Ideal Temps

All I absolutly love fishing for Barbel when the rivers are in flood. As long as I can see the edge of the bank the higher the better. I love to stick a bait on the back eddys crease and I have always been successful. My PB of 12lb 2oz came from the summer floods and few years ago when my local river was up by +10ft. However now comes the time of the winter and for me there has been some debates within my local fishing fraternity that barbel can be caught froma little as 4c. I've got to admit this seems to be a little cold and I have only caught barbel from 8c or above. My local river, as most rivers are is currently in high flood but the temps are dropping. Do I or don't I attempt to fish below 8c. Have anyone caught below 7c?

The general view is that barbel feed down to a water temperature of 4.5 c.
However, they will feed on a rapidly rising water temperature from below that figure.
So they slow down as the water gets colder, but if we get some warm rains in on a southwesterley after a cold spell, then their feeding will kick in.

I've caught barbel in temperatures down to 4C. You do have to change your approach a bit though. Here are some of my thoughts as I explored winter barbel fishing:

1st article

2nd

3rd

The last article is interesting as I caught with the water temp at 3.8C. My opinion is that longer daylight hours in January and February are a factor in encouraging barbel to feed, but I could well be wrong on this.

Polo

There is a big difference between fishing a big summer flood and a winter one. In the warmth of summer the barbel can really get their heads down but at the moment the rivers are full of leaves and the temperature is dropping, that makes for a very different picture.

With all of the extra water about now, the temperature will hold a bit longer but it is definitely heading in the wrong direction. Also, as the water has been high for a week or more on many of our rivers, the fish will have had their big feed and will now have fallen into a 'normal' feeding routine. So don't expect it to be quite as productive as those quick, up and down summer floods.

Its still always worth having a go but hold back on the feed a bit and try to find a swim out of the main flow so that the debris problem is minimal. I'll be out tomorrow doing just that.

Dave i fish the Thames and am interested how much you cut back on feed(as i am feeding roughly 0.75-1.5pts of hemp & pellet in a session)and wonder if single hook-baits would work in the way carpers use them?