Flashing barbel

[John Huntley]

When out yesterday my attention was drawn to large fish moving around about 30 yards down stream. My first thoughts that it was a large pike but the flanks of the fish were too deep and were very bright in the sun. A quick walk down revealed several large barbel very active in the water turning on their sides and also showing the whites of their undersides. They appeared to be preoccupied with catching foodstuffs at mid water and turning their mouths to face upstream. They carried this on for some time and were unperturbed by my casts or the line in the water. Infact i was constantly getting liners. A static bait didn't work they seemed very preoccupied.
Although I have read of this behavior this is the first time that i have witnessed it and seen barbel so active.This was all happening within 12 foot of me.
My first thoughts for my return are to feed and get them preoccupied prior to putting a bait in and secondly to use smaller baits ie maggot or corn.
how would you guys approach such a situation>
I did get an immediate take from a "nuisance chub" of about 4lb on meat but not a touch from the big uns!

 

[Steve Spiller]

John,
I was gonna post almost the same question, why do they roll and show the whites of their bellies?
Are they waving/hitting their bodies against the gravel in a rolling motion to create a disturbance to throw up any loose feed and therefore show their undersides?
I'm sure they're not spawning as they were scoffing small pellets.

 

[Chris Evans 4]

John,

I would float fish on the drop with something small like casters or tares and see if you get a responce !

Steve,

It's well documented that presured fish aprroach beds of bait with caution. I have certaly witnesed barbel flashing and wafting fins over beds of bait to see how it reacts. Anything that is nailed to the bottom is well and truly ignorerd the rest hoovered up. The way i get round this is to use a swowman rig. Half a normal boile and half a pop up couterbalances the the wait of hook and hook link and leaves it to behave more naturally. A slightly longer hair also helps this.


Hope this helps and good luck !

 

[John Huntley]

Hi Steve
They were doing just as you say, perhaps they were dislodging larvae from the gravel. They were obviously enjoying themselves!
Very exciting to watch themlike this . Cant wait to have another go at them

 

[John Huntley]

Chris
the thought did cross my mind about running a float through or even stret pegging. Maybe next time.
Bits of meat that floated through were totally ignored. Trigga paste was also ignored which is normally a quick take.
Smaller baits are needed here i think

 

[Steve Spiller]

Hi John,
Yep I was mesmerised and they were having the loose fed pellets big time, it was a joy to watch!

Thanks Chris, the problem was, it was a very fast shallow swim (two foot deep?)
The gravel bed was upstream of a large overhanging bush, we saw two chub and fed some pellets. The barbs came out from under the bush and whent mad on it. If I fished a snowman would it look un-natural, it would rise and fall, but not travel downstream, as a normal bait would do?

Sorry John, tell me to bugger off, I don't want to take over your thread.
;-)

 

[Chris Evans 4]

Steve,
yes you are right it will not go down stream but will waft side to side so will settle in a slightly different position every time giving a better presentation. I agree its not perfect but nothing ever is !! If you want to use pellets as a bait use a real one with a fake floater or some people use bits of cork on there hair or on the shank of the hook all work. It takes a bit of messing but a criticaly balnced bait will more fish on the bank i promise you. if all else fails get them going mad for the pellets then roll a big slug or worm past them Ill be shocked if they ignore that!

Chris.

 

[Matt Brown]

Although I've only seen this a few times on a smaller scale my first ploy would be to see if I could get them to feed on some freebies. Obviously you've already tried that but I would persevere. It's amazing how fishes feeding behaviour changes over time. Sometimes, this has taken me many days but the information gained may well be of value the rest of your fishing career, so be patient.

Assuming you can get them feeding step two is to get a hookbait to behave in the same way as the freebies while making sure the fish don't know that you're fishing for them. If they suss you out their guard can go up and they'll become so much more difficult to catch - at least for a while.

 

[Steve Spiller]

Chris,
They backed off under the bush after two were caught, I managed to trundle a 14m/m under the bush with one swan shot,but lost the BIG bugger.
I will defo try the critical balancing bait, cheers.

Steve.

 

[Steve Spiller]

Cheers Matt,
See you soon.

;-)

 

[Chris Evans 4]

Matt,

Good call mate! Getting fish on to a certain bait with no pressure attached to it can be a graet method to. If you have watched Guy Robb and Stuart Morgans video. They explain how to create a safe feeding area then intercept the barbel on route using something like a worm or a slug so the barbel will keep going to the safe area, your bait never blows and u can keep picking the barbel of en route !!
Trust me it works just takes the effort to set it up !
Chris.

 

[Steve Spiller]

Would you call it "feed and leave"?

Will you be at the Trent fish-in Chris?

Sorry again John.

 

[John Huntley]

No apology needed Steve. I think for my next visit I will definitely resist the urge to fish straight away and spend more time observing and feeding.

 

[GrahamM]

Definitely just sit and feed (my choice would be caster and hemp) for 10 to 15 minutes, and then run a float through with two or three casters on a 14's.

Don't chuck a big helping of feed in and then leave the swim, but sit there and trickle the bait in steadily, say a dozen or so casters with hemp every 30 seconds.

If you get them going well, stick a couple of plastic casters on the hook and move the bottom shot down to keep the casters at the right depth.

 

[Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA)]

Would agree with Graham, I have had Barbel feeding in mid water in shallow runs on the Swale on hemp and caster.Very exciting when you see a flash of gold and then a split second later the float shooting under.

How about legering a single small bait on a very long tail.

 

[John Huntley]

Will let you know!

 

[Steve Spiller]

So why do they "flash"? or "roll"?

 

[Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA)]

Steve,

I suspect its because they have to manouvre more to take baits in mid water as their mouths are more suited to taking food off the bottom when presumably they can use their barbules to locate a food item.

When not feeding it could be to try and remove freshwater leeches or some other form of parasite.

 

[Chris Evans 4]

Steve,

Not Sure of any of the details of the fish in. Am new on here so excuse my ignorance.Never fished the trent though so if I can make it would be interested.

As for the flashing, In my experience it does happen over beds of bait but also I have seen it many times(on the ribble in particular) just after dawn and seems quite a natural thing so who knows ??? I guess it kind of like carp leaping out the water whats all that about ??

Chris

P.s first one off a new stretch of the Dane tonight ! Happy days !

 

[Sean Meeghan]

My take on this is that if Barbel are feeding off the bottom in shallow water the position of their mouths makes it difficult for them to take the food items by just lifting their heads. The best way is to turn on their sides and take the food items at an angle so to speak. This causes their lower flanks and undersides to flash on bright days.