Big River Feeding Fishing

8/14/2019 Big River Feeding Fishing

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BIG RIVER FEEDING FISHING

In the f i rst of a new series about

days and ways, BOB ROBERTS

takes readers to a weirpool and

describes how heovercame

problems to put some super f ish on

the bank with feeder tactics.

X D O E S N ' T N E C E S S A R I L Y M A R K T H E S P 0 1

f we are to believe the fanciful diagrams in books and

other publications, fish in •weir pools are always to be

found beneath the 'X's. Under this one you •will find

chub, under that barbel, over here bream and so on. It

makes for pretty pictures but I often wonder if the writers

who brief the artists have .anypractical experience of

fishing in •weir pools

because their drawings are

patently misleading. Either

that or the weir pool fish

have never learned to read

because in real life they

inevitably find themselves

in the •wrong places. What'smore the diagrams never

take into account changing

seasons and the nomadic

nature of fish. I'll give you

an example/

Putting these \

fish on the hank

proved a real

challenge to

which the

solution w as to

say a little

unorthodox. H *"

Tackle had to be man enough to stop a train, otherwise it was

goodnight Vienna!

6 COARSE FISHING




The su n sets bu t still Bob's rod bends as another weirpool fish makes one last bid for f reedom.

The staple diet of any self-respecting

barbel - hempseed and casters.

NOMADS O F T H E S T R E A M

During the summer I was invited

to make an instructional video on

big river feeder fishing techniques

but bearing in mind the on-going

drought and knowing how

important it was to backup each

technique with a few fish I gained

permission to fish as a guest on a

private peg beneath aweir, knowing

full well that there would be plenty

of fish to go at. What Ididn't

anticipate was the way the placewould change from day to day.A

quick practice session after work

early on in the season saw merattle

out over 20 pounds of chub in a

couple of hours. That'll do nicely, I

thought. Yetcome the day of

filming, chub were mega scarce.

Instead I caught loads of tiny barbel

plus dace, perch, roach and an odd

skimmer. This was casting to exactly

the same spot with exactly the same

bait and tackle asbefore. Returninga

few weeks later it was all change

again because proper barbel were

now in residence. However puttingthese fish on the bank proved a real

challenge towhich the solution was

to say a little unorthodox.

COARSE FISHING



BIGRIVER FEEDING FISHING

C O N T I N U E D

P A R T Y TIME!Barbelshow little respect

for tackleandseem hell bent

on destroying itwhen

hooked.Fortunatelythey

are seldom line shy and are

not deterred by proper

hooks. Withthis inmindI

chose my Amorphous

Whisker 11/13 feeder rod

andmatched itwithaID1650DF reel loaded with 61b

Berkley BigGame. The

hooklength was 5.11b

Concept to a size 14

DrennanSuperspade.Now I

would normallybackthat

combination against

anything that swims.Wrong,

Iwassoonto discover that it

wasn't manenough.The

double loop feederrighas

become most anglers'

preferredchoice but I do not

use itwhen expecting

barbeL If the line breaks

above the feeder loop it

leaves the fish towing a

feeder around which might

to thread the ILthe feeder to avoid snags

an d crack-offs -i t worked a treat.

ultimatelyleadto its death. A

far safer way is to threadthe

feeder onto the line with a

swivel andstop iteither

side, or use awater knotted

paternoster which inevitably

breaks the knot

/

could still feelthe fish bu t as we

see-sawed I could

feel a horrible

grating com ing

up th e line

through the rod.

Ibegan on the latter, first

•with a big feedertodeposit

ten heaps of hemp and

caster into the swim before

switching to a medium sized

one. Twocasters were

placed on the hook, the first

threaded up the shank, the

secondmasking the point.

After casting abow was fed

to the feeder sothat bites

would registerasdrop

backs. Fail to do this and I

guarantee it•won'tbe long

before you suffer one of

thoseheartstopping, gutwrenching crack-offs on the

bitewhen the rod is allbut

draggedoff the rest

I hadachub first cast,

then a dace, then a quiet

spelL Suddenlythe tip

sprang backand I lifted into

a lump of muscle.

Fortunatelythe clutch was

set lightlyandIavoided

disaster as abarbel

screamed off downstream.I

haditunder control quite

quickly, or so Ithought,

because half way in

everything lockedup solid

in asnag.Icould still feel the

fish but as we see-sawedI

Fishing friend Trev Empson Ak a 'The Jonah' with a fin-perfect specimen.

could feel ahorrible grating

coming up the line through

the rod.

Theresultwas a foregone

conclusion and I was soon

re-tackling.This timeI

placedthe feederon a

shorter paternoster hoping

tokeep the feeder higher in

the water duringthe fight

Barbel number two was

mine as was the number

three butnumber four

powered away fromme and

found haven in amid-river

snag.

Determined to stop that

happening againI reasoned

the answer was to clamp

down on the next one and

refuse togiveaninch of line.

A fine theorybut itdidn't

work, the next barbel made

mincemeat of the

hooklength. I dispensed

with the hooklength after

that and tied ahook directto

the end of the 61b reel line.

Even thiswas sneered at

withfitrther barbel finding

sanctuaryin new and

unchartered snags. The finalscore was Bob 4, barbel6,

and Iwent home with

plenty tothink about

COARSE FISHING




Despite dogged determination the barbel could not get the

better of Cap'n Bob.

T H E R E T U R N BOUT...A week later I returned

"with anew plan.Bait and rod

remained unchanged but I

hadstepped up to 8lb Bayer

Concept tied direct to a size

10 GoldLabel Predator2

hook. Thiswouldgiveme the

necessary power to stand toe

to toe with a fish but the

piece-de-resistancewas my

newrig, because I felt I •was

losing fish through havinga

feeder dangling dangerously

beneath the main line of pull.

I needed to get the feeder up

andout of the way.Even the

double loop rig leaves the

feeder dangling but my

solution •was deviously

simple. I simply threaded the

main line through the feeder

caps and stopped it off with a

split shot aboveand below.

Three small shots rather than

onebig one proved a more

efficient brake below the

feeder and a rubber bead

actedas a shock absorber. In

retrospect rubber in-line

leger stops would have been

more line friendly than the

shot but as Ididn't have any

withme so necessity once

again proved to be the

mother of invention.The

shot above the feeder was

essentialfor turning the

feeder into abolt rig.

The rig worked like a

dream with every bite

resulting in ahooked fish.

Unfortunately the return

match coincidedwith a frost

and the barbel didn't get

their heads down inquite

the same positive manner

but the final result was

clearly arout as a Bob 4,

barbel 0, scoreline indicates.

On two occasions fish came

to the netwhen the shot

behind the feeder hadbeen

pushed several feet up the

line, aclear indication that

the feeder hadcaught in a

snag during the fight and

then come free.With a

paternoster or looprig the

fish would simply have

smashed me off.

Sothere you are, not a

feeder rigyou would expect

to use every day but one diat

may put asmile onyour face

•when you would otherwise

be tearing your hair out.

I Solid muscle,sheer perfection

- a well conditioned barbel forthe trophy album.

COARSE FISHING 9

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Big River Feeding Fishing