Bluemoon Angling Thread

its grim up north said:
Myself and a couple of mates have just joined Birmingham. We're staying at The Ship Inn, Highly next Tues, Wed and Thursday We are not regular visitors to the Severn, going down with commercial carp gear. Were going with no idea what the fishing is like down there apart from the Sec says Eardington Brook, Apley, Quatford or the Danery lenghts. We are taking plenty of caster, hemp meat and pellets. Anyone been, or can offer any advice.Thanks
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Yes. I went there the last weekend of last fishing season, in March. You’re sitting right on a day ticket stretch and don’t need to travel. I only caught two chub but it was very cold. If you walk downstream of the pub there’s an adjacent day ticket stretch called “Burts” which in think is a bit more reliable than the bit in front of the pub which is deeper.

Not much advice to give (as I didn’t catch much) but it’s classic barbel fishing. I don’t know if your commercial gear would be up to it but if the river is low you should be ok. Find the deepest water in front of you, use a big heavy feeder. Your little Stillwater ones will just be swept away. Get lots of pellets and hemp down with the feeder by recasting all the time. Hook bait could be anything really. Pellet, boilie, meat, even casters.

The pub does excellent good too. It’s a cracking pub. We’ve booked one of the cottages right next to it for a week at the end of august.

Edit. Sorry, just read you’ve joined BAA. Good decision. I’m doing the same. The day ticket stretch mentioned above is busy and was a bit messy to be honest. Upstream of the pub, walking distance is BAA. It’s supposed to be decent. Look for deep, fast flowing water for barbel.
 
Thanks for the advice. Got the big block end (2oz is the biggest my feeder rod will manage) feeders which we've been advised to either open up the holes or cut the end off fill with bait then plug with groundbait. Is the length of tail important, cant see the chub and barbel being shy of the feeder.
 
Bobbins is the word! Fishing 04.15-09.30. One decent skimmer towards 3lb and a micro perch. My mate had 3 small skimmers and a decent bream. They just weren't there. Here's to next time, albeit may give 5 nights prebaiting a miss!
 
its grim up north said:
Thanks for the advice. Got the big block end (2oz is the biggest my feeder rod will manage) feeders which we've been advised to either open up the holes or cut the end off fill with bait then plug with groundbait. Is the length of tail important, cant see the chub and barbel being shy of the feeder.
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If your planning on using a standard feeder rod you might be in trouble here to be honest. This is a powerful river. That rod and 2oz feeders might just about be ok if it’s in the middle of a dry spell but you are pushing it and could end up way undergunned. In march I was using 4oz but there had been rain. I’d certainly buy some heavier feeders just in case. I’d always choose open ended too and plugging with a heavy, pellet/fish meal based groundbait. The length of tail does matter particularly in very clear water. I tend to used between 3-5 feet.

Have you got any rods with a bit of power? What line are you planning on using?
 
Here's hoping then the river stays low. It's low at the moment and rain not expected. I have 2 Drennan combo medium feeders, 11ft 6 / 13ft. The 13ft is quite strong and I rarely use it on commercials. The 11ft 6 suffices I'll use the 13ft with the 3 oz tip. The last time I went "big" river fishing was pre lockdown on the Warrington length of the Wye at Hay. The river was low then. I caught a few Chub and a couple of Barbel but about 5 pound was the biggest and it coped well. Have my reels, Shimano 2500's,loaded with 8lb mono.
 
its grim up north said:
Here's hoping then the river stays low. It's low at the moment and rain not expected. I have 2 Drennan combo medium feeders, 11ft 6 / 13ft. The 13ft is quite strong and I rarely use it on commercials. The 11ft 6 suffices I'll use the 13ft with the 3 oz tip. The last time I went "big" river fishing was pre lockdown on the Warrington length of the Wye at Hay. The river was low then. I caught a few Chub and a couple of Barbel but about 5 pound was the biggest and it coped well. Have my reels, Shimano 2500's,loaded with 8lb mono.
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You should just be ok with the current conditions.let us know how you get on. I’ll be very interested in how you get on with a a view to stealing your tips/swims in august! Good luck mate.
 
its grim up north said:
Here's hoping then the river stays low. It's low at the moment and rain not expected. I have 2 Drennan combo medium feeders, 11ft 6 / 13ft. The 13ft is quite strong and I rarely use it on commercials. The 11ft 6 suffices I'll use the 13ft with the 3 oz tip. The last time I went "big" river fishing was pre lockdown on the Warrington length of the Wye at Hay. The river was low then. I caught a few Chub and a couple of Barbel but about 5 pound was the biggest and it coped well. Have my reels, Shimano 2500's,loaded with 8lb mono.
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8lb line on the Severn will be fine as most barbel are between 4-7lb. Fish a simple running rig with a hook length between 18" to 3 foot. As DD said longer hook lengths are better in clearer water, i recommend a flouro carbon hook length around 7lb to a 8lb main line. Keep your rod tip high to minimise line drag and a 2oz feeder may just hold. Buy a few 3-4oz feeders just incase. Sometimes the fish will take a bait on a feeder on the light side that is slowly pulling through the current. Don't use a feeder that's too heavy unless you want to use a semi bolt rig.

By semi i mean i use a line stop about 4-6" above the feeder so the fish hook themselves, but many barbel will freak out when they pull the feeder and go on a storming first run, and they certainly test your gear better than a carp of the same weight.

I'd start off tot a 3oz open end feeder with fishmeal groundbait hemp and pellets, possibly crushed seafood based boilies. 12s hook to a 14mm pellet or boilie to an 18" tail. Keep your casting accurate and the fish will hopefully get on your feed.

Good luck : )
 
BlueMoonRisin’ said:
8lb line on the Severn will be fine as most barbel are between 4-7lb. Fish a simple running rig with a hook length between 18" to 3 foot. As DD said longer hook lengths are better in clearer water, i recommend a flouro carbon hook length around 7lb to a 8lb main line. Keep your rod tip high to minimise line drag and a 2oz feeder may just hold. Buy a few 3-4oz feeders just incase. Sometimes the fish will take a bait on a feeder on the light side that is slowly pulling through the current. Don't use a feeder that's too heavy unless you want to use a semi bolt rig.

By semi i mean i use a line stop about 4-6" above the feeder so the fish hook themselves, but many barbel will freak out when they pull the feeder and go on a storming first run, and they certainly test your gear better than a carp of the same weight.

I'd start off tot a 3oz open end feeder with fishmeal groundbait hemp and pellets, possibly crushed seafood based boilies. 12s hook to a 14mm pellet or boilie to an 18" tail. Keep your casting accurate and the fish will hopefully get on your feed.

Good luck : )
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Thanks very much for you help guys. I hope I can give you some positive reports. Having read a couple of the posters on the BAA forum it seems the "locals" are giving it a miss at the moment because of the lack of water. Fish catching is of course No1 priority but getting away with a couple of mates ,spending time on the bank and chatting over couple of pints and a decent meal in the evening is also part of the experience. Really looking forward to it. I'll keep you up to pace on how we go on. Cheers.
 
Crikey ! Hard going on the Wye in atrocious fishing conditions. Yesterday 4 out of the 6 of us had a barbel first cast and no others for the rest if the day. A few were caught in the evening but generally they are very very spooky.

Got up at 4 this morning and, again , had one first cast but no more. First time I've been fishing at that time for ages and, notwithstanding how atmospheric it is, I'm not sure I'll be doing it again any time soon.

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its grim up north said:
Thanks very much for you help guys. I hope I can give you some positive reports. Having read a couple of the posters on the BAA forum it seems the "locals" are giving it a miss at the moment because of the lack of water. Fish catching is of course No1 priority but getting away with a couple of mates ,spending time on the bank and chatting over couple of pints and a decent meal in the evening is also part of the experience. Really looking forward to it. I'll keep you up to pace on how we go on. Cheers.
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A really imprtant point which we both forgot to tell you: be really careful how you look after and return barbel if you catch one in these conditions. Yopu must use an unhooking mat. You also need to hold them out in the current for as long as it takes to recover, even if you get wet feet. It could be 5 minutes plus using the light tackle you are.

Also, I know someone who is in that area now and he caught dozens of chub but only one barbel. Your tackle is perfect for them so why not fish maggots, hemp or caster to catch a bag of chub? The barbel could easily still show.
 
Didsbury Dave said:
A really imprtant point which we both forgot to tell you: be really careful how you look after and return barbel if you catch one in these conditions. Yopu must use an unhooking mat. You also need to hold them out in the current for as long as it takes to recover, even if you get wet feet. It could be 5 minutes plus using the light tackle you are.

Also, I know someone who is in that area now and he caught dozens of chub but only one barbel. Your tackle is perfect for them so why not fish maggots, hemp or caster to catch a bag of chub? The barbel could easily still show.
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Good advice DD, but you forget to mention holding them with their head towards the current, holding the barbel with one hand under it's belly near its pelvic fins, and the other hand supporting it's tail.

When it's recovered it will dart off into the depths fit to fight another day.


PS. Never put barbel in a keepnet unless you're on a match. If you are it's important to peg the end of the net facing upstream in water that's deep enough to cover the length of the net.
 
I have a tradition where I go barbel fishing every summer solstice because I enjoy experiencing the short night, so I went barbel fishing on a new river tonight. The River Nidd. What a supermodel of a river it was. Small, intimate and beautiful, right out in the wilderness with overhanging willows, pools, everything a river angler could want, and on a beautiful evening. Small river barbel fishing takes me back, and it was really refreshing to use just one soft rod and to bait by hand. A kingfisher took a fish right next to me and nature was absolutely bountiful.

This was textbook. A quiet few hours, then as the sun went down the tip betrayed barbel through line bites. At 10pm it screamed off and I was hanging on to a barbel which shot under the far bank trees. After an intense tug of war I won the day and landed a nice fit dark young barbel. A lovely back-to-basics evening and I’m right back in the barbel groove.

As an aside I went watching owls the night before and saw a long eared owl and then 2 barn owls hunting. The barn owls were incredibly efficient hunters, catching mouse after mouse and carrying them back to the nest.

Nature is wonderful, especially at this time of year.ED6DC949-902D-4716-BB1B-310C027BB7C4.jpeg
 
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Didsbury Dave said:
I have a tradition where I go barbel fishing every summer solstice because I enjoy experiencing the short night, so I went barbel fishing on a new river tonight. The River Nidd. What a supermodel of a river it was. Small, intimate and beautiful, right out in the wilderness with overhanging willows, pools, everything a river angler could want, and on a beautiful evening. Small river barbel fishing takes me back, and it was really refreshing to use just one soft rod and to bait by hand. A kingfisher took a fish right next to me and nature was absolutely bountiful.

This was textbook. A quiet few hours, then as the sun went down the tips betrayed barbel through line bites. At 10pm or screamed off and I was hanging on to a barbel which shot under the far bank trees. After an intense tug of war I won the day and landed a nice fit dark barbel. A lovely back-to-basics evening and I’m right back in the barbel groove.

As an aside I went watching owls the night before and saw a long eared owl and then 2 barn owls hunting. The barn owls were incredibly efficient hunters, catching mouse after mouse and carrying them back to the nest.

Nature is wonderful, especially at this time of year.View attachment 47621
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Which stretch is that? Looks a bit like Tockwith.
 
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