 13 gives me control, lightness and oodles of power. Nor does it show any signs of “locking up”, (no, I didn’t always know what this meant but you will when you have a rod that is fully bent and still has nowhere near the power to lift a fish off the bottom). Whether you use a pin or fixed spool is your choice and I make no special case for either. A pin is an affectation but a nice one and does give ultimate control. 6lb mainline is about right I feel, with a hook length of not less than 5lbs. Hook size depends on what bait you are using…perhaps a 14 with maggots, a 12 with corn and a 10 with lobworm?
FLOAT CHOICE
I’m hugely fortunate in still possessing a wonderful battery of Andy Field’s floats from my past but Ian Lewis and Paul Cook make glorious creations…and of course, you can buy great shop examples for a significant amount less. (Though I have to say that I barely ever lose a float in these river situations and some of both Andy’s and Ian’s masterpieces have been in use for years).
Paul cook and floats
My choice of pattern is of course fished top and bottom and I like a float with a bit of buoyancy up top. This helps it ride rough water nicely and is easy to see, though I rarely let the float go for more than 30 yards and generally you feel a barbel take down the rod as much as see the float go under. The photograph gives an idea of my favourites over the years. Shotting? Personally I like floats that take between 4 and 8 BBs , sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. I bulk the majority of the shot some 6 /8 inches from the hook to get the bait down fast and keep it there. I like to think of the bait tripping bottom so I set the float perhaps a tad over depth for general work.
BAIT
Maggots are star of course but they do attract hoards of minnows and bleak, summertime especially. Corn is nearly as good and worm can make an impact, early season especially. You can trot pellets, bouncing them along the bottom, 8/10ml being about right. The big issue as far as I am concerned is the amount of bait. Most anglers I see fail because they stint on this vital aspect. You have to feed off smaller fish and that can be a big job. More challenging, you have to induce the barbel to actively hunt for the bait as it comes down in the flow towards them and that can be a long job. The ideal is to get the fish not just feeding on the bed but also coming up the water column to intercept bait coming their way. Ideally, you’ll see fish flashing, showing their excitement and even rolling on the surface. That’s when you know you have fish on the boil and bites are imminent. Six pints of maggots is never too many. Two, three, even four pounds of corn are generally needed to stir a swim into life.
Look carefully and you’ll see what I mean about barbel flashing
FLOAT IN ACTION
Fly caught.. It can be done
I have laboured the point that getting in there can give you supreme control of the float’s course downriver. Of course, you can fish from the bank but wading into the stream gets you closer to the fish and makes float control far more easy and effective. As you’d expect, I try to hold the float back a little, letting it edge down the run. The bulk shot keep the bait pretty much where it should be and for much of any trot, I feel I’m fishing in the zone. Bites are generally big affairs and as I have said, you often feel the take and no mistake. I’ll often put the float up so that it is fishing way over-depth so, in effect, you are laying on-again much more easily done if you are directly upstream of the float rather than fishing from the bank. By lifting the rod top and letting the rig move a yard or so down the run you are using that centuries old technique called stret pegging. A delicious mix of present and past. But, above all…have your bait at your waist in a bucket or pouch and keep feeding. Keep at it for if you drop off the bait flow then the good work earlier on can be undone.
Fly caught.. It can be done
Enoka with a fly caught ‘nine’
REFLECTIONS
There’s a whole lot more to the barbel game than I have had time for in these few blogs..I haven’t even mentioned fly fishing for barbel which is quite possible and practised by some of my friends (and wife) I also realise I am in a privileged position. I live close to the Wye and the guiding side of my life gets me on the bank most days of the week. My heart bleeds for those anglers who arrive at 9am, leave at 6pm and won’t be back for months. My advantage is that I can get under the skin of the Wye and really absorb barbel behaviour in a way most anglers can’t do. It’s not talent, it’s time!
Having said all that, I REALLY hope you take at least some of what I have written on board. I see to it my clients catch way more barbel than is the Wye norm and they have to pay for the instruction. You’ve just had it for free!
The post CONJURING COARSE MAGIC – BARBEL PART 3 – FLOAT FISHING appeared first on Thomas Turner Fishing Antiques.
Continue reading...
A float caught barbel
THE SWIM
Wading is always an advantage ..when it’s safe to do so.
You can of course catch barbel from deep, slow swims but that is not where I have done real business. I look to the quicker shallows with a good pace and depths between 3 and 6 feet. I like a relatively even bed of sand , gravel and small stone- snags, boulders and undulations only cause problems. Again, if I can , I like to get in and wade as far as possible so this is mainly a summer/autumn occupation. This when the barbel are most active and most likely to take a moving bait, so nothing lost there. Obviously, if I know there are barbel there, confidence increases and when is that not a major advantage?
TACKLE
Caught barbel with a TT Classic+ float
The Thomas Turner Classic+ 13ft float rod fulfils all my dreams. The 14 footer is great but if I can get close to the fish, then the 13 gives me control, lightness and oodles of power. Nor does it show any signs of “locking up”, (no, I didn’t always know what this meant but you will when you have a rod that is fully bent and still has nowhere near the power to lift a fish off the bottom). Whether you use a pin or fixed spool is your choice and I make no special case for either. A pin is an affectation but a nice one and does give ultimate control. 6lb mainline is about right I feel, with a hook length of not less than 5lbs. Hook size depends on what bait you are using…perhaps a 14 with maggots, a 12 with corn and a 10 with lobworm?
FLOAT CHOICE
I’m hugely fortunate in still possessing a wonderful battery of Andy Field’s floats from my past but Ian Lewis and Paul Cook make glorious creations…and of course, you can buy great shop examples for a significant amount less. (Though I have to say that I barely ever lose a float in these river situations and some of both Andy’s and Ian’s masterpieces have been in use for years).
Paul cook and floats
My choice of pattern is of course fished top and bottom and I like a float with a bit of buoyancy up top. This helps it ride rough water nicely and is easy to see, though I rarely let the float go for more than 30 yards and generally you feel a barbel take down the rod as much as see the float go under. The photograph gives an idea of my favourites over the years. Shotting? Personally I like floats that take between 4 and 8 BBs , sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. I bulk the majority of the shot some 6 /8 inches from the hook to get the bait down fast and keep it there. I like to think of the bait tripping bottom so I set the float perhaps a tad over depth for general work.
BAIT
Maggots are star of course but they do attract hoards of minnows and bleak, summertime especially. Corn is nearly as good and worm can make an impact, early season especially. You can trot pellets, bouncing them along the bottom, 8/10ml being about right. The big issue as far as I am concerned is the amount of bait. Most anglers I see fail because they stint on this vital aspect. You have to feed off smaller fish and that can be a big job. More challenging, you have to induce the barbel to actively hunt for the bait as it comes down in the flow towards them and that can be a long job. The ideal is to get the fish not just feeding on the bed but also coming up the water column to intercept bait coming their way. Ideally, you’ll see fish flashing, showing their excitement and even rolling on the surface. That’s when you know you have fish on the boil and bites are imminent. Six pints of maggots is never too many. Two, three, even four pounds of corn are generally needed to stir a swim into life.
Look carefully and you’ll see what I mean about barbel flashing
FLOAT IN ACTION
Fly caught.. It can be done
I have laboured the point that getting in there can give you supreme control of the float’s course downriver. Of course, you can fish from the bank but wading into the stream gets you closer to the fish and makes float control far more easy and effective. As you’d expect, I try to hold the float back a little, letting it edge down the run. The bulk shot keep the bait pretty much where it should be and for much of any trot, I feel I’m fishing in the zone. Bites are generally big affairs and as I have said, you often feel the take and no mistake. I’ll often put the float up so that it is fishing way over-depth so, in effect, you are laying on-again much more easily done if you are directly upstream of the float rather than fishing from the bank. By lifting the rod top and letting the rig move a yard or so down the run you are using that centuries old technique called stret pegging. A delicious mix of present and past. But, above all…have your bait at your waist in a bucket or pouch and keep feeding. Keep at it for if you drop off the bait flow then the good work earlier on can be undone.
Fly caught.. It can be done
Enoka with a fly caught ‘nine’
REFLECTIONS
There’s a whole lot more to the barbel game than I have had time for in these few blogs..I haven’t even mentioned fly fishing for barbel which is quite possible and practised by some of my friends (and wife) I also realise I am in a privileged position. I live close to the Wye and the guiding side of my life gets me on the bank most days of the week. My heart bleeds for those anglers who arrive at 9am, leave at 6pm and won’t be back for months. My advantage is that I can get under the skin of the Wye and really absorb barbel behaviour in a way most anglers can’t do. It’s not talent, it’s time!
Having said all that, I REALLY hope you take at least some of what I have written on board. I see to it my clients catch way more barbel than is the Wye norm and they have to pay for the instruction. You’ve just had it for free!
The post CONJURING COARSE MAGIC – BARBEL PART 3 – FLOAT FISHING appeared first on Thomas Turner Fishing Antiques.
Continue reading...