Bait for virgin barbel

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Ian Morgan

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Hi all,

Have recently started to have a go at catching a barbel from the Clyde as I live quite close to one of the stretches they inhabit.

Do you think the fish will take the likes of luncheon meat or pellets if they have never seen them before? Worms and maggots are more 'natural' and are commonly used by the local trout anglers (any method is allowed) but small trout, minnows and eels can be a nuisance.

Actually I did catch a Clyde barbel on my first attempt (on maggot) - it weighed about 6 oz! What I thought was unusual was that as I unhooked it was expressing milt!

Always said they grow up early in Glasgow :)

Ian
 
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Deanos

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Hi Ian, I was chewing the same question over myself, I also noticed that on the Trent reports on FM that Trigga boilies were included as a bait on many of the postings plus maize plus the baits you have listed, I wonder if these could be added on to your list as a bait acceptable to the barbel without having to be introduced over a period of time to them??????.
Loads of luck to you in the new season Ian.
 
S

Sean Meeghan

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Ian I would try mixing a few pellets or some luncheon meat in amongst your maggots. This should give you more confidence, but I would have thought that both baits would be almost instant anyway. One approach to try would be to push luncheon meat through a riddle and then mix it with dead maggots. Kill the maggots by leaving them in a bag in your freezer for 24 hours. Use this mix in your feeder and fish a small piece of luncheon meat on the hook. A bit of prebaiting with luncheon meat would probably help as well.
 
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Terry D

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I would suggest that it is better to use a bait that they are more likely to be familiar with, so stick to maggots, casters and hemp for now. If you can put a lot of pellets or boilies in over a few weeks then it's worth giving them a try.
 
B

Bryan Baron 2

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Don't forget the old hemp and corn and cheese paste.

the old halibut pellet does deem to be a real fish taker and instant. Would try one on traditional and one on modern.
 
I

Ian Morgan

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I'll try a range of baits (as I have been doing) and see how I get on.

My main difficulty on the Clyde (as in all fishing?) is location. I have a stretch of about 2 miles of river that holds an unknown number of fish. Possibly very few. The Clyde always retains a tinge of colour so fish spotting is virtually impossible. The only account of capture that is reliable was from the same spot I caught my 6oz-er, but that's a very large pool popular with the local game anglers. I was fishing there the other evening, just wondering whether to move when a group of five arrived and started to set up about 15yds from me on the same pool. That made my mind up!

Anyway, enough whining! - just got to get on with it! Adopting a semi-roving tactic at the moment in the hope of dropping in on a fish.

I'll let you know if I have any success.

Cheers,

Ian
 
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Dave Burr

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Ian

Whatever you use put it over a bed of hemp, this has been the standard barbel attractor for decades and will get any fish foraging around your swim.

Hookbaits of corn or meat will be readily taken, to get the fish more used to your chosen bait make sure that you throw all your remaining corn/hemp into the swim at the end of the day.

Good quality pellets are also pretty instant and barbel are rarely slow in identifying them as a food source but they will tend to feed the fish more so beware, if you throw too many in and fish the next day they may not feed so readily with full, fat bellies.

Failing that there's the old favourite for all creatures north of the wall, deep-fried pizza fished over a bead of deep-fried mars bars, works every time.
 
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Deanos

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What flavour Pizza?and is that a king size mars bar Dave? :)))

When fishing over a "hemp bed", is the feed kept tight as possible and in a small area
i.e. by feeder or bait dropper or perhaps in ground bait ?handed in?(basic question I know but it will help me if you can clarify this Dave).
 
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Dave Burr

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As a general rule the tighter you can keep your feed the better so a dropper or feeder is much better than throwing it in by hand. If the fish really get going on the hemp just put a single hookbait of corn or a small pice of meat on top of it, don't put in any free offerings of the hookbait.

Another trick when the fish start to wise up to your attention is to feed hemp with a feeder and put a 2nd rod with your chosen hookbait about ten yards downstream of the feed bed, the bigger fish often hang back and will readily take a bait away from bed of hemp.
 
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Deanos

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Thank you Dave.
I am out this week for a night session, so can get started with a bit more confidence.
 
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Jonathan Whitham

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Is it just me or are there others out there who aren't getting this "bed of hemp" thing. Time after time I have tried putting down hemp - usually tightly placed with a bait dropper and results have been no better than just modest introduction of either boilies or pellets.

On the original question of virgin/scarce barbel I have the same issue with the Yorkshire Derwent - fish exist but are scarce. I would certainly rate pellets over meat but have recently been reading up on how often barbel will take a dead minnow, not unreasonable when you consider how much they love fish based pellets and boilies. I also think these will be attractive to big chub. If minnows are in abundance on the Clyde then this may well be worth pursuing. Good luck and remember the old adage - location, location, location.
 
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Deanos

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Very interesting points Jonathan,

I intend to use both hemp and small pellets as particle beds to see
how they rate against each other.
I watched a couple of river carp and a few of there chub mates going nuts
over loose fed hemp that I fed them on the first day of the season.
Unfortunately the carp would not take my baits?
But ?I will be back!?.
 
I

Ian Morgan

Guest
Jonathan,

There are certainly plenty of minnows on the Clyde. Actually I tried dead minnow on the Wye one time - got a cracking bite within a few minutes, steeled myself for a monster barbel....12oz perch! Still, probably worth a try again.

I agree that location is the key - at the moment I am struggling with this - only a single reliable capture report (two years ago), fish spotting not possible, and most of the trout anglers - who usually leger worm or maggot, never having seen or herad of barbel!

Keep trying...
 
N

Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA)

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Ian, you need to invite Chris and I up for a search party some time!!

Have you posted anything on the Barbel Fishing World site? They are usually pretty tuned in.

Best of luck.
 
I

Ian Morgan

Guest
Nigel,

If you seriously fancy it you'd be very welcome - would have to be either next month or probably not til end of October/into November. I start my first job as a junior doctor in Stirling on August 1st (off til then after this week), we move to Stirling August 11th (will then be about 45min- 1hr from river rather than current 10 min) and then our first baby is due mid-September!

There was a thread on BFW a while back about the Clyde, but none of the people who posted had actually fished it I think - certainly no-one was owning up to having caught one!

Currently there is a story going round the local tackle shop that a salmon angler foul-hooked and landed a 19lb barbel a couple of weeks ago in the area I'm fishing!!! Could the Ouse record be under threat - I very, very very (etc) much doubt it!

Cheers,

Ian
 
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Dave Burr

Guest
Ian

There are always stories of salmon anglers hooking monster barbel on every river that holds both species, take the information as a possible barbel location but the weight with a big pinch of salt.

And stop thinking about fishing, you've got way too much on your plate for the time being by the sound of things!!

Good luck with your new job and the imminent arrival of your new fishing companion.
 
I

Ian Morgan

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Dave,

Thanks for the best wishes - the baby is a boy so will be looking forward to passing on all I know about fishing.....so that should keep him amiused for 10 minutes or so!

Not sure I ever stop thinking about fishing for more than the odd day or two!

Cheers,

Ian
 
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