Mild weather keeping them going

[theartist]

Anyone who thinks or says barbel angling doesn't slow down during the colder months can come up here and show me how to catch 'em, I bow to their superiour angling skills....seriously!
Artist, you seem to be an expert and you catch them on the float no problem all year round, that's fantastic and I'd love you to come up here and show me how to do it...it would add another river to your list .
Obviously i'm doing something drastically wrong and I need guidence.

Wow whats with the sarcasm mate?, I don't recall ever saying barbel fishing doesn't slow down in fact I've already stated it gets very hard, my point being they aren't impossible to catch. Because your'e not catching them, me, keithM, Keith Speer and the others were making it all up?

As for giving you a lesson? Well it would make a change as last time you offered to school me on barbel fishing maybe I could bring John Bailey and you could teach both of us

 

[tigger]

Each venue is different and fishing does slow when the first frosts come,but then they become more used to it,if your venue becomes a faster flowing place,then float fishing may not be the answer on it,as I say on my venues you couldn't run a float through them until at least November,or at least the vast majority of swims anyway.

There's absolutely no doubt that the barbel round these parts slow down massively and float fishing for them is akin to doing the lottery they can be so difficult to catch, no matter how fine a line and small a hook and bait you use.....although i'm still waiting for one of the experts from down south to come up here and prove me wrong since they profess to catch them with such ease throughout the winter months .
In order to catch them in colder winter conditions "round here" resorting to legering is the best option and although they are nothing like as prolific at that time of year they very often oblige.

 

[thecrow]

I have found that when the weather/water temperature cools the Barbel become harder to locate, once located they will feed at sometime during the day or going into dark if the water is very clear, I have also found that they tend to shoal up tighter in cold conditions refusing to move to feed.

I have seen them refuse to move during warmer weather when an angler is catching while a mate fishing very close is not but this behaviour is imo hardened during colder weather. I put it down to the fish finding somewhere comfortable when the temperatures drop and staying there until the water warms which might explain why some barbel anglers have an optimum temperature below which they wont fish for them.

 

[tigger]

Wow whats with the sarcasm mate?, I don't recall ever saying barbel fishing doesn't slow down in fact I've already stated it gets very hard, my point being they aren't impossible to catch. Because your'e not catching them, me, keithM, Keith Speer and the others were making it all up?

As for giving you a lesson? Well it would make a change as last time you offered to school me on barbel fishing maybe I could bring John Bailey and you could teach both of us

Hey, i'm in awe of your superiour angling skills, obviously it's you who can teach me how to float fish!
Feel free to bring John Bailey if he's your pal, the more expert advice I can get the better it is for me.

I've never said Speers or Bailey where making anything up, I don't recall Baileys name even coming up in this thread?

I would have thought it obvious that I would know barbel can be caught when float fishing during the winter months as I have caught them myself on a number of occassions but unless i'm mistaken you imply that they're easy to catch on the float at anytime of year?
So, no sarcasm artist, your either a amazing angler or you exagerate somewhat?

 

[theartist]

Hey, i'm in awe of your superiour angling skills, obviously it's you who can teach me how to float fish!
Feel free to bring John Bailey if he's your pal, the more expert advice I can get the better it is for me.

I've never said Speers or Bailey where making anything up, I don't recall Baileys name even coming up in this thread?

I would have thought it obvious that I would know barbel can be caught when float fishing during the winter months as I have caught them myself on a number of occassions but unless i'm mistaken you imply that they're easy to catch on the float at anytime of year?
So, no sarcasm artist, your either a amazing angler or you exagerate somewhat?

Yes you are mistaken none of my posts here have said barbel are easy to catch all year round, you're mistaken also if you think i'm amazing angler or that I exagerate.

I have nothing to prove, I'm average, but I catch a few fish - there said it, anyone's who's fished with me knows that i'm very average indeed. Now would you say the same if those points you have bought up were levelled at you?

 

[thecrow]

As I have caught Barbel when there has been ice in the margins I must be bloody marvellous

 

[tigger]

Yes you are mistaken none of my posts here have said barbel are easy to catch all year round, you're mistaken also if you think i'm amazing angler or that I exagerate.

I have nothing to prove, I'm average, but I catch a few fish - there said it, anyone's who's fished with me knows that i'm very average indeed. Now would you say the same if those points you have bought up were levelled at you?

Ok, fair enought, I must be mistaken then but that's the way it's come across to me.
Regarding my own angling skills....i've have no idea, I can't really judge myself.

 

[tigger]

As I have caught Barbel when there has been ice in the margins I must be bloody marvellous

So have I, but I have a feeling you would have been legering Graham .

 

[thecrow]

So have I, but I have a feeling you would have been legering Graham .

Yes I was 3 swan link with meat fishing very close in to the near bank, why would I want to have freezing cold hands float fishing when the fish were not spread out but beneath a bush by an old reed bed, I suppose I could have just laid on by the bush.

 

[flightliner]

I've had Barbel a little over 14lb on float tackle in early November but not much later, maybe a number of factors, weather n temps going downhill generally, fishing for pike, chub etc during the winter months etx.
That said I still catch the odd one in winter if I feel the need to but it's fishing with feeders or straight lead rigs.
Even accidentally when chubbing like last winter during "the beast from the east" period on my Trent trib using bread flake.

 

[barbelboi]

Saying that barbel don't feed below a certain temperature seems a bit ‘iffy’. There are so many other issues involved such as colour of river, when the fish last fed, rising, etc, etc. At this time of year I certainly believe that barbel will feed at almost any temperature providing it is steady or rising.

The problem with barbel at low water temperatures is that they don't seem to want to move very far so you need to find them. This will obviously make it difficult on large rivers like the Trent, but I would definitely have a go on the smaller rivers...............

 

[thecrow]

The problem with barbel at low water temperatures is that they don't seem to want to move very far so you need to find them.

I have found the same thing with cold water Barbel, they get comfortable and wont move.

 

[tigger]

I have found the same thing with cold water Barbel, they get comfortable and wont move.

I get like that when i'm sat infront of the fire :w .

 

[The bad one]

I can vouch for Tigger's uslessness when float fishing during the cold weather. He really is cr*p! He always looks the part, waders on, swag bag full of dead maggots, but believe being dress only in a T shirt at 4C doesn't mean you're anything but **** at float fishing. And what all this centre pin stuff is I really haven't a clue, other than to say, get some proper fixed spool reels man so the line comes off properly then you might just catch some barbel like those southern anglers.:fear::fear::fear:

 

[Philip]

I once had a Babel on trotted bread when there was ice in the margins but it was a lucky capture and I would not purposly fish for them in that weather. The memorys a bit hazy but I watched Barbel in very cold water, they were huddled up in a very tight group, bodies all together and only moving the bare minimum to keep station.

Personally I think its too much like hard work trying to catch them in the cold and would much rather stack the odds in my favor and get some bites from chub. Take the path of least resistance and all that.

 

[tigger]

I can vouch for Tigger's uslessness when float fishing during the cold weather. He really is cr*p! He always looks the part, waders on, swag bag full of dead maggots, but believe being dress only in a T shirt at 4C doesn't mean you're anything but **** at float fishing. And what all this centre pin stuff is I really haven't a clue, other than to say, get some proper fixed spool reels man so the line comes off properly then you might just catch some barbel like those southern anglers.:fear::fear::fear:

Thanks for the advice Phil....it's always valued cockle .

Are you goin' to the meeting next month?

 

[tigger]

I can vouch for Tigger's uslessness when float fishing during the cold weather. He really is cr*p! He always looks the part, waders on, swag bag full of dead maggots, but believe being dress only in a T shirt at 4C doesn't mean you're anything but **** at float fishing. And what all this centre pin stuff is I really haven't a clue, other than to say, get some proper fixed spool reels man so the line comes off properly then you might just catch some barbel like those southern anglers.:fear::fear::fear:

Thanks for the advice Phil....it's always valued cockle .

Are you goin' to the meeting next month?

 

[The bad one]

Yes mate I am going to the meeting where you can continue to be educated about catching barbel in a stone cold Northern river on the float and single white maggot.

 

[tigger]

Yes mate I am going to the meeting where you can continue to be educated about catching barbel in a stone cold Northern river on the float and single white maggot.

Your a rum un you Phil .

Isn't it strange though, how people get the wrong idea about how a northern spate river fishes and think or imagine them to fish the same as southern chalk stream rivers?
Same goes for fishing methods used to try and induce a take.... scaling down using very low diameter line, single maggots on tiny hooks etc etc. They just don't seem to realise that we've tried all that on countless occassions mg:.
Hard work in'it Phil when people just won't listen to you and would rather throw names of well known anglers at you, who have caught large specimens in their own regular waters where they know it inside out.
You may have seen my invitation to those knowlegable people to come and show northern anglers how it should be done and how to catch those elusive barbel in sub zero temp's on a trotted bait. Unfortunately no one was willing to come and demonstrate.
I think artist may be offended by my offer to come and show me how to catch barbel on the float in winter but I wasn't being nasty, he should take it as a compliment and nothing else!

 

[Keith M]

On the small rivers that I fish close to home; catching Barbel is definately a lot harder when the temperatures drop in mid-winter, but for those who can watch the weather patterns closely and can go at the drop of a cap when the temperatures are favourable then there’s always a chance of a Barbel even when the temperatures are extremely cold.

But in the winter I have to accept that on a lot of days (around 1 in 2 days) I might not be lucky and will usually have to be thankful that the Chub are still willing to feed even if the beards are not.

I used to be a meteorologist many years ago and I still regularly keep my eye open for the conditions conducive to catching barbel, and I just don’t bother going fishing on my rivers at all if the temperatures are falling or if there is a lot of snow melt or rain water coming off the busier roads during the winter.

I’m lucky enough to be retired now so I can go at very short notice and take advantage of any temperature rises as they happen, but if I was still at work and could only fish during the weekends then it could literally be several weeks before conditions were good enough for me to chance getting my barbel rods out on a river in the depths of winter in near freezing conditions.

NB: I scale down my tackle and I tend to fish more stationary baits during the winter; and I usually coat my baits with a smelly non-oily coating which drifts downstream rather than loose feeding lots of small particles; if I use live maggots then they have flavouring added too and I loose feed them fairly sparingly.

Keith