Nymphing for Barbel - Martin James
Seeing this title your probably thinking has Martin James having turned sixty has lost his senses, Can he be serious about fly fishing for barbel you probably say. My answer is, Yes I am The same was said twenty, thirty years ago when I started to encourage anglers to fly fish for pike. These days many fly fisherman spend as much time trying to catch pike as they do rainbows. Pike fight harder than rainbows and its a lot cheaper for tickets and you don't have to pack up or buy another ticket if you have caught 2 or 4 fish as the limit dictates
In fact all fish can be caught on an artificial fly or nymph from fresh and saltwater. I am not saying its the best way but its an enjoyable way of taking fish. Many brown trout anglers fishing nymphs on rivers containing barbel have said they have lost big fish which they didn't see. Its a good chance those fish were barbel. Some fly fishers have landed the odd barbel but all this was probably by accident.
The great thing about barbel fishing is they often live in beautiful English rivers, Where water flows over clean gravel with plenty of water weeds such as water-crowfoot (Ranunculus) with its daisy like flower, We also have that delightful water weed Starwort in a delightful shade of green that will often harbour a crayfish, Chub love to lay under it popping out to grab an item of food that passes by. Some other plants are Mare's tail, Water-mil foil and in the slow stretches you will find Potamogetan. A river rich in plant life is rich in animal life that fish eat naturally and a weedy river is a river that usually holds some good fish.
The banks of my favourite rivers will often have a profusion of wild flowers and plants Adding a touch of gold to the riverside scene in the cold month of March will be the Marsh-marigold usually one of our first colourful flowers to brighten a cold day .Then we have the Yellow and Purple-loose strife, Pink campion and various parsley's, Cow, Hog weed, Sweet cicely and Hemlock to name a few. You will often see that delicate flower the common forget-me-knot. I believe its this flower circles the clock on Norwich Cathedral.
Today you can sometimes see Foxgloves at the waterside and of course you will see the Himalayan balsam growing in profusion. Your now probably asking what have water weeds, plants and wild flowers to do with barbel. Its because these are often the conditions on my barbel rivers In clear flowing rivers with plenty of plant life you can expect to catch barbel but also other coarse fish such as. Pike, perch, chub, roach, barbel, grayling and dace. Living in the same water you will often find the delightful brown trout. To catch a brown trout on a dry fly is one of life's great experiences. I really do feel its a privilege to be an angler and fish in beautiful places for wild fish.
Barbel are a fish that has had my attention over the past few years, but should another species show I will have a go for it. I have never been a one fish, one method angler. I fish for them all with all the legal and sporting methods available. Over the past couple of years or so, I along with several other anglers have always felt barbel were a fish that could be taken on a nymph. - Is not the barbel a bottom feeding fish for most of its life, Then surely its main diet will consist of various nymphs and caddis crawling around on the bottom of our rivers or under the fine sand gravel or silt. If they are daft enough to eat meat balls and luncheon meat why not an artificial nymph which is far more natural.
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