Barbel & Chub

[Rodney Wrestt]

Anyone know how long it takes for a either Chub or Barbel to spread through a river, the river I fish has had some of each in for quite a few years now. However they don't seem to be spreading through the rest of the water but staying in the same place year after year. All reported catches come from the same area even though there is a range of year classes being caught. I don't think there are too many of them but as I said they aren't spreading, any opinions?

 

[David Will]

I would imagine that if there is suitable spawning sites enough food for those fish present then they will remain.In stretches like this on the Great Ouse moving away from the recognised areas produces much less fish but the bites you get are generally from very big solitary fish.This is paricularily common with Chub.

 

[Rodney Wrestt]

David,
do you think they would eventually spread or just stay where the pasture is green so to speak. I understand what you mean about the solitary fish straying but this doesn't seem to be the case here. They are caught in a very small area, it is the same with the bream they only show in small pockets and even a mile away the only fish are roach, dace, trout, grayling and salmon. There used to be quite a lot of decent sized perch but now I've only had two in the last few years and they were very small.

 

[Richard Drayson]

I`ve heard that it can take years for species to spread throughout a river system.
Presumably, this depends on factors such as numbers of fish, size of river, successful spawning, amount of natural food, competition from other species, numbers of predators and whether or not the whole length of river is accessible (weirs etc).
In your reply to David you mention trout & salmon. Is your river being managed for the benefit of these game fish to the detriment of the coarse fish? ie electro fishing to remove undesirable species. I once heard that barbel used to be removed in this way to protect salmon eggs/fry.
Any freshwater biologists out there?

 

[Rodney Wrestt]

Richard,
No the trout and salmon are wild and have been in the river as long as I can remember, their are some stretches a long way away that are managed but not electro fished to my knowlege. The game fish apear to be the only predators apart from the perch, eels (and of course cormorants, and other birds). There are no weirs between the stretch I fish and the area the chub & barbel are. It's just one of those things, I've been waiting for a long time since I fist heard about them being caught and expecting them to turn up but as yet no joy. The grayling have only been up as far as I fish for the last 3-4 years as I've fished the same area for over 15 years and never saw or heard of anyone getting them then all of a sudden they are there every winter.