Remember your first barbel or double?

[Graham Elliott 1]

That's the trouble with being a BIG boy Fred.


Makes the second Double (trent) looks about 7lb.




Graham

 

[Fred Bonney]

Not so certain about the free bit either Graham.

One night B&B, fuel for getting on 400 miles there and back, a steak dinner and a couple of pints each for two, and all that before the free bit started!

 

[Derek Gibson]

Hope Im wrong here, but I sense a bit of a dig here, if so that would be a great shame as this thread has generated some very interesting repliesmg: And for the record being a big bloke can have a bearing on how fish appear in photos.

 

[Fred Bonney]

It shouldn't do Derek, but we shall see if there are any self inflicted

Agree with the comment on big blokes, also I have a tendancy not to shove the fish up the camera lense!

 

[Derek Gibson]

Ah you mean banana fingers, a phrase conjured up by Bob Reynolds back in the early sixties, when commenting on pics of pike and barbel.

 

[Bluenose]

Hope Im wrong here, but I sense a bit of a dig here, if so that would be a great shame as this thread has generated some very interesting replies....

Yes, lets not go there please lads it'll only end up locked/edited!

First fish..4lb .. River Severn near Montford Bridge c.1992.. 3 casters on a size 12, 4lb hooklength and part of a 5 fish 'haul'... I used to love summer/autumn fishing on the severn and the odd trip to the Dane ...can't remember the last time I fished for barbel in anger and over a prolonged period of time! For whatever reason about 10 years ago I just stopped fishing for them bar the odd session... my one and only double was a 12lb 8oz River Dove fish a few years back.

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

Bluenose.

They are two rivers I have not fished yet. But, going to correct that this season. Heard they are both beautiful rivers.

That Dove fish is a cracker.


I think Banana fingers are common, but those picture types do tend to show off the actual fish better than a longshot as long as the weight is also not expanded......

Graham

 

[Bluenose]

Graham the Dove is stunning, if I had to pick one venue and one style for the rest of my days I'd pick the chub fishing there during winter, saying that, last winter I'd probably have said stillwater tench fishing!!!

I witnessed a 16 on the Dove too and several other doubles, it was hard fishing but if the tip went round it was probably going to be a good fish.

The Severn either side of Shrewsbury is lovely looking and gets even better looking (more bleak in winter) the higher up you go I reckon.

The Dane is a funny one, when I lived on Merseyside I'd regularly do the 100 mile trip several times a year, I now live 15 mile down the road and have been probably three times in 6 years!

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

Bluenose. Yes thats why I want to fish them, especially the Dove.

I know it's been doing some very large barbel last few years, although understand they are not coming from the most scenic stretch.

I hanker more now for the beauty of the suroundings rather than the Fish size.

Hard hat on, but love the Royalty for the history, but not the place itself ....especially when there are many pretty places to fish the Hants Avon.


Just my opinion.

Anyone want to think about how many barbel rivers they have fished / caught from?

Worth a thread anyone?

 

[cg74]

My first barbel came in 1988 from the River Cherwell at Upper Heyford, caught on waggler fished maggots. I spotted a few fish rolling under the water (thought they were carp), 1st cast I missed a bite, 2nd cast produced a barbel of 9lb 12oz.
(that said I've got a feeling it may have been 1986??)

My first double was caught in 1992 from the Muscliffe stretch of the Dorset Stour, it weighed in at 11lb 2oz. The next day I had another double of 11lb 6oz from Longham (Dorset Stour), both were caught on link legered lobworms.

 

[barbelboi]

Ah you mean banana fingers, a phrase conjured up by Bob Reynolds back in the early sixties, when commenting on pics of pike and barbel.

Interesting comment Derek as Bob also used to use banana paste at Billing in the late 50's/60's (although he used to kid some that he used banana pieces - especially the 'circus' that used to highjack his swims once night fishing was available to all from the early 60's.)
Jerry

 

[bennygesserit]

Never caught a Double , only ever caught one river barbel - roughly 4 pound ( My Dad said ) probably circa 1975 fishing from our caravan site in Bridgnorth , above us on a Hill we could hear and see the Steam engines of the Severn Valley railway.

Caught on Maggot feeder and small cubes of luncheon meat put straight on the hook , not hair rigged , and kept on with a blade of grass. caught numerous massive , to me any way , chub that day on the same method. We kept it in a keep net till I went and fetched the box brownie .

Its funny I have caught numerous commercial carp but can only remember the first one I caught , but I can remember that first barbel like it was yesterday.

 

[barbelboi]

Benny, I doubt if any used the hair rig in '75. I believe that Kevin Maddocks and Lenny Middleton popularized it a few years after that date.
Jerry

 

[bennygesserit]

Benny, I doubt if any used the hair rig in '75. I believe that Kevin Maddocks and Lenny Middleton popularized it a few years after that date.
Jerry

You know I did wonder that as I was writing it , I sometimes wonder if I had gone back in time and told my old man about hair rigging whether he would have caught more, such a simple yet effective idea though.

I am sure when we stayed in Bewdley during the sixties that a guy caught a barbel , by the bridge that was nearly 10 pounds , and this was close to the record at the time - maybe ? I do remember , even at that very young age , picking up the fact that my Old Man seemed a bit jealous.

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

I have some lovely letters from Peter Wheat, that I treasure, and one of our discussion points was about hair rigged baits....and was it "fair"

He pointed out in detail in his reply that the Najavo Indians used hair rigged fish on a sort of trident hook in about 20 BC! or earlier.

Amazing.

Benny, you need to get out if you can and catch some more. plenty around that area. If you ever are around my part of the world, I'll happily take you out to try and at least double your score. You might have to pay your petrol though

 

[barbelboi]

All interesting stuff Graham and probably most angling inventions are re-inventions/popularizing, etc.

Here's a translation from part of an article from a European magazine-

Die Welt assumed long years Boilie were invented including hair assembly of the Englishmen. Fred Wilton made the hard seal ball popular in the 1970's on the island, few years later devised Len Middleton then still the ingenious hair assembly. Thus one thought anyhow until a few years ago. Then an English fishing rod journalist browsed for the first time into French fishery literature. When sifting he found the allegedly English inventions in the books of the carp angler legend Raoul Renault already 40 years in former times: hard seal balls, offered at the hair and even the self hooking assembly, and all this already into the 1930er years!....................................Na, I don't believe the French invented them either

 

[Paul Boote]

This might be straying into dear old "Ron Territory", but I reckon that if anyone did the hair first it was Indian "tank" (water-supply reservoirs, village ponds, lakes etc) anglers fishing for carp species like rohu and catla (both can be mighty fish and are good fighters). Somewhere, somewhere, somewhere in my library of Indian angling titles is a mention of cotton-attached bait separate from the hook when fishing for these finicky biters beneath a reed, quill (plenty of peacocks) or light wood float (probably the Indian Lift Method!), a technique that was seen by the British angler sahibs when they ventured to see what the locals were fishing for. Don't take it as gospel from me, but it's been niggling my memory for some time ever since the time years ago when I was reading my Indian titles a lot. Until I have the courage to unearth and unbox those books, I am going to leave it that, before the 43rd Rig War breaks out.


http://youtu.be/Ln5QgeCL1fs

 

[cg74]

You might have to pay your petrol though

Graham, you're a bleedin' cheapskate.

 

[Chris Hammond ( RSPB ACA PAC}]

Bluenose. Yes thats why I want to fish them, especially the Dove.

I know it's been doing some very large barbel last few years, although understand they are not coming from the most scenic stretch.

I hanker more now for the beauty of the suroundings rather than the Fish size.

Hard hat on, but love the Royalty for the history, but not the place itself ....especially when there are many pretty places to fish the Hants Avon.


Just my opinion.

Anyone want to think about how many barbel rivers they have fished / caught from?

Worth a thread anyone?

They are pretty much a 'holiday' species for me. The nearest decent barbel fishing is fifty or so miles away. I fished for them a bit for a period but never managed anything bigger than my pb of 9lbs 12ozs. However I've caught them from:

Hampshire Avon
Dorset Stour
Severn
Kennet
Teme
Great Ouse

 

[Judas Priest]

Once again I agree with your sentiments Graham. At the period of my fishing life where the size of the quarry doesn't matter it's about the surroundings and the folks I fish with.

Rivers/waters I've been lucky enough to catch barbel from

Thames
Loddon
Kennet
St Pats
Borough Marsh stream
Hants Avon
Dorset Stour
Warks Avon
Bristol Avon
Upper/ middle/ lower Severn
Vyrnwy
Teme
Dove
Dane
Dee
Upper/ middle/ lower Trent
Ribble
Yorks Derwent