Twin rods point skywards, silhouetted against a setting sun. I’m relaxing on a bed chair, inches from the rod butts, but I’m not expecting to get much sleep. Earlier I spent ages setting my trap. A gallon of hemp and mixed pellets was introduced along with a kilo of boilies into an area perhaps four or five yards square.
It was a chub that found the bait first, as always, a succession of savage raps on the rod tips with no hook-ups materialising, even against 4oz feeders. How do they get away with it so easily? Okay you hook the odd one but the dismal ratio of pick-ups to hooked fish is perplexing.
And then a shoal of bream moved in. That’s more like it! If you can find bream, or should I say, when they find you, the barbel won’t be far behind. Yes, it’s a pain to catch bream that average anywhere between 4 and 8lb but I can remember a time when I’d give my eye teeth to catch fish like this.
Perhaps bream stir up the riverbed producing a bit of colour in the water, perhaps they give off a particular kind of vibration, or maybe barbel can hear them chewing. Laugh if you like but Mistral Baits introduced a boilie a while back containing ingredients that give them a crunch. Think about it, carp graze on mussels and snails and these are crushed in their pharyngeal teeth. Sound travels much better through water than through air, so is it too wild a theory to suggest one fish might be able to hear when another fish is eating? It might explain why one feeding fish triggers the next to join in.
Watch one fish feeding in clear water and it won’t be long before another appears. Feeding triggers more feeding so I don’t complain too much about those bream.
The only problem with having them in your swim is that you are never quite sure how much food they have eaten, that’s why I’m using a big feeder to keep topping up the swim.
Suddenly the downstream rod springs to life, the tip is yanked forwards and the reel’s drag screams in protest. I don’t use carp reels with a free spool facility for my barbel fishing, preferring instead to use a ‘proper’ fixed spool reel with the drag set fairly tight so it will only give line grudgingly when a fish takes.
Never mind, I’m sure a bigger fish will follow. Chances are I’ll catch quite a few barbel during this session and it is a numbers game.
Interestingly this fish fell to the downstream rod. A few years ago I carried out a meticulous comparison between the effectiveness of boilies and pellets. The only genuine conclusion I came up with was that I caught more fish on the downstream rod irrespective of the bait used.
I put this down to fish arriving in the baited area after following the scent trail, whereas Matt is convinced that the line above the feeder is a fish deterrent, hence his obsession with pinning down the line using leadcore leaders and back leads. Me? I use both approaches, leaning more towards camouflaging in daylight.
Midnight approaches. Bites have tailed off now as they so often do in the middle of the night. It’s been a good night so far with 8 scalps on the belt already, half a dozen schoolies between 5 and 8lb, one double and a near miss. There’s hardly been time for a brew never mind ‘sleeping by rods’.
I’m going to snatch a kip now things are quiet. With luck I’ll not get a take for a couple of hours or so and I’ll be ready for the dawn rush.
This kind of fishing is not everyone’s cup of tea.
So what?
It’s been labelled carbelling by some, derided for being a hybrid style, somewhere between carp fishing and barbel fishing. It isn’t. Anglers have been fishing for river carp using identical tactics for several decades now, especially on the River Trent. It is carp fishing. Unfortunately we don’t catch many carp and have to make do with catching barbel!
But hey, it’s not compulsory. You can touch leger if you prefer. You can freeline, trundle a lump of meat or even run a float through.
But if you want to maximise your catches on the big rivers, dig out the bite alarms, point those rods to the sky and break open the piggy bank because you’re going to need a fair bit of bait.
Rig suggestions
Heavy feeder rig
Big/ flat lead/ In-line rigs Tackle Recommendations:
Rod – depends more on the flow and the weight required to hold bottom rather the size of fish you are targeting but a general guide would be that you use a minimum 1.75lb test curve rod with a minimum 8 to 10lb line. Many anglers opt for light carp rods around 2.25lb test and lines around 12lb.
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any chance next time anyone does a article on the trent they could give use all a clue where they are fishing,or is such a big secret??? i`ve been fishing the trent for years and never found these vast shoals of chub and bream….
Where is a good day ticket stretch on the Trent? Staying at Fardon for a few days when the season starts and would love an afternoon/evening session?
Tight lines
Al
collingham is the place to be at the start of the season but its difficult to get a peg close to the weir which is where you need to be. i would try newark dyke on the scrap yard section and fish on the island try to get on the point, some big chub,barbel and bream get caught here, east stoke is also worth a go the early teens are the better pegs for barbel.
Cheers dude will defo give it a go,been chasing a double for last few seasons so there’s no better time than now!! Where can I get a day ticket, on the bank or a nearby tackle shop?
A1 pits across from sunken barge thats a hot spot
oryt does any 1 no where i ca go for the day and night campout stedy fishing and decent pegs ive fished the trent 1nce at collingham wier but dint catch
plz lee me a few tip joe 14 leeds
try smeatons caravan park at newark
Excellent article about the wonders of barbel fishing.
http://www.theriverangler.co.uk
Tight Lines
The River Angler
On my last fishing trip to the river Avon In Stratford upon avon was fishing for barble and had two dubble figer fish and lots more
down gunthorpe. go through the gate at the lock and walk right down to the next gate with the members only sign and there is a stony beach peg just before the gate
people could try fishing the river don where it runs down side of doncaster prison and runs under the new bridge iv got the don record barble weighing 15lb 8oz whitch made me a fox challenge winner
Hi Adam, I thought your fantastic 15lb 8oz fish came from above Sprotborough Wier? Tight lines Mike.
Hi Bob me and a mate are thinking of fishing Trent nr Smeatons park would you think we woud catch at this time of year in these conditions
i think the venue is collingham weir £5 to fish if you get peg 1 get ready for barbel fishing at its very best. it can fish slow thou its last tidal stretch on trent and difficult to find you need guiding in
if you ever in newark on trent or near by and looking for good local advice call in to Future Fishing and i will be able to help
http://www.futurefishing.co.uk/
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