Freelined baits v's anchored...

[binka]

Firstly I should say that this relates to static and not rolled baits in moving water.

Within practicality eg. the constraints of distance and strong flow does anyone think that the point on the riverbed where a bait comes to rest has a large and occasionally overbearing effect on its success rate, particularly as to how accurate the bait places itself in relation to where food items would naturally settle?

In some ways "yes" seems an obvious answer but in others it defies what we occasionally think regarding the habits of our beloved "river pigs" in that they won't necessarily just head for the food, clean up and move on.

This is prompted by my experience yesterday where, for anyone who hasn't already read about it, I freelined a meat bait on a very improvised rig and with no additional feed at all some six or seven yards away from a mate who had been chucking a loaded feeder in for several hours...There's little doubt that his accumulation of feed was within the fishes sensory range yet the result was that I enjoyed three good barbel in the space of a few minutes as opposed to his one barbel over several hours.

He wasn't doing anything obviously wrong as such, the bait I was using was identical and from his own tin and logic tells me that the fish would be on the food given such a short distance between us but clearly they weren't so what was the reason?.

The stretch of water that we fished is far from what I would consider as pressured and I can fairly safely dismiss the fish backing off the feed due to any association with danger.

So, in conclusion I can only summise that the bait resting on a more natural area of river bed outfished one that was pinned to what was maybe a less natural area in relation to settlement even though the latter was accompanied by regular amounts of additional feed.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[Judas Priest]

Wrote this before Binka but......

If you look at a clear water (Teme, Dove etc) you will notice dark patches on the bottom, these are the depressions where the natural food items gather. If you are then lucky enough to be able to watch barbel they visit these areas with no caution picking up items and moving on, hence the non 3ft slam around.
Place a food item outside these areas, just a couple of foot to the side, and watch the cautious reaction of those same fish.
This is why I prefer to have a lead that just holds and sometimes moves, as this in theory should put the bait into these areas.

 

[binka]

Wrote this before Binka but......

If you look at a clear water (Teme, Dove etc) you will notice dark patches on the bottom, these are the depressions where the natural food items gather. If you are then lucky enough to be able to watch barbel they visit these areas with no caution picking up items and moving on, hence the non 3ft slam around.
Place a food item outside these areas, just a couple of foot to the side, and watch the cautious reaction of those same fish.
This is why I prefer to have a lead that just holds and sometimes moves, as this in theory should put the bait into these areas.

Thanks JP, appreciate that.

Regards light leads settling into those areas you talk of... That is a key difference between my last season when they were a matter of course with hand feed going in over the top and this season where I've concentrated more on getting the feed in via different means and heavier rigs on the occasions when I've set out to target barbel and I have to say that overall I'm having a leaner season this time around in terms of numbers although this seems to be the trend for many in my neck of the woods, I think reverting back to the very light leads or freelining with feed going in over the top is going to be the way forward at least until the river starts to rise and colour up.

The use of the light lead previously not being associated with such importance by me in relation to the underwater areas you mention due to depths, ranges and/or cover beyond where they would be visible although that would have been the general intention and it all ties in nicely.

I think on reflection that the most valuable thing I have learned from yesterday is not only the importance of putting a bait into those areas you describe as just what a whole world of difference it can make, and we're not just talking the odd extra bite here.

 

[Judas Priest]

I'm pretty lucky in that I had the chance to spend quite a few years on the Dove and Teme and spent a lot of that time just watching the fish and how they move through a swim and how they react to different scenarios such as bait and feed placement.
Barbel in a specific shoal tend to follow the same path up through an area rather than foraging bank to bank and observation showed that these routes can be quite narrow mainly going from depression to depression in a set pattern and line. I've deliberately placed, by hand, free offerings no more than two foot to the side of these areas and noticed the fish totally ignore them.

 

[theartist]

You say your bait was static binka but as you were freelining there's every chance it was moving each time it got taken. The Barbel were more than likely competing for your mates offerings that were drifting downstream and in the process wafting yours about a bit on the bottom thus inducing the take.

 

[cal_sutt]

We're very similar up my end, my fellow barbellers and I will, through summer, use the lightest lead possible and sometimes even a couple of shots, or no weight at all and control the bait to rest naturally in slack/slow runs or just roll through the swim. The river we fish, the Idle, will stay clear for another month or two yet so the summer tactics can be used for a lot longer than other rivers. There's nothing to say you can't catch using bigger leads that "anchor" to the bottom, but all of my recent red letter days have been with the freelining method. A friend and I fished two days, 5 hours each day, and we landed over 100lb of barbel between us - once again, freelining.

 

[rubio]

Could it also be a taut wire is not strung across the flow?

 

[binka]

You say your bait was static binka but as you were freelining there's every chance it was moving each time it got taken. The Barbel were more than likely competing for your mates offerings that were drifting downstream and in the process wafting yours about a bit on the bottom thus inducing the take.

Re. moving bait yes, there's every possibility that could have been the case as, even though the line from the water was static there would be enough play further down for the bait to waft where there was disturbance from feeding fish although I don't think that this was the case on this occasion as it still leaves the fact that the fish were ignoring the main heap of bait (and my mate's hookbait in the middle of it) for the single offering away from that nearby area hence my agreement with Judas Priest and his observations.

Just to clarify I was fishing a few yards upriver...

Could it also be a taut wire is not strung across the flow?

I think that could well be a factor...

 

[theartist]

Just to clarify I was fishing a few yards upriver...

Well that scotches my theory , i agree it's down to them avoiding lines. Feeding barbel often if not always work their way up through the swim then drift down and do it again and again. I often get them on float at the top of the swim where none of my bait could possibly be so having a static bait there is by no means a disaster.

If you know they are in a swim then it could well be presentation not location that's more important on your bit of water especially after they have wised up a bit and when the water is clearer as i imagine it is now.

 

[mattzzzzzz]

Binka you weren't on the Trent near a bridge by any chance were you?

 

[binka]

Binka you weren't on the Trent near a bridge by any chance were you?

No... Well if there was a bridge it must have been a small one as I didn't see it

On a river just into Derbyshire...

 

[laguna]

So, in conclusion I can only summise that the bait resting on a more natural area of river bed outfished one that was pinned to what was maybe a less natural area in relation to settlement even though the latter was accompanied by regular amounts of additional feed.

I remember seeing a documentary and was fascinated watching the actions of trout and how they effortlessly 'fly' in the fast flow just like a bird will soar in the air and expend least energy. Trout will generally stick to the fast flowing sections of river and are opportunistic feeders picking up edible bits of passing food or flies off the surface. Now some say fish are stupid but I am of the opinion that most bottom feeding fish like barbel will frequent and selectively feed from known areas that hold a larder of food items that have carried and settled on or near the bottom. I suspect that; unless we know and practice our water craft well, we are unknowingly fishing for things that aren't there much of the time. Its why I like to spread my feed around and have them route for it.

---------- Post added at 03:12 ---------- Previous post was at 03:07 ----------

The method of freelining is great for stalking in the margins and nearside bank features but ive often encountered many, sometimes better features on the far bank that call for a weight of some kind, the only real alternative is to up the bait size significantly but this isnt always practicle.
Bar Wallace casting, ive often thought of trying a variation to what is generally considered freelining... catapulting a hooked bait to the far side!

 

[mattzzzzzz]

Ok, was talking to two guys who had done exactly the same