Datum Bericht: 31-03-08
Double click to edit
Hello to all. My name is Duncan Charman; l am 43 years of age and live in Aldershot, which is located in Hampshire, South East England.
To give you a very rough guide to where Aldershot is located in the southeast, draw a straight line from Southampton to London and place a cross in the middle of this line.
I would classify myself as an all-rounder targeting specimen size fish of all species. Some of my personal best are - Barbel 16lbs 10oz, Pike 31lbs 10oz, Perch 4lbs 9oz 8drams, Eel 7lbs 1oz 8drams, Tench 9lbs 10oz, Roach, Rudd and Grayling all over 3lbs plus having the privilege of holding two previous British records - Silver Bream 1lbs 13oz and Pumpkinseed 5oz!
This season my intensions are too target both Chub and Bream in the hope of increasing my best of just 5lbs 15oz and 10lbs 4oz, weights that are extremely poor for this country.
I am a consultant for both Korum who supply my tackle and the up and coming Sonubaits.com for quality bait that keeps the rod bending. I write for numerous magazines, including Total Coarse Fishing, Coarse Fisherman and Coarse Angling Today, along with more recently Angling Times.
This season my intensions are too target both Chub and Bream in the hope of increasing my best of just 5lbs 15oz and 10lbs 4oz, weights that are extremely poor for this country.
I am a consultant for both Korum who supply my tackle and the up and coming Sonubaits.com for quality bait that keeps the rod bending. I write for numerous magazines, including Total Coarse Fishing, Coarse Fisherman and Coarse Angling Today, along with more recently Angling Times.
Enough about myself lets move onto the rivers that surround my home, which are numerous. Before moving on to my beloved River Loddon lets talk about a tiny river within two miles from my home, the River Wey. This tiny Thames Tributary originates in the meadows around the small town of Alton, where l was born. Just ten miles further downstream, within a river l could jump across; well maybe twenty years ago live barbel-exceeding 16lbs! These barbel were introduced at quite a large size, some years back, as far as l know from one of our more famous rivers the Kennet. Now moving back to the River Wey’s Source in Alton l only heard this weekend that around this area tiny finagling barbel have started to appear, not stocked as far as l am aware, just appeared. This story is not isolated, the barbel have in the right environment started to become established, take over as the most dominant species and thrive with force.
This great little story thou does not cover some of our larger rivers that seem to have an imbalance where their stocks seem to have decreased over the years and one that has become more obvious after reading a book about the upper Thames by Peter Stone. This book describes how well distributed barbel were back in the 1950s but today very little seems to be published about this area, probably because the barbel have almost disappeared along with the anglers targeting them. The upper Thames does produce barbel, in fact only a couple of years ago the river record came from this area which seemed to put the Thames back on the map but apart from a few dedicated anglers prepared to put up with the signal crayfish little seems to filter through to the angling press. I have spent countless hours on the Thames over the last five years in search its exclusive carp and within this time been fortunate to take two magnificent fish over 30lbs, a common of 31lbs 15oz along with a mirror of 30lbs 2oz, a fish that was taken just hours before our country flooded after the July storms, however l have never hooked a barbel. The Thames is a truly magical river one that if l had to make choice, would spend the rest of my life on, and at the moment many of its reaches are free. For the foreign angler thinking of coming over for a trail it might well be a good starting point albeit hard and l would make sure you obtain some sound advise on location before even contemplating.
This great little story thou does not cover some of our larger rivers that seem to have an imbalance where their stocks seem to have decreased over the years and one that has become more obvious after reading a book about the upper Thames by Peter Stone. This book describes how well distributed barbel were back in the 1950s but today very little seems to be published about this area, probably because the barbel have almost disappeared along with the anglers targeting them. The upper Thames does produce barbel, in fact only a couple of years ago the river record came from this area which seemed to put the Thames back on the map but apart from a few dedicated anglers prepared to put up with the signal crayfish little seems to filter through to the angling press. I have spent countless hours on the Thames over the last five years in search its exclusive carp and within this time been fortunate to take two magnificent fish over 30lbs, a common of 31lbs 15oz along with a mirror of 30lbs 2oz, a fish that was taken just hours before our country flooded after the July storms, however l have never hooked a barbel. The Thames is a truly magical river one that if l had to make choice, would spend the rest of my life on, and at the moment many of its reaches are free. For the foreign angler thinking of coming over for a trail it might well be a good starting point albeit hard and l would make sure you obtain some sound advise on location before even contemplating.
Moving on from two such diverse rivers its time to discuss my favourite river the Loddon. Very little has been written about this moody river until the last few months but regarding specimen barbel its one of England’s best-kept secrets. This river, another Thames Tributary is relatively small and quite contrast to the Kennet that flows nearby. The Loddon in length is slightly over 45km and can be extremely contrasting from one stretch to another, but one that is common is that the river seems always to carry some colour even during summer and the average depth is deeper than that of what an ideal English barbel river should be. Although my river record of 16lbs 10oz still stands, l’m one hundred percent sure that a fish of 19lbs 2oz came from the stretch l concentrated on last winter. This somewhat huge discrepancy also goes to show just what angling in the UK is like, as barbel angling seems to carry a lot of secrecy with it and many anglers keep things very close to their chests. I believe that the UK record list is just a guide line to what the country has to offer as l am one of many that if privileged again to catch a record would not bother to go through the tidiest, unnecessary paperwork to claim such a fish, sad but true! As far as l am aware the river record for the Loddon stands at 19lbs 15oz, a truly remarkable fish and one that only needs to be caught by an angler that goes public. Wait and see, you saw it first that the Loddon will be a water soon to make history!
to edit
to edit
Barbel fishing in England is now huge. It will probably never take over from the carp fishing in popularity but there are many dedicated anglers that continue to write articles that seem to make it look like their are as many barbel anglers as carp. The rivers surrounding me seem to be getting busier by the year and who knows where it will end. Its amazing that every week we are reading that a new river record has been broken with fish exceeding 14lbs and from rivers that l have never heard off, tiny ones like the Wey!
My approach regarding tactics and bait on the Loddon is based around keeping everything as simple as possible along with staying extremely mobile. The stretches of Loddon l fish seem to be deeper and slower than what’s regarded as perfect barbel territory and during the winter you wont be able to see the bottom so fish spotting is out of the question. Many rivers, which allow fish to be visibly located, lend themselves to the ‘bait and wait’ tactic which incorporates lots of hemp and maggots to be steadily introduced to a swim creating competitive feeding between the fish. Once this competitive feeding is at its peak the angler casts and extracts as many fish as possible from the swim before they wise up and spook. This tactic is extremely effective in cold clear water conditions but in coloured water or on a river such as the Loddon it is virtually a non-starter. Unable to locate fish by sight the best way to get to know a river is to keep mobile, visiting as many swims as possible. Fish each swim for forty minutes and then move on. If a fish is caught or you get indications that fish are present then note them down and visit either later if you fail to catch or another day. By moving around you soon create a picture of fish producing areas and after a while your knowledge will allow you to extract the best from a stretch.
The above swim rotation system has proved extremely successful over the past few years on the Loddon and is one that can be adopted on other larger rivers. This mobile approach has helped myself land at least, twenty doubles this winter including fish of 15lbs 5oz and 16lbs 1oz.
The above swim rotation system has proved extremely successful over the past few years on the Loddon and is one that can be adopted on other larger rivers. This mobile approach has helped myself land at least, twenty doubles this winter including fish of 15lbs 5oz and 16lbs 1oz.
Only two rivers have produced barbel over 20lbs, the Wensum and Ouse but without a doubt we now have at least half a dozen that are capable of producing a barbel in excess of the 21lbs 1oz national record.
Before coming over to this country thinking that the fishing is easy you really need to ask yourself what you want, quantity or quality? Some rivers like the Severn offer fantastic fishing with fish plentiful in the going swims but a double would be classified as a real result. If you want a really big fish then you could spend a week on the Thames, Loddon, Stour or Avon without a bite, the rivers are that diverse over here.
Before coming over to this country thinking that the fishing is easy you really need to ask yourself what you want, quantity or quality? Some rivers like the Severn offer fantastic fishing with fish plentiful in the going swims but a double would be classified as a real result. If you want a really big fish then you could spend a week on the Thames, Loddon, Stour or Avon without a bite, the rivers are that diverse over here.
You need to get a response quickly when using a mobile style of fishing and this is where large smelly baits come into their own. I don’t fish for barbel during summer and tend to make my first session around the end of September. My early season bait is a Sonubaits.com 13mm hard pellet that is drilled and placed on a hair next to a size 8 Korum S3 barbless hook. The hair is long which allows a good helping of pellet paste, made from the same but crushed, to be moulded around the pellet. The paste ball is around the size of a walnut and incorporates the hook as well. This big bait will usually withstand the plucks from chub and bream and if there is a barbel close by the leak off that comes from the paste ball will draw it in and you simply wait for a three-foot twitch on the rod! No other bait is introduced prior to fishing or on leaving a swim. The above bait is used up until the start of the new year where due to the cold water it starts to loose its effectiveness but those first few months can be extremely rewarding.
On the start of the New Year my hookbait is swapped over to a 16mm boilie wrapped in paste. Again no bait is introduced to a swim just a three bait stringer. The swims are rotated as previously mentioned but now the paste does not cover the hook. This smaller bait does attract the attentions of the chub and bream but sooner or later it will fall next to a barbel and the inevitable will happen. I mentioned that maggot would not work on the Loddon, especially the ‘bait and wait’ game, however on capture of my last barbel of the season, a fish of 13lbs 2oz it excreted lots of white maggots out which started to get my mind working, especially as the fish was taken on an upstream rod where their wasn’t another swim for probably sixty yards. Where had this fish fed on these maggots? Anyway l told my father about this and two days later he tried maggots and took a personal best of 14lbs 3oz! Another effective bait that works in coloured, flooded water is luncheon meat and although this method takes some perfecting being able to roll meat will score far higher than a static bait.
Most of my barbel fishing takes place during daylight as when the evening draws in this sees an influx of other anglers which makes swim rotating slightly difficult, however a big bait in a swim at anytime of the day will get a response quickly especially if you are the first in the swim that day.
Most of my barbel fishing takes place during daylight as when the evening draws in this sees an influx of other anglers which makes swim rotating slightly difficult, however a big bait in a swim at anytime of the day will get a response quickly especially if you are the first in the swim that day.
One such occasion was when l received a sharp knock on the tip fishing a new area. That knock was all l got that evening but the next evening l returned and soon after casting out a 12lb barbel graced my net. Mainline is 10lbs Korum advanced reel line on which a small lead ranging between 1.5oz and 3oz is added which runs freely on the line. Hooklink is made from Sufix 10lbs Camfusion in which l strip the outer coating completely of apiece around eight inches long. Back leading is down to the individual and also depend s on the river you fish and how much pressure the fish see but although l have used them l now tie three stop knots above the lead spaced out every three feet and around these l mould a little piece of heavy putty.
'Sunset on the Loddon'
'My biggest of the year, a new fish of 16lbs 1oz'
'After dark double'
'Dad used maggots for this superb personal best 14lbs 3oz'
Copyright © 2008 by Rinko
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
Barbel Fishing in England
Written by Duncan Charman Exclusive for Barbeel.com
The rods l use for daylight fishing are Korum 12’ Quiver rods fitted with a 2oz tip. Once the light goes the tips can be swapped over to a 1.75 tip, which allows an isotope to be fitted close to the end. The reason l use a quiver tip is due to l watch the tip like a hawk as any slight movement can unlock a swim that contains barbel.
I hope that this article has given you an insight to barbel fishing in England and helps catch you a few more fish in the future. Tight lines…
'A truly magical moment on the Thames. Use strong tackle, as you never know what might pick your bait up!'
'A cracking five-pound chub that intercepted my barbel bait.'
'Carp are becoming frequent captures after the summer floods'
