ADTV Specimen Series - Big Weir Barbel

In the build up to my session, we have experienced some heavy rain and driving up the road to the stretch it was obvious that the river was in flood, and the already powerful flow from the weir had stepped up a gear! However, when most people would consign themselves to losing a days fishing, barbel are more than happy to feed in these conditions, as long as you can find the right spot.

To do this, I like to have a quick chuck about with a 5oz lead to see if I can hold bottom, because if I cannot hold bottom with this amount of weight, it is probably too fast for the barbel to feed. This allows me to find an area where the flow is slightly slower and hopefully where the barbel have shoaled to get out of the main flow. I soon find a spot behind the floating pontoon out of the main rapids where I can just hold bottom with 5oz. 

In these conditions, I tend to err on the side of caution before introducing a big amount of bait, so I have decided to use a small PVA Bag packed full of a mixture of boilies and pellets, lightly hooked with my Sticky Baits Krill Dumbell hookbait. This gives just amount of bait to trigger a bite, but to keep some bait going into the peg, I like to re-fresh my rods every 30 minutes so there is always some bait in the swim to draw in a big barbel.

This has instantly worked, as just when I was looking at the river and wondering if we would get a bite, the rod has whacked over and I after a short fight, I have landed a small barbel, which although not the size I am after, is a good sign!  

The combination of a powerful river current and a fighting fit barbel, means that even the smallest weak point in your tackle will be exposed, so heavy, durable gear is a must! For these conditions, I like to use the 2.75lb top section on my Advanta Barbel Twin Tip Rod, paired with a free spool reel loaded with 15lb mono fishing line. This may seem heavy for barbel but trust me, when playing even a small barbel in this flow you will need every single ounce of that test curve. 

Rig wise, I am using a simple free running set up with a 5oz grippa style lead. My hookling comprises of two sections, a long first section which is make from 15lb Korda IQ Fluorocarbon and this is attached loop to loop to a short section of 15-20lb soft braid at the hook end. On this loop to loop, I have an anti tangle sleeve over one loop and a small blob of tungsten putty on the other loop. As I am fishing small dumbell hookbaits, a size 10 strong wire hook is absolute perfect. 

Going into the evening, I soon get another bite on the rods, which is a chub rather than a barbel. After refreshing the rods a couple of times, I feel that there is enough bait in the peg to get a bite during the night, but unfortunately no bites are forthcoming apart from another chub at first light. At this point, the flow has picked up even more now, and with time running out it looks like another session is going to be needed when the river is close to normal conditions. 

Another couple of weeks past, and I am soon driving down the long road to the fishery and I am pleased to see the flow a lot more managable than my last visit with the levels down well over a meter. I've started off with the same approach, and the same as last time, I get another bite, but to my surprise it is another good chub. Shame we weren't doing a Chub Specimen Series! 

After a biteless few hours, I am starting to feel that the cautious feeding approach is not working, and with most of my fishing involving an aggressive feeding approach to catch specimen fish, I decide to get the bait dropper out and cast 2-3 bait droppers over both my spots, behind the floating pontoon and in the main river flow. 

For this feed, I want a mix with a lot of different size particles which will keep the fish feeding for longer, but offers some larger particles so that my hookbait doesn't stand out too much to any wary fish. My favourite mix is a combination of 4mm halibut pellets, Sticky 2.3mm Krill Pellets, Hempseed and 12mm Sticky Baits Krill Active Boilies. Similar to my feeding when fishing the PVA Bags, I will not just feed with the bait dropper once, but will keep topping up the bait on both spots every hour during the daylight hours. 

While waiting for a bite behind the rods, I start speaking to a few locals who inform me that this is not always the best area for the barbel with the sill of the weir being a proven hot spot. Therefore, I decide to rest my original spots after another 2-3 large bait droppers and move to the swim right in the main froth of the weir.

After a couple of hours with only a couple of small taps on the tip, I decided to stick to my guns and move back to my original spot. The rest seems to have done some good, as I quickly get a bite which turns out to be a small barbel, and going into the night, I am feeling a lot more confident that my approach is the right one. 

Just when I think the night was go by without a bite, in the early hours of the morning, I soon find myself attached to another fish, and I can quickly tell that this is a completely different size to anything hooked before, as it is has my rod bending to a point I thought not possible.

After a few dicy moments with the floating pontoon, I soon manage to slip the net under a lovely big barbel, which I am sure will smash our target. Carefully slipping him in the sling, the scales soon show a weight of 14lb 4oz which is my largest barbel from the River Trent and my biggest for several seasons. 

Moving into the early hours of the morning, and with a 14lb barbel in the bank, when refreshing the rods, I decided to swap one of the rods from a dumbell to my favourite barbel hookbait, luncheon meat. Normally my fishing on the Trent is on the tidal sections where I cannot use this bait due to the abundance of mitten crabs, that rip the bait to shreds, but as this section is non tidal, I can't help but give it a go.

Soon enough, it looks like the tactical switch has worded as the rod is away again, and after another lengthy fight where my tackle is put to the limit again, I manage to scoop up another large barbel in amongst all the white froth, which tips the scales to just over 12lb. 

WIth not one but two doubles now, I can truly enjoy the last few hours of this amazing trip, and once again, the rod with the luncheon meat is off again and after an enjoyable fight, I am able to play another large barbel upstream before letting it flow into the net and at 10lb 7oz is another stunning fish and the third double of the session. With only an hour or so left, I am just contemplating packing away when I manage another savage bite which although not another barbel is a 5lb 6oz chub and a great way to cap off an amazing trip. 

Hopefully, this session has shown that although fishing for barbel on rivers can be challenging at times, the rewards are there to be had. So, if you have a river close to you with some Barbel give some of these tips a go and you never know you may have your PB Barbel in the net sooner than you think!