has anyone noticed an absence of smaller barbel in their prefered rivers, i dont mean 10 oz fish i mean fish ranging from 3 lb to 6 lb ,
its only my personal experiences but i find that the rivers that can( produce and sustain large barbel) have a distinct lack of these smaller fish .
if this is so what do we put this down to. and if so what is to follow these larger barbel.
LOST GENERATIONS OF BARBEL
| Author | Comment | ||
|---|---|---|---|
 night loner |
LOST GENERATIONS OF BARBEL |
Lead | |
|
Posts: 19 (11/07/08 14:10) |
|
||
|
Lord Paul of Sheffield |
|||
|
Posts: 77 (11/07/08 14:20) |
Could it be the bigger fish shove the smaller out when competing for the bait -so they are the ones caught?
|
||
|
Fred Bonney |
|||
|
Posts: 478 (11/07/08 14:22) |
Hello your Lordship
No absence in the Trent. |
||
|
bluestaff |
|||
|
Posts: 112 (11/07/08 14:23) |
How do you know the river only holds bigger barbel
ya keep blanking.Dont get lip out   
|
||
|
Lord Paul of Sheffield |
|||
|
Posts: 78 (11/07/08 14:25) |
Hi Fred
I join in here once in a while - when I have something to add - which is not often |
||
|
night loner |
|||
|
Posts: 20 (11/07/08 14:29) |
dont tell everyone john, ? but seriously it would be interesting to know if rivers like the kennet, avon, stour , great ouse , and all the other big fish
waters , have the same problem (if in fact there is a problem) ??
|
||
|
bluestaff |
|||
|
Posts: 113 (11/07/08 14:39) |
Ive only ever had very small barbel out of the severn.The smallest barbel Ive had out of the
Yorkshire rivers is around 2lb . I do think if the crayfish population continues to increase then we will have a massive problem with the future generations in all the rivers. |
||
|
trypewriter |
|||
|
Posts: 359 (11/07/08 17:10) |
On some rivers the smaller barbel don't tend to inhabit the same areas as the big ones, and anglers being anglers they tend to target the big fish areas.
Find some very shallow water and float fish it and you might just find those smaller barbel.
|
||
|
gabby14 |
|||
|
Posts: 208 (11/07/08 17:18) |
i fish two rivers, one is all big barbel and chub, the other is all small stuff
maybe what happens is the big ones are so prolific mother nature puts the brakes on ??????? the small barbel rivers might peak in this way in years to come ???????
Kipper Bait 08............applicate presentate obliterate (in my own little world bill
 )
|
||
|
PIKER4234 |
|||
|
Posts: 76 (11/07/08 17:33) |
there are small barbel in the taff aswell chap
|
||
|
bluestaff |
|||
|
Posts: 117 (11/07/08 17:38) |
Has anybody ever had barbel under 1£ in the swale
|
||
|
Barbeldoctor |
|||
|
Posts: 900 (11/07/08 17:39) |
Good mix of sizes on the river I fish - no really small ones (under, say, 3lb) that get caught regularly but everything in between from 3lb-whackers....
|
||
|
barbeltastic |
|||
|
Posts: 820 (11/07/08 17:41) |
If a river produces a very high average size of fish, the chances are that it has poor suitable spawning habitat, hence there are few young fish coming through
to compete for the available grub and limit the growth potential of the bigguns!
|
||
 rockie99 |
|||
|
Posts: 256 (11/07/08 17:49) |
On the WAvon alot of people, including myself, have been catching barbs much smaller than in recent years; I'm talking fish of 1.5lb upwards.
The WAvon also holds doubles up to just the other side of 16lb (the ones that have been reported anyway), and the doubles have been coming out this season too, so not sure that whatever 'the issue' is has hit us in Warks/Worcs. ATB Never give up - There's always tomorrow! |
||
|
night loner |
|||
|
Posts: 21 (11/07/08 18:16) |
thanks rockie, no issue, mate or any scare mongering intented,
the river that i have concentrated on for the last six seasons , is pristine in just about every way , and the barbel that we catch are unblemished, its just that it seems , there is an undoubted lack of smaller barbel. but having said that , the previous posters might have a point , it could be the way that i fish, (a) under cover of darkness, (b) with my pre baiting techniqes , baiting up before dark for several hours before a hookbait is put in . (c) because i can only fish at night i tend to fish the pegs that hold bigger fish. but having said all this i would have thought that a few smaller barbel would put in an appearance somewhere along the line. could there be any credence (dont know if iv spellt this right) like the locals on the severn used to say the barbel hoover up all the chub eggs , and so have taken over the river, ?????????? could they be keeping their own numbers down ?? by doing just that |
||
|
Anonymous Demotivator |
|||
|
Posts: 6 (11/07/08 18:43) |
Weve had lots from the river teme earlier in this year. we have been struggling to catch them now becuase of the rain making the river muddy. when we can see
them again we will catch more. there are more people fishing now wich makes it harder to.
ANONYMOUS
|
||
|
Geoff Flower |
|||
|
Posts: 32 (11/07/08 19:24) |
Caught a fair few that size from the Medway so no absence there, its always nice cathing them that size as it proves they are spawning ok and growing
|
||
|
Paul Boote |
|||
|
Posts: 2456 (11/07/08 20:26) |
trypewriter wrote: Yes. Just so. There are distinct "nurseries" on a healthy barbel river (a river in good enough nick to permit regular successful spawning). I know several on the rivers that I fish, and take delight in visiting them from time to time and throwing "the babies" a little feed to draw them out of cover and show themselves. I found a new nursery just last week, on a stretch that I had previously considered virtually barbel-free: walking in the mid-morning sunshine at 11.15 along a lightly weeded, fastish, gravel shallow, hoping to spot a modest chub at best, I stopped, looked into the water a few yards from where I stood among the bankside vegetation, and there were a couple of barbel of less than two pounds apiece, tails waving, bodies rolling, heads down in the gravel after nymphs and shrimp. They became aware of me after three minutes, and edged away, across the current, under a bed of ranunculus. Totally invisible ... "No fish in there, mate..." So now I am looking for the nearest bit of likely looking deeper water, above or below them - this could be where their grandmas are lurking. |
||
|
night loner |
|||
|
Posts: 23 (11/07/08 20:28) |
wow, i think i ought to get out more in daylight , thanks paul,
|
||
|
whatwife |
|||
|
Posts: 768 (11/07/08 20:42) |
Geoff,
thanx for the info on smaller barbel on The Medway. Last season I posted that I thought there was a dearth of them as, ahem, I only caught reasonably bigguns (to very loe 10's). This season I've lost one (6-8ish) and caught one, at 3.03, and I know others have had fair few of the smaller classes. So now methinks our river is doing ok... best, whatwife |
||
|
Anne70 |
|||
|
Posts: 1 (11/07/08 20:51) |
Hello all, I'm new, I have been lurking for a while and have finally plucked up the courage to post. So here goes.
With the biomass of fish on some rivers being dominated by very large fish it leaves little room for smaller fish of that species.. I have heard that many of the large fish at Adams mill are now dead due to Otter predation, I predict that within 5 years fish of 4-5lbs will start to appear and 15 or so years later, Adams mill may have the record back. Don't worry about the lack of small fish , as the big ones die, they will be replaced. Anne
|
||
- BFW Barbel Talk
- BFW River Reports
- BFW Other Species Fishing board
- BFW Social board
- BFW Barbel basics
- BFW Members
- BFW Swim Analysis
- Technical help
- Barbel and Fishing Classified
- Miscellaneous Classified
- Archive 1
- Archive 2
- Archive 3
- Archive 4
- Archive 5
- Archive 6
- Archive 7
- Archive 8
- Archive 9
- Archive 10
- Archive 11
- Archive 12
- Archive 13
- Archive 14
- Archive 15
- Archive 16
- Archive 17
- Archive 28
- Archive 29
- Archive 30
- Archive 31
- Archive 32
- Archive 33
- Archive 34
- Archive 35
- Archive 36
- Archive 37
- Archive 38
- Archive 39
- Archive 40
- Archive 41
- Archive 42
- Archive 43
- Archive 44
- Archive 45
- Archive 46
- FAQ topics
- 2001 to 2002 Season River Reports
- 2002 to 2003 Season River Reports
- 2003 to 2004 Season River Reports
- 2004 to 2005 Season River Reports
- 2005 to 2006 Season River Reports
- 2006 to 2007 Season River Reports
- 2007 to 2008 Season River Reports
- Moderators area
- Admin
Quick Reply
