This may be a Barbel site but the information on here is fascinating all the same, improving my knowledge on all sorts of fishing has NEVER stopped me catching Barbel and I have to say I learned a very great deal from Chris’s posts that WILL improve my Barbel fishing.
Angling is a huge subject, we can always learn something and like many on here I don’t only fish for Barbel, so keep it up Chris I for one am fascinated.
For example there is reference in Chris’s post to Ammonia, this is a chemical excreted by Maggots, for this reason I have for years flavoured my Maggots to mask the smell of Ammonia, I only ever flavour them lightly as I firmly believe “less is more” and I rigorously clean my bait before I add the flavour, usually the night before I fish.
I have noticed that my catches have improved quite markedly since I started to do this.
If anyone is interested in flavours, read Archie Braddocks excellent book “Fantastic Feeder Fishing” (ISBN 0 948584 09 2), I think it is out of print now but I am sure one can be found on flea bay.
This fantastic little book will open your eyes, AND will catch you a lot more Barbel.
Jay, on the lakes near to my house, when we get a warm misty night after rain or when there is a heavy dew and no moon, we sometimes see Eels crossing the areas that have thicker grass, to get into the river that runs down the side of the lake, I have seen this myself on several occasions.
Only once have I found them on my own, but since I have had my Spaniel, he has found them more often, they tend to be big fish returning to the river,. I have never seen small Eels going the other way!
As for pellets, I rarely use them in summer and avoid their use in winter totally, I tend to fish highly pressured waters and the use (note I said use, NOT overuse) of pellets seriously restricts my sport throughout the year, it is for that reason that I do things a little differently.
Being an old git I have fished for Barbel for just over 48 years (I caught my first one when I was 9), in that time I have caught thousands of Barbel, of those fish I have caught over 70% were on Maggots (I include Squatt, Pinkie, Dead and Caster within this figure), fishing Maggot can be hard work, I do not just chuck it out and hope and nor do I accept “current thinking” I tend to work hard for my fish, I used to fish for Barbel in the conventional way but for the last 4 years I have not fished after dark and I almost never fish on the tip.
This has not restricted my catches in any way, this season I have taken 74 fish from a water that is fairly prolific and to be frank quite easy, the Barbel go to about 11lb and most people fish pellets as bait, of those fish I caught about half were taken on either Hemp or Elderberry, two were on pellet and the rest were on Maggots.
This water is not one I fish seriously, although I do use it as a place to get a bend in my rod between lean spells when fishing other much harder waters.
However I have so far had a very good season while fishing for bigger Barbel the four biggest being 17-10, 15-05, 14-09 and 14-07 plus four other “doubles”, all of these fish have been taken on Maggots, and only one has been taken while ledgering.
I am not sharing this information to show how clever I am, as I am not, there are FAR better anglers than me out there, my point is that pellets are not the be all and end all, for Barbel fishing and “Carbaling” is not the only way.
I recently upset someone on this forum while discussing a rig, it was not my intention at all, his rig would probably work well enough, I was trying to encourage some alternative thinking, we are pounded in the comics and the mags as to how to fish for Barbel, I merely point out that ledgering a pellet or a boilie, is not the only way to catch Barbel!
Doing the same as everyone else, will result in catching the same as everyone else!
For me that is simply not good enough!!
Tight lines chaps.
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