Lower Severn Barbel Brace

A superb catch, that 13 is beautiful, and looks very familiar. I will have to get the photo's out when I get homebut I'm fairly sure I recognise it from a couple of mates pics.

Many congratulations, I'm very envious!

Congratulations on the fine brace Pat, but particularly for your comments on the rumour and conjecture, a very fine explanation.

Having only fished the Severn on one occasion, the things I have heard of multiplebarbel losses were very hard to believe.

How a massive river, most of which is unfished, can be thought to be devoid of barbel seems to beself prophesying really.

The more people that rely on the heresay, that barbel have all gone to sea, the less people fish, and consequently fewer barbel are caught.

A very good and sensible read, thanks.

Pretty much agree with all of Pat's obsevations.

The thought that many barbel have been washed out to see was always ludicrous to me.

The bigger fish are certainly more thin on the ground but they are still around to be caught as Pat has shown.

Lots of barbel were caught off the stretch I fish this summer and there were a few doubles among them.

Without barbel anglers fishing for them, the fish will move, no bait, fewer fish..............simple really.

Another stretch I know quite well produced a good number of doubles, but you had to be there at the right time or create your own right time by puuting days together and piling the hemp in.

The Lower Severn is still a great barbel venue but it needs more anglers on the bank fishing for them!

I prefer the natural food theory myself, but I suspect at least some fish were lost, more likely in fields than the sea.

stillwater fish went wandering (reference 20lb+ grass carp), so it stands to reason that river fish also went exploring? I would have thought that the tendancy to seek out pastures-new would have been integral to the evolution of fish...?

Lovely catch, lovely write-up

I was expecting you to say how you were pestered by pasty carp as these were certainly stocked in their thousands in Summer 07.

While we are on the the Lowertopic- are there any REAL men out there catching barbel form the REAL lower severn i.e. below Tewkesbury Weir? Try as I might- I am not manly enough to catch one.

Dougal, I have................................. in '94 /forum/smilies/smile_smiley.gif

Jus had a read of your artical.

Pukka brace good angling,brings back happy memories of flood fishing the Bristol Avon.

This is another river whose Barbel poulation has apparently dissa peard.I myself am in exile in barbeless cornwall before my return overseas but never the less I still keep my finger on the Avons fishy pulse.

A few seasons back me and a mate had some very good autumn/winter catches of Barbel with a fair few big chub as a welcome bonus.

Now from what I can gather the stretch of the river has been very poor for the last few seasons.My mate cany find or catch a Barbel in any of the usuall spots!The big Chub 5lb+ have also vanished.

Now I dont believe for one minute that all the fish are dead.However something is going on.Some of the Barbel and chub were old and tatty and may have died of old age but where have all the mid sized fish gone?Surely these fish should be showing up.

Possible theorys I have heard are

1: The fished have been washed out to Sea during the prolonged floods.Well I rekon thats twoddle,we all know that fish have been aroung for a long time and are natures design.Just watch Barbel and Chub in shallow fast water if you get the chance.They make it look effortless.

2: Polish have eaten them.I cant comment as I have not been to the river recently but the fish were never easy to catch with the best gear/methods avaliable so a few Poles with hand lines??Also the stretch is baliffed on a daily basis by the land owner.Dont think this one is the reason.

3: Otters and Mink have had a feast.This could carry some truth as I have seen both Mink and Otter on the River when I was fishing it.I also caught a number of Barbel with Otter damaged tail's.The damage is like a couple of inch 90 degree cut that looks as if done with a pair of scissors.This might explain the sudden abundance of small fish??

4: The fished have wised up to the methods/tactics.This is some way belieavabe but there are also some good anglers using quality bait.

5: General warmer weather/climate providing a much higher amount of natural food meaning the fish would be less inclined to need bait to suppliment their diet.Again a plausible theory but would a fish be able to ignore free quality bait evren if naturals were plentyfull?

6: The fish have moved.This is very possible too.The stretch is a few miles long and has a weir at both ends so the fish cant go to far BUT as much a 60% of it is never fished due to alot of it being unfishable because of the nature of the river bank,also people always gravitate to known previous productive swims.When I was having good catches it was from a very bland seemingly featureless bit of the river that was a long way from the favoured swims.However according to my mate who still fishes the river,the secret spot is not producing any more despite the swim seeming to be unfished.Could they have moved again.

7: Alien abduction!!!The fish are all in a river on Mars.Yep thats my theory.

I reckon a lot of the fluctuations in barbel catches each season are down to fish movements more than anything else.

A classic example of this is a certain stretch of the Upper Trent that a mate of mine has fished for the last few seasons. Two seasons ago a guy fishing this stretch regularly had in the region of 20 doubles including one truly huge fish for the river. The season after he only caught 1 barbel all season. The fish had simply moved elsewhere and has with the Lower Severn and has steveo also saysthe Bristol Avon, a lot of the river is unfishable so they could be anywhere.

Steve Pope wrote ; Without barbel anglers fishing for them, the fish will move, no bait, fewer fish..............simple really. I totally agree with this and especially on rivers like the Lower Severn.

I know that a lot of carp got washed into the river but thatdoesn't necessarily mean that a lot of barbel have got washed away or been lost in the fields etc. After all the carp have been thrown into an envoiroment that is foriegn to them, whereas the barbel is perfectly adapted to a flooded envoiroment and very often can be found in the middle of the river even during a flood.I have fished the middle Severn in heavy floods and seen barbel come clean out of the water in the middle of the river where i doubt you would have held bottom with a pound of lead. This just shows what thay can put up with.

There have definately been more bigger fish caught further upstream the last couple of seasons which i believe is down to some fish migrating from the lower river. This is to me the beauty of river fishing - they are truly wild fish and we as anglers never really know where thay will turn up.

Cheers, Pat

The more I think about this, the more I believe it is down to a combination of many factors, rather than one or two in isolation. floods '07 was definately the catalyst though.. (in my opinion)

Hi Darren,

I see on the BFW site that you wanted to see a picture of the 13 from the other side for comparison reasons. Not sure how to upload a picture into one of these comments, but if you look at the Quest Baits website - click on the blog and you will see an article i did on winter barbel baits - the picture at the top of the article is of the other side of the fish (which if anything is its best side).

Cheers, Pat

Thank Pat,

I've had a look and while I can't confirm it is a match, I also can't rule it out either. They are both in such good condition (little in the way of distinguishing features), and similar size and colour, that it's very hard to tell.

Cheers

I'm jealous. Ican't wait to fish the Lower Severn again. This was my favourite venue for a season or two, but I haven't been there more than once or twicesince the floods of 07 - and this summer I sold the car so it's pushbiking to venues these days and only the lower lower lower Severn is within cycling distance... at least until I'm a bit fitter!

Derek

The more I think about the poor fishing on the avon a pattern appears.

I completetly agree with the bait theory.

Ie the more anglers that hear the river is no good the less anglers will fish.which means less fish caught less bait and so it go on and on with less anlers and bait and fish caught etc.

When I think back to my most successfull seasons there is always an item which crops up.BAIT pure and simple.

I rekon that wild fish will graze the river for food.They know exactly where and when to find food.Some areas will hold more natural food "hotspots?"

When my best seasons occured I was baiting the river heavily every 2 days.When I wasnt fishing a mate was fishing the same areas and he also baited the area and I believe the only reason the area was so consistantly good was the continuous supply of bait.I rekon from October to the end of the season we put approx 300 kilos of halibut/trout pellet and 40 kilos of boile in a 100 yard stretch.

I dont think it was a coincidence that the fishing was so good.

The river now see hardly any bait and the fishing is poor.I think the fish have gone back to their natural feeding habits.To gain consistant success on lightly stocked rivers I believe you need to find a good natural area where the fish will feel happy and safe to feed then this area needs tohave a constant supply of bait.The fish will soon move onto an easy food source.Then its just up to you to catch them

Steveo,

Absolutely spot on.

No angler, no bait, no barbel!!

It is the most simple of equations and is the essence of barbel fishing success or failure on most rivers and certainly the Lower Severn.

I always likened the river to a motorway, you create service stations for the fish, they will soon find them.

Anyone who doubts should just try it.

All the best.

Its always been noticeable on my syndicate over the last couple of seasons, that the lad's who are up for 2 or 3 days invariably do better that us 'day' anglers.

Its no coincidence that the first night is generally slow, with the fishing getting progressively better for the next night or two.

Steve

A superb brace Pat, well done.

Without wanting to sound smug, I haven't really struggled to catch this season at all,

(except ironically at the BS do at Beauchamp!Hi Steve, hope you are well and catching a few /forum/smilies/smile_smiley.gif),

So I don't really buy all this lost barbel stuff. As Pat said they sat behind rocks and weathered it out.

Nor do I buy this lack of angler's baits theory.

One thing no one seems to consider is that in a mighty river like the Severn those floods can be likened to a freak hurricane that irrevocably changes the underwater landscape.

Previous banker swims become devoid of fish because the giant snag they used to hang near is now 100 miles downstream.The barbel are still there but some have been made homeless and have movedon tonew features/locations.

Ultimately most barbel anglers are creatures of habit and they will be fishing the same swims that were good last season, hence the bad results.

If you put food in the right place there are still plenty of barbelto be caught.

Isn't it nice having a civilised discussion about barbel fishing? /forum/smilies/big_smile_smiley.gif

We should post whiskers-related stuff in the General Fishing section more often... /forum/smilies/wink_smiley.gif

PS in case you haven't seen it yet please check out this LOWER SEVERNrelated thread.

Unfortunately due to work commitments I've had to postpone the fish-in...

Hi ****y,

For the life of me I can't understand why all barbel related discussions are not conducted in a respectful manner, perhaps things really are changing, I hope so.

I agree with you about the changing face of popular swims.

The two or three points put together give us the answer I believe, and only more anglers out there seriously looking for the barbel will prove it one way or the other.

Try and get along to the meeting in Ludlow, I fully expect this topic to be at the forefront of any discussions.

Have a good Christmas and good luck with your studies.

Steve.

Hi Steve,

As much as I'd like to, I don't think I'll have time to come to the Ludlow do; I have a lot on my plate at the mo. But once things settle down workwise, I wouldn't mind a re-match at Beauchamp; so I'll be in touch.

Have a good Christmas and new year mate,

Kind regards,

****y