Shy bites.

[Ginger]

I fished at the weekend (same tatics and baits that i`ve used for the last few visits ) but for some reason all the bites i had were really shy, just slight pulls on the tip not the usuall three foot twitches.
I probably had 8 - 10 bites during the session, i suspect some of these bites were from the same fish and at first i thought that small fish or Chub were the culprits.
After the first couple of bites ( i waited to see if anything would develop,nothing did )i held the rod and struck at these small pulls,to my amazement these bites were from Barbel.
I ended the session with three Barbel and didn`t have one "proper bite" all day.
I`ve had days when you get the odd shy bite but never a day like this.
Has anyone else experienced this,and what makes Barbel behave in this way?

 

[captain carrott]

Has anyone else experienced this,and what makes Barbel behave in this way?

yes they are wising up to your method. time to make adjustments or stop catching.

 

[Fred Bonney]

Ginger,what size bait & hooks you using and what is your end tackle?

Silly question,but just clarifying, were they all liphooked?

 

[Ginger]

Fred, 10mm boilies,hair rigged, size 10 hook,mono hooklength about 24"
Yes all liphooked.

 

[Fred Bonney]

It's just that I had a similar experience last week, but they did then, give the big twitch. So, I was trying to see what our difference may be.
I used, for the first time an inline feeder, and this was crammed solid with damp mini pellets.
I put it down to the barbel,initially attacking the feeder then finding my pair of 10mm pellets, glued to the hair on a size 6 and lifting them.
My usual feeder is attached to a run ring and the bites are just wrenches ,so, I'm none the wiser and not able to help you too much.
Perhaps Jason(CC)is right,especially if your fishing the Suffolk Stour(?) as I'm not certain, that barbel are that clever,unless their numbers are low.

 

[Ginger]

Fred,i`m fishing the River Lea,it holds a reasonable head of Barbel but i don`t think anyone catches in large numbers. 5 fish in a session would be outstanding. ( so i`m lead to believe, only my first season on ).
The river at the weekend was fairly low but slightly coloured,a nice steady pace,just looked really good and i would have expected the bites to be a lot more confident.
Never had a session like that before.

 

[pcpaulh]

Ginger thats interesting you've struck at them and ended up with fish.
I often get little knocks like this where I normally fish and dismiss them as chub like you did. But know you've said this I think I may touch ledger and attempt to strike at a few of these.
I don't seem to catch barbel but I know they're in there and this could just help me.
Cheers,
Christian

 

[captain carrott]

i had the same experience with barbel and chub the other year. massive bites went to smaller bites then twitches i made a change and they returned to massive bites, that's why i said it.

 

[Ginger]

Jason, was this just from one swim or on the river in general?

Christian, it`s worth a try,i missed more bites than i hit, but then a change may be called for as Jason suggests.

 

[captain carrott]

i hammered one certain area with a bait and method combinatin to see what happened.
i am talking about 3 times per week over a period of months.

i could get round the initial shyness by altering the details of the rig. but then i had to change the hook bait from corn to a home made paste.

on that change i got a large increase in catches (i.e. about 1oz short of having 5, 5lb chub in the net at the same time.) which gradually tailed off again.

but if you are using similar baits and methods to other people who fish the river, you will be getting a similar effect.

 

[Ginger]

Jason, this was the first time i`d fished this peg, but i know it gets fished by other anglers,perhaps you`ve hit the nail on the head with the last line of your post.

 

[Sean Meeghan]

Ginger, my mates and I have watched behaviour like this. Many of theses shy twitches are Barbel picking up the bait then dropping it.

One of my mates is convinced that he gets more 3ft twitches than me because he fishes a stiffer mono hool length. His theory is that my limp braid hook length allows the Barbel to pick the bait up and drop it, but his stiffer link makes it difficult for the fish to eject the bait and spooks it.

As CC says its normally fairly easy to fool the fish for a while by making a small change to your presentation. A couple of small pellets on a hair, or an 8mm pellet banded on to your hook is probably worth a try.

 

[Dave Burr]

Try adding bouyancy to your bait, I use a cat biscuit to a pellet giving it neutral or positive bouyancy (depending on the biscuit) and this often causes the fish to 'suck' the bait farther down their mouth than they expect, job done.

 

[Grant Lever]

They aren't shy bites ginger,they are normal barbel bites as opposed to rod wrenches which are in fact fish that are self hooked and have bolted,why not try touch legering or use a (proper)quiver tip,that is how real barbel anglers fish.

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA-Life Member)]

Barbel sometimes give you bites that if you are touch legering feel like someone is filing or sandpapering the line. Transferred to a quiver tip this looks like the tip is vibrating backwards and forwards almost like a tuning fork.

Hit these bites - you will generally hook the fish.

The two largest barbel I ever caught from the Swale both gave bites like this on hair rigged meat.

 

[Ginger]

Sean, thanks for your reply, i`ll try a few small changes as CC suggested on my next visit and see if they makes any difference.
(The first part of your article "Barbel from Yorkshire Rivers" really helped me earlier in the season,the conditions you described were just what i was experiencing at the time).
Thanks again mate.

 

[Ginger]

Dave, i`ve never used neutral or positive bouyant baits,i`ve always thought that when fishing a static bait it was best to pin it down.
Have you had much success with this approach?

 

[Ginger]

Grant, 1 understand what you are saying about self hooked fish,as a lot of anglers now use the Bolt Rig approach.
But i must say that even when fishing with lighter gear most bites from Barbel are really positive not little plucks and pulls.
Your last comment " that is how real barbel anglers fish", well you could start a new thread with that,i`m sure you would get loads of response.

 

[Ginger]

Ron, as you and Grant have both stated the touch leger and quivertip approach could be one answer to my problem, do you use this technique very often and is it suitable for all river fishing?

 

[Fred Bonney]

Ginger,I would be careful following what's been said,too many strikes at twitches could scare your quarry.
Just because it's happened once,don't change your normally successful approach.Barbel WILL give a big twitch,little knocks are rare...IMHO!