Bluemoon Angling Thread

[Didsbury Dave]

An update. Plenty to tell as I 've been getting about.

First of all, last week with my River Calder lure adventures, I walked long miles and found an area containing my quarry. The first time I fished it I had several decent perch (1lbish) and some pike. The night after I had three perch in the 1lb - 1.5lb range, including the biggest which zapped the lure in clear water at my feet. All on camera too, so I'm really pleased with this find as this area is never fished.

I can't quite believe what's happened to me this weekend on The Ribble, though. This was Barbel heaven and barbel hell.

I decided to have a look at Balderstone on Friday for the first time. As I entered the stretch I knew straight away that my first egress in the dark would be tough. It's a patchwork quilt of fields and gates to navigate with no landmarks or anything. As I arrived it started to rain heavily (despite the forecast) and being brollyless, I was soaked before I set up. Never mind - It's a beautiful, peaceful stretch with loads of fishable water and I loved it. It was overcast and muggy and perfect as I settled at the top of the bend, a good mile yomp.

First cast I had a big chub on a single boilie before i'd even set up the other rod. Good start. The upstream rod was fished with big PVA bags to fed the swim and a 8mm pellet on a size 14. AS it got dark I hooked a big barbel. As it came in I saw it and it looked a good double. I realsied as I was about to land the fish that I'd left my landing net a few yards downstream on the mat so to net the fish I had to drop the other rod in the water and walk down a few steps. As I did this the line went slack and the fish dropped off. I was getting knocks but there was a big rain shower coming in (on the Rainfall Radar app) so I legged it. As predicted, despite my best efforts, I got lost in the fields and, wearing walking boots, this meant extremely wet legs and feet as I walked through the long grass, slipping in cowshit. I got there eventually, soaked in sweat and rainwater.

I couldn't resist going back yesterday, arriving about 4pm. Again I went up to the bend and this is where things got really weird. As soon as the light started to go the fish switched on. I had 10 bites and only landed three fish, all good sized chub. The other seven, at least five of which were barbel, I lost. I got snapped twice, once as the line wrapped around a rock, another one inexplicable above the hook. And the other five fish all dropped off through hook pulls. Yes, you heard that right, I lost seven fish including five hook pulls, on the same rod with the size 14. To put it in persepctive, hook pulls are not that common with barbel. I'd estimate one in every 7 or 8 fish hooked fall off, because of the way they get hooked on the hair in those thick lips. I changed the hooks a couple of times wondering if this was blunt hooks but it didn't make any difference. Now these hooks weren't my usual Drennan Barbel Specialist (which have never let me down). They were almost the same hook, a Drennan Specialist but they were microbarbed because that's all they had in the shop. I can only conclude that this caused the hook pulls. Obviously there was some bad luck involved too but I have never in my life had a more frustrating fishing session.

It could, in fact should, have been one of my best ever Ribble sessions in stunning surroundings. In the event it was one of the most frustrating nights I've ever had on the river.

I'll be back to this stretch to put it right, though. It ticks all the boxes for me. It was barbel fishing at it's purest, with owls hooting, cows mooing, salmon leaping and peace all around. I've missed it.

 

[Newman Noggs]

An update. Plenty to tell as I 've been getting about.

First of all, last week with my River Calder lure adventures, I walked long miles and found an area containing my quarry. The first time I fished it I had several decent perch (1lbish) and some pike. The night after I had three perch in the 1lb - 1.5lb range, including the biggest which zapped the lure in clear water at my feet. All on camera too, so I'm really pleased with this find as this area is never fished.

I can't quite believe what's happened to me this weekend on The Ribble, though. This was Barbel heaven and barbel hell.

I decided to have a look at Balderstone on Friday for the first time. As I entered the stretch I knew straight away that my first egress in the dark would be tough. It's a patchwork quilt of fields and gates to navigate with no landmarks or anything. As I arrived it started to rain heavily (despite the forecast) and being brollyless, I was soaked before I set up. Never mind - It's a beautiful, peaceful stretch with loads of fishable water and I loved it. It was overcast and muggy and perfect as I settled at the top of the bend, a good mile yomp.

First cast I had a big chub on a single boilie before i'd even set up the other rod. Good start. The upstream rod was fished with big PVA bags to fed the swim and a 8mm pellet on a size 14. AS it got dark I hooked a big barbel. As it came in I saw it and it looked a good double. I realsied as I was about to land the fish that I'd left my landing net a few yards downstream on the mat so to net the fish I had to drop the other rod in the water and walk down a few steps. As I did this the line went slack and the fish dropped off. I was getting knocks but there was a big rain shower coming in (on the Rainfall Radar app) so I legged it. As predicted, despite my best efforts, I got lost in the fields and, wearing walking boots, this meant extremely wet legs and feet as I walked through the long grass, slipping in cowshit. I got there eventually, soaked in sweat and rainwater.

I couldn't resist going back yesterday, arriving about 4pm. Again I went up to the bend and this is where things got really weird. As soon as the light started to go the fish switched on. I had 10 bites and only landed three fish, all good sized chub. The other seven, at least five of which were barbel, I lost. I got snapped twice, once as the line wrapped around a rock, another one inexplicable above the hook. And the other five fish all dropped off through hook pulls. Yes, you heard that right, I lost seven fish including five hook pulls, on the same rod with the size 14. To put it in persepctive, hook pulls are not that common with barbel. I'd estimate one in every 7 or 8 fish hooked fall off, because of the way they get hooked on the hair in those thick lips. I changed the hooks a couple of times wondering if this was blunt hooks but it didn't make any difference. Now these hooks weren't my usual Drennan Barbel Specialist (which have never let me down). They were almost the same hook, a Drennan Specialist but they were microbarbed because that's all they had in the shop. I can only conclude that this caused the hook pulls. Obviously there was some bad luck involved too but I have never in my life had a more frustrating fishing session.

It could, in fact should, have been one of my best ever Ribble sessions in stunning surroundings. In the event it was one of the most frustrating nights I've ever had on the river.

I'll be back to this stretch to put it right, though. It ticks all the boxes for me. It was barbel fishing at it's purest, with owls hooting, cows mooing, salmon leaping and peace all around. I've missed it.

Very interesting. Do you always use a size 14 ?

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Very interesting. Do you always use a size 14 ?

It depends. I'm of the belief that the majority of barbel anglers use a feeder full of small pellets with a big pellet on the hook. I think that presentation spooks barbel and they hoover up the small feed and leave the "donkey choker", especially in the day. So my typical presentation will be a small hook (12-14) with a small (8mm) pellet on the main upstream rod (either feeder or big PVA bag tied to the lead). I'll recast this often to build up a bed of bait. The downstream rod I tend to fish as more of a "sleeper rod" so I'll often have a 15 mm boilie on a size 8 without any feed, cast around the downstream area, to pick off single barbel who are sitting off the main feedline hovering up what washes through. The hooks I'm using are specialist barbel hooks which are entirely different (bigger/stronger) to the sort of size 14 you'd get with hooks to nylon. I catch more fish on the small bait and hook usually so I think this works.

This strategy is a generalisation for building up a swim at decent range. I will adapt to the conditions and the situation in front of me. If I'm roaming I'll use one rod and sometimes bait by hand or with a bait dropper. In floodwater I go the opposite way and will sometimes have two smelly paste wrapped boilies on a size 6 or 8. On The Trent I bait with a "Spopper" (a customised spomb), spodding out beds of bait on a separate spod rod.

I have never, ever had a hook pull problem with the small hook presentation so I can only blame it on the microbarb in combination with the small hook not getting good hookholds.

 

[Newman Noggs]

It depends. I'm of the belief that the majority of barbel anglers use a feeder full of small pellets with a big pellet on the hook. I think that presentation spooks barbel and they hoover up the small feed and leave the "donkey choker", especially in the day. So my typical presentation will be a small hook (12-14) with a small (8mm) pellet on the main upstream rod (either feeder or big PVA bag tied to the lead). I'll recast this often to build up a bed of bait. The downstream rod I tend to fish as more of a "sleeper rod" so I'll often have a 15 mm boilie on a size 8 without any feed, cast around the downstream area, to pick off single barbel who are sitting off the main feedline hovering up what washes through. The hooks I'm using are specialist barbel hooks which are entirely different (bigger/stronger) to the sort of size 14 you'd get with hooks to nylon. I catch more fish on the small bait and hook usually so I think this works.

This strategy is a generalisation for building up a swim at decent range. I will adapt to the conditions and the situation in front of me. If I'm roaming I'll use one rod and sometimes bait by hand or with a bait dropper. In floodwater I go the opposite way and will sometimes have two smelly paste wrapped boilies on a size 6 or 8. On The Trent I bait with a "Spopper" (a customised spomb), spodding out beds of bait on a separate spod rod.

I have never, ever had a hook pull problem with the small hook presentation so I can only blame it on the microbarb in combination with the small hook not getting good hookholds.

Makes sense. I asked because, fishing for bream, I nearly always use a small pellet on a 14s or 12s and hope to connect with a barbel occasionally. If you're confident on that size it's good enough for me. Do you ever band the pellet? I was bumping off bream just recently and came to the conclusion the normal length hair was too long. So I put one on a band and didn't lose another.

 

[Saddleworth2]

It depends. I'm of the belief that the majority of barbel anglers use a feeder full of small pellets with a big pellet on the hook. I think that presentation spooks barbel and they hoover up the small feed and leave the "donkey choker", especially in the day. So my typical presentation will be a small hook (12-14) with a small (8mm) pellet on the main upstream rod (either feeder or big PVA bag tied to the lead). I'll recast this often to build up a bed of bait. The downstream rod I tend to fish as more of a "sleeper rod" so I'll often have a 15 mm boilie on a size 8 without any feed, cast around the downstream area, to pick off single barbel who are sitting off the main feedline hovering up what washes through. The hooks I'm using are specialist barbel hooks which are entirely different (bigger/stronger) to the sort of size 14 you'd get with hooks to nylon. I catch more fish on the small bait and hook usually so I think this works.

This strategy is a generalisation for building up a swim at decent range. I will adapt to the conditions and the situation in front of me. If I'm roaming I'll use one rod and sometimes bait by hand or with a bait dropper. In floodwater I go the opposite way and will sometimes have two smelly paste wrapped boilies on a size 6 or 8. On The Trent I bait with a "Spopper" (a customised spomb), spodding out beds of bait on a separate spod rod.

I have never, ever had a hook pull problem with the small hook presentation so I can only blame it on the microbarb in combination with the small hook not getting good hookholds.

Interesting. Why would a microbarb cause a hook to pull out? Logic says it would be the reverse. Maybe just one of those freakish sessions we have all had. A couple of seasons ago I was buzzer fishing and lost ten fish on the bounce (normally it would be one in 6/7). Nothing different, nothing wrong with the hooks. Never happened since. It is interesting reading your posts though. If I barbel fished I would be learning loads.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Makes sense. I asked because, fishing for bream, I nearly always use a small pellet on a 14s or 12s and hope to connect with a barbel occasionally. If you're confident on that size it's good enough for me. Do you ever band the pellet? I was bumping off bream just recently and came to the conclusion the normal length hair was too long. So I put one on a band and didn't lose another.

I never band the pellet but I definitely would for bream, or at least have it on the shortest hair possible. In fact I don't use pellets at all on the hook because they don't last. They either get picked away by small fish or fall off the hair. You don't want to be sitting on a swim of barbel who might only be in the swim for half an hour with a bare hook, and you don't really want to be rebaiting every cast in the pitch dark. I use Sonubaits oozing hookers which are basically pellet shaped boilies. These will never ever come off the hook. Also, using a longish hair ( 1cm ish) means that fewer chub are hooked which I personally want when I'm after the barbel.

 

[Mazzarelli's Swiss Cheese]

Makes sense. I asked because, fishing for bream, I nearly always use a small pellet on a 14s or 12s and hope to connect with a barbel occasionally. If you're confident on that size it's good enough for me. Do you ever band the pellet? I was bumping off bream just recently and came to the conclusion the normal length hair was too long. So I put one on a band and didn't lose another.

I keep chopping and changing between hair rig and banded pellets. No logic or reason as I can tell, it just seems one way works better than others of different days (same venue).

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Interesting. Why would a microbarb cause a hook to pull out? Logic says it would be the reverse. Maybe just one of those freakish sessions we have all had. A couple of seasons ago I was buzzer fishing and lost ten fish on the bounce (normally it would be one in 6/7). Nothing different, nothing wrong with the hooks. Never happened since. It is interesting reading your posts though. If I barbel fished I would be learning loads.

Sorry, I've not been clear here. The normal Drennan barbel hooks have a proper barb but these one only have a tiny microbarb, That's what I think lost me the fish. However I didn't remember this microbarb until I was walking back to the car.

When I was younger I remember spells of suffering repeated hook pulls when carp fishing and looking back now, as a more experienced anger, it was blunt hooks not getting a proper hold. I never changed them unless I had to and that must have cost me lots of fish. I learned from "proper" carp fishing how important a sticky sharp hook is and I change them all the time now.

 

[Saddleworth2]

Sorry, I've not been clear here. The normal Drennan barbel hooks have a proper barb but these one only have a tiny microbarb, That's what I think lost me the fish. However I didn't remember this microbarb until I was walking back to the car.

When I was younger I remember spells of suffering repeated hook pulls when carp fishing and looking back now, as a more experienced anger, it was blunt hooks not getting a proper hold. I never changed them unless I had to and that must have cost me lots of fish. I learned from "proper" carp fishing how important a sticky sharp hook is and I change them all the time now.

I use barbless 90% of time and have found them as reliable as barbed. Even with airborne trout. Good point about blunt hooks though. In trout fishing it occasionally happens on a back cast that you can blunt the hook on something. Good angling to check regularly particularly if you drop a fish.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

I use barbless 90% of time and have found them as reliable as barbed. Even with airborne trout. Good point about blunt hooks though. In trout fishing it occasionally happens on a back cast that you can blunt the hook on something. Good angling to check regularly particularly if you drop a fish.

I almost always use barbless too for other kinds of fishing and have never had a problem including big carp. The only reason I'm going on about it now is that I cannot come up with another explanation apart from bad luck but mathematically this does not look like luck. I'm a member of the Barbel Society and I've posted a question about this on their site. That contains some of the country's best barbel anglers so it will be interesting to see what they say.