Is there a change in the countries areas of barbel population?

Many years ago when i started fishing the main places to target barbel were Hampshire,Dorset(Avon and Stour)and the Yorkshire rivers,then as fish were stocked around the country the amount of barbel fishing obviously increased,my main question is do those on FM believe that southern England(home counties south)seem to be in serious decline for our fish of choice(not possibly in size,but in numbers),with this rivers such as the Wye,Trent etc seem to be good.I am not looking for a new venue just interested in other anglers views.

Certainly not claiming to be an out and out barbel angler, but I think there has been a massive change in the distribution or population of my two "home" rivers (Hants Avon and Dorset Stour).

30/40 years ago I used to catch barbel fairly regularly by accident when trotting for dace, chub, roach or whatever. Now I can't remember the last accidental capture, other than when feedering for chub. It seems I have to fish for them by design before I hook one (sometimes!). I also recall many days in the long distant past where I have bagged up on barbel, catching many in a session. Multiple catches now seem very rare indeed.

The fish are obviously getting bigger and I've had a few from both rivers which 30 years ago would have been national news. However their distribution seems to be more localised than ever.

There may be smaller populations now and perhaps they are more pressurised and harder to catch (or maybe it's us making them harder to catch - I keep saying I'm going to give the "several gallons of hemp and caster a go again - but never have). There's also bound to be lots of other interlinked factors involved as well as cycles of good years and bad years. But it's not all bad news!

A couple of years ago I filmed barbel spawning on Throop (in late June!). I have never seen so many barbel of all proportions before. Apart from being spellbound, I couldn't help wondering where the hell did they all come from and where have they gone now??

Over the last couple of early seasons, Throop has occassionally produced a fair number of very small barbel, a good sign for the future. The lower Avon, particularly The Royalty has a big head of barbel of all sizes but that population has received additions via several stocking initiatives.

Two and three years ago, I had more barbel from a few trips to the Severn than all my sessions on Stour and Avon put together (thanks ****y!).

It's been said before, but I'm sure the shift in populations of barbel, and the big improving rivers is down to water conditions.

The smaller rivers are suffering too much abstraction.
Many of you I'm sure, will recall the tributries of the Thames when they were more than the overgrown shallow brooks they are today?

A recent nostalgic holiday to the Severn at Ironbridge tells me Barbel populations have changed dramatically over the last twenty odd years ..it was like fishing a different river to the one I knew so well,a few local enquiries confirmed that it was not just me.

It's a big river mate, I think you will find they've spread themselves out along it's length now.

Could be Fred but something was not right mate, just a gut hunch

The Ouse and the Lea are now over run by Barbel in the areas I fish, and trying to catch anything else is getting harder, infact on one part of the Ouse, you will only see Barbel, Chub and Perch with the odd pike. No sign of any silver fish at all.

One part of the Lea I fish, you will get almost nothing but Barbel, along with the odd chub. Now a couple of seasons ago you only got the odd Barbel.
It's not down to the Black Death flying over and taking the silver fish, I have never seen a Comorant on the water here, unlike the Ouse and other rivers.

As Ray said; parts of the river Lea are now full of Barbel & Chub and some large ones as well.

We currently don't have Otter or Cormorant problems on the upper Lea however a few members have seen the odd Mink. We don't currently have a foriegn Crayfish problem either. How long this is going to be true is anyones guess.

Back in the late 70s/80s my mates and I had to regularly travel all the way down to the river Kennet near Reading or to the Avon or Stour in Hampshire to have any chance of catching Barbel consistantly because the Barbel in the Lea were usually quite small and harder to find, but the situation seems to have reversed now.

Neil Maidment said:

Two and three years ago, I had more barbel from a few trips to the Severn than all my sessions on Stour and Avon put together (thanks ****y!).

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My pleasure mate, you're welcome anytime.