No bites - stay in the same swim or move?

[keora]

I've had a few sessions recently where after 3 hours of barbel fishing, I haven't had a bite or seen any evidence of barbel in the swim.

Do other members stay in the same swim or move to another one?

The drawback to moving is that all the bait that's been put in the swim has been wasted, and baiting up will have to be repeated in the new swim. On the other hand, if there's no fish in the first swim, what's the point of staying there any more.

It's a problem and I'd be pleased to hear your views.

 

[steve2]

3 hours without a bite I would have moved long before then. Rarely give a swim more than half that time anywhere. I am a more search them out than sit and wait. You could always go back to that swim later.

 

[Keith M]

3 hours without a bite I would have moved long before then. Rarely give a swim more than half that time anywhere. I am a more search them out than sit and wait. You could always go back to that swim later.

Im in total agreement with Steve. If I had seen no sign of any fish in half that time and was sure that my end tackle and my bait was sound then I would have been searching them out and looking for features elsewhere.
As Steve said you can always return later on if you wanted to.

Keith

 

[keora]

Thanks to both of you for your advice.

In future I'll stay in a swim for about 90 minutes and move on if there's no activity.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Unless I was on a well known banker swim on my local river then I'd not hang round for that length of time, maybe 90 minutes before a move would be on the books.

Even then I would be tempted to wind in and go and pre-bait the back up swim and still give maybe another 20 to30 minutes in the first swim.

When I was more mobile would often wander upstream baiting 3 or even 4 good looking swims and then fish from the upstream end and move if not catching to the next one downstream.

Hope this helps . . . . .

 

[108831]

I honestly think that yours is the right approach Peter,to move and restart is not normally an option for me,in a normal day session I would normally bait up and leave it for a minimum of 45 minutes before casting in a baited hook,I like to try different swims so am happy to take the blank to see if liners or signs occur for future reference,when fishing evenings it's one swim only and as often happens it's either the first or last cast that produces...

There are the bait and waiters and the wanderers,i'm the former,just because it's been more successful for me.

 

[fred hall]

Not doing much barbel fishing these days but when I was a (fairly) frequent visitor to the Ribble say 15 to 10 years ago I found that provided I was in a swim with some barbel form you could go quite a while, up to 4 hours was my benchmark, with no sign of action and then suddenly they would switch on. When this happened more often than not you would get several fish in fairly rapid succession. As a footnote I should add that the first fish was often a decent chub.
So basically I'm staying stick it out although the pattern may well be different these days and obviously I'm basing my views on one river only.

 

[sam vimes]

Much would depend on the time of day, the venue and the state of the tide (if applicable).

 

[jon atkinson]

I don't get to fish for barbel as often as I'd like, but I I'll be trying for a few at Ribchester with a mate on Sunday. Looking at the forecast it's safe to say that I'm unlikely to be moving once set up! Ordinarily I would only contemplate moving if there had been literally no sign of fish after 2 - 3 hours, but that being dependent on whether suitable, alternative swims were occupied or not. Perhaps, were I more practiced, I might not give it as long before contemplating a change of swim.

 

[keora]

I tried moving swims during a session today after barbel. I fished a total of 6 hours in three different swims, using a swim feeder. On the hook I used pellets, luncheon meat or a combination of the two. Result - a one pound chub in the second swim, and a fast pull on the rod tip (either a barbel bite or perhaps a line bite) in the third swim.

So moving around doesn't seem to be much better than staying in the same place all day. Barbel are caught, I've had a few this summer, although the length is rarely fished - like many stretches of river these days. It might be that there aren't many barbel in the river, and since it's deep and fast flowing it's hard to find the fish on the day.

 

[dave m]

I don't get to fish for barbel as often as I'd like, but I I'll be trying for a few at Ribchester with a mate on Sunday. Looking at the forecast it's safe to say that I'm unlikely to be moving once set up! Ordinarily I would only contemplate moving if there had been literally no sign of fish after 2 - 3 hours, but that being dependent on whether suitable, alternative swims were occupied or not. Perhaps, were I more practiced, I might not give it as long before contemplating a change of swim.

for me much depends on how well i know the section and if i think its worth building a swim and whether i can draw fish.
a mate fished a section of the ribble that has many little runs with some pools and broken riffle in between. he moves several times between swims he knows well as he reckons they are there or they aint.

i have done 3-4 moves on occasion, mostly when im trying to learn a new section. even if im not catching its all useful knowledge for the future.

i often fish parts of the ribble that has some length to the runs and feel more confident that i can draw fish. maybe the big shoals are not there but sometimes catching less fish might mean you could fluke a bigger fish.

 

[108831]

Sometimes you have to get other species feeding confidently before barbel will take an interest,be it chub,roach or dace,this is especially true if low numbers of barbel are present.

 

[robcourt82]

It depends massively on the conditions and the venue itself. On the Thames for example you're fishing for a bite at a time and so waiting it out may be more beneficial . If you're on the Wye its a bit more prolific and if you're not catching you're probably not em.
Saying that, if its a low clear river on a bright sunny day the fish may just not feed till the light levels drop and so waiting it out may again be the answer.

 

[reeltime]

My experince of fishing the Severn in the summer was that fishing during the day was very slow until the evening when the fishing turned on big time