Fishing A Weir Pool

With the weather looking to warm up later in the week I`m thinking of taking a trip down to the Don and trying for some barbel. According to the guy at my bait shop the local weir pool has been producing some very good fish. Having done very little barbel fishing and never having fished a weir pool I`m after a few tips on where to fish the pool, what baits to try and what kind of rigs to use, ie short or long hook lengths, should the bait be pinned down or allowed to bounce around and anything else you can think of. All advice greatly appreciated.

The usual 'pools profile has a gulley all along its length immediately below where the water falls over and its often got fish in it that are searching for items of food, years ago I went for a swim in one of the wiers on the Trent and it is exactly like that, on the day after walking the whole length of it prodding around with my feet I took up my rod and had a nice barbel first cast to a spot where five minutes earlier I had been shuffling around, maybe I had disturbed some fresh food items ?. Cast around with a bare lead to see if the pool has any snags, deep spots shelves and shallow places, where the pool joins the river there is sometimes a gentle upward slope where fish take well .
After each winter floods the wiers run off will most likely change on account of it been scoured and new snags can be added and old ones lost so take care.
All methods/baits work on wiers so go prepared to use them.
They usually hold every species that the river has so expect anything on the day, anytime for a bite usually rules also as these places dont seem to run in the same manner as the rest of the river.
Do take great care tho as they can be dangerous places to fish. Take a variety of baits but keep your tackle methods simple but your line should be at best a little stronger than the main river.
Enjoy them /yours as they are an exciting dimension to any rivers make up.
The day before yesterday I fished a wierpool myself and had a total of eighteen good fish that I suppose must have been my best catch of the winter (not barbel but all big roach with the exception of two chub)they all took big lumps of trotted flake--classic stuff!!
Have a good day Niel-- hope it all works out for you!!.

I love weirpool fishing but, IMO, no two weirpools are the same and any given weirpool is constantly changing anyway. The only way to read a weirpool is by fishing it and your lead may well behave differently from session to session.. As barbel are able to cope with strong currents they tend to lie below the apron nipping out into the ‘fast’ water from time to time to feed. Don’t forget that the water at the bottom is much more gentle than what you see at the surface, the centre flow is also productive as are the sides for many species. Depending on conditions I use either a rolling ledger or a gripper lead and have had a lot of success with both, also if you find the snags the barbel will be there. For hook lengths I tend to go much shorter than I’d use for normal flow river conditions, no more than 12/14”.
Jerry

Cheers guys.

Flight, I was thinking of using 10lb line with an 8lb hooklength, that should be strong enough? (according to the local grapevine someone bagged a 13lber out of there last week) Or would I be better off fishing 10lb straight through?

Can`t see myself trying any float tactics as I don`t think I have any floats that can cope with such turbulent water. I take it you used something like a chubber float?

One last question. I`ll be using an avon type barbel rod, would I be better off using the quiver tip top section or the avon top section?

dangermouse said:

Cheers guys.

Flight, I was thinking of using 10lb line with an 8lb hooklength, that should be strong enough? (according to the local grapevine someone bagged a 13lber out of there last week) Or would I be better off fishing 10lb straight through?

Can`t see myself trying any float tactics as I don`t think I have any floats that can cope with such turbulent water. I take it you used something like a chubber float?

One last question. I`ll be using an avon type barbel rod, would I be better off using the quiver tip top section or the avon top section?

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Personally I never use a quiver for barbel - and for weirpools I'd always recommend the avon top with the rod 'sky'ed' to keep as much line out of the water as possible. These days for the weirpools I fish in normal conditions I generally use a 1.5t/c rod with 10lb mainline and 8/9lb hook length (there are some big snags and the barbel go to well over 17lb in the vicinity) and find that ideal - In the past I've had barbel to 14.10 from weirpools with this setup on a 1.25 Chimera without feeling undergunned.
Jerry

Cheers Jerry, much appreciated.

Neil, The avon top should be fine.
The other day I used a very simple crowquill float.

flightliner said:

Neil, The avon top should be fine.
The other day I used a very simple crowquill float.

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Oh that`s quite surprising, I would have thought the water would be too turbulent. I have a pretty heavy waggler (about 4 SSG IIRC), do you think that would work?

The wierpool was only small by comparison to the ones I usually fish, I was fishing a quite glide just away from the turbulant water.

Ah, I see, thought it was a bit strange

Good Question this. I agree with much that has been said before.

Under the weir sill. Even below the foaming, rushing water its amazing how steady the flow can actually be. And its a good place to start. Especially if you can drop it straight down the edge.

I would tend to use a large bait, like a cajun flavoured lump of meat or a good paste bait on the hook rather than hair rigged. Its often the place because of the back eddies, where debris will collect. If the river holds carp they will often collect there as well. Straight lead on heavier tackle is a good idea.

The main push will be an excellent spot for mixed fish, dace, chub, roach and barbel.
Simple straight forward maggot/caster and hemp feeder will bring up the fish even in apparantly fast water.

My favourite however will be the areas where the water evens out, often narrower and deeper, often with weed beds..................sometimes on the bigger weirs a hundred yards or so downstream.

Here the bigger fish, especially barbel will be. Back to the basic pellet and or boilie approach with pva bag or mini pellet filled feeder scoring well. Tackle for barbel ideally in these conditions, minimum 10lb line size 8 hook.

Good Luck

Graham

Thanks Graham, some useful info there. Not sure what you mean by "the main push" though?

As for bait, knowing me I`ll end up taking quite a selection. Meat, king prawns and whatever else I have laying around. I have about a mile of river to cover before I reach the weir so I`ll probably work my way up trying a few pegs as I go.