Planning for the new season

[Jimbo]

Its about this time of year I start thinking about tactics and bait for the coming season. Having not caught a Barbel for around 4 years now, quite keen to get started!

I fished the Avon and Stour last year and despite having shoals at my feet, never got a touch. Using JB Spicy Barbel boilies (fresh), Marine Pellet etc...

Anyway, it was suggested on here last year I should try small pellets on bait bands hair rigged, what do I need to do this? I have lots of small CSL and Hemp pellets for loose feed and I was thinking about using these as hook baits also, the water is gin clear of course. I'd also like to use pellets in a feeder, I assume I pour hot water over them in a bait bucket the night before??

I have got some Marine Pellet Boilies (frozen) and I am going to make up a batch of JB baites using the seafood mix. Also I have some luncheon meat with curry powder and Rod Hutchy's Frankfurter flavour.

I did try casters last year but only got hammered by Gudgeon.

Can anybody give me a confidence booster for this season? We used to go down to Dorset for 3 1 week holiday but cut it back to a single week as its just proving to be expensive, last year after two weeks caught nothing.

I am starting to wonder how good the John Baker baits are and so stopped using the Barbel Spicy mix, however I have had some very good Chub from the Wey on Big Chub, although the biggest was on bread! (5lb).


Thanks for any tips.

 

[pcpaulh]

Just one idea, if the barbel are spooky you could try putting pellets in a pva bag instead of feeder, might look neat when the pellets are loose. Although the barbel might not notice.

You could glue two smaller pellets to the hair, say a couple of 6 or 8mm ones?

One thing I've read about barbel (although never had the chance to practice) is if you can see the shoal get them in a feeding frenzy with little and often so there competing. Then when you cast your bait in they should be much easier to catch.

 

[Jimbo]

Hi, tried all that! I can remember throwing in a boilie one at a time and seeing the fish take them and actually fight over them. And after putting in small pellets, seing the trails of silt as they hoover them up. My hook bait is often right in the middle but I never get a touch, its like I have no bait on!

Not tried gluing the small pellets to hair but is that practicle? Would'nt I need to take super blue with me to the bank to rebait?

 

[Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA)]

Back lead and flouro hooklengths perhaps.

As you say the Avon and often the Stour in summer are gin clear and the fish are pressured.

Bait and wait.Find the fish and introduce feed over a few hours to have them feeding confidently only then introduce a bait.Their inate caution my be lessened by a few hours of confident feeding.Top up the feed when the fish are out of the swim.

Particles such as maggot and caster can work on these rivers in the summer.Try and find some articles by Stef Horak.His approach is to mass bait with particles continually cating the feeder over a few hours until the fish are practically picking the feeder up.Only then will he out a bait on the hook using a very short hooklength.By this stage all the small fish will have been bullied out by the bigger fish.I think he uses plastic caster s or maggots hair rigged with the sharp end pointing down to further prevent nuisance fish.

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

Jimbo. 3 tips that might help.

Locate some fish if at all possible and cast out above them. Start putting in smaller amounts of feed quite a bit upstream, say 10 yards above your hookbait.

Bring the fish up past and onto your hookbait without casting into them.

Scale down your hookbait size to the size of your general offering. For example if you are using whole boilies but feeding broken ones, change to a smaller 1/2 or 1/4 boilie on a size 10 hair hook. Raptor D7's are perfect for the smaller sized hooks.

Lastly, change the bait to pastewrap, not showing the hook and consider adding a foam ball inside to make it appear critically balanced. Sometimes a bloody great sized bait works on this method

Fortunately, my local fish are not too fussy and will happily take anything when feeding.

Good luck

Graham

 

[Jimbo]

Hi all, seems I need to reduce the size of my hook. I normally use a size 6 Drennon boilie hook! I will try some small 8mm pellet with size 10 hooks on a hair and half boilie/paste on a size 8 and see how that goes.

Thanks for all the info, just about to make up my barbel rod now in fact (FM Concept, 8lb line) for my local stream.


Thanks again.

 

[David Rogers 3]

"Not tried gluing the small pellets to hair but is that practicle? Would'nt I need to take super blue with me to the bank to rebait?"

You *will* need superglue, but it's easy enough to use as long as you're careful with it. I always take a little bottle of the "remover" fluid with me in case of accidents, but I've never had to use it (so far).

The halibut pellets have a convex and a concave side to them. Place one on a firm surface with the concave side uppermost and put a small drop of glue on the surface. Position your hair on top and then press the other pellet concave side down onto it.

I find the new Korum seamless hooks ideal for this method - the size 18s are perfect for a couple of 6mm pellets (they're a BIG 18)and they're very strong.

It helps to set the glue if you give the bait a quick dunk in the water before casting out.

Being oily, each bait lasts a couple of hours or so in the water. When you need to replace a bait, just use a pair of forceps to squeeze off the residue of the old bait first. Obviously, you won't need to tie a loop in the hair - the pellets stick better to a single strand.

Hope this helps!