Barbel less than 4lb !??

[spinone]

Yes it's true about French barbel.
I've fished the Aviron here in s.w. France for several years and had as many as sixteen in a session but all about two and a half pounds. I sometimes think I'm catching the same one over and over again! It's strange because the river is almost untouched for most of the year and in super condition too!

 

[nicepix]

Yes it's true about French barbel.
I've fished the Aviron here in s.w. France for several years and had as many as sixteen in a session but all about two and a half pounds. I sometimes think I'm catching the same one over and over again! It's strange because the river is almost untouched for most of the year and in super condition too!

I think that it may be down to location and methods used. The places English anglers would set up for larger barbel are in my experience not the areas that tend to get frequented by French anglers. Also, fishing for larger barbel often entails a different approach to catching smaller shoal fish.