Hi Howard, I hope you are well?
With regard to my post, I do not question the science behind the study, merely the way the science was applied, science is oft subject to theories, these can change and the same science can both prove and disprove, one or an alternative, after all science proved the world was flat, that machines could absolutely NOT fly faster than sound and that we are absolutely alone in the universe.
My doubt comes not from a scientific point of view but more from practical experience and the fact that the author considers such high values in Barbel being reliant on anglers baits?????
I am afraid this I take with a huge pinch of salt, yes I believe this may be the case on some waters, some of the time, where pellets Etc probably are a good source of food, but not for all fish and definitely not all of the time.
The water I mentioned has an unbelievably high biomass of Barbel, as I stated it is fished every day and a huge amount of anglers bait goes into this fishery.
In this case I concede many of the fish will, for a large percentage of the time be reliant on anglers bait, yet this very water is also a place where some of the fish show a typical fight or flight reaction to certain baits, it is not the only place I have seen this, I remember fishing on the Kennet many years ago when luncheon meat was the "In" bait.
When cubes of meat were introduced in popular swims the Barbel would instantly "spook", yet the very same Barbel would confidently take a similar bait when residing in un-fished sections of the river!
We considered that it was not only the bait but its location that provoked these different reactions.
Barbel like all wild creatures act by instinct, this instinct has a default setting (which applies often to humans too), they need to feed, so they will take the maximum nutrition, with the minimum of effort, as long as they feel safe in doing so !!
Consider a McDonalds in America, then consider the same McDonalds when a man with an assault rifle walks in!!
In the case of the Elderberries, the Barbel in question may have been afraid to munch on pellets, my presentation of the other baits I used that day may have simply been wrong, they may have been pre-occupied on the berries because of a seasonal glut, or they may just have been sick to death of eating pellets (I would love to eat at The Fat Duck every day, but I suspect I would soon long for a home made cheese and beetroot sarnie).
Barbel can and will, eat many things, the very reason there are sooooooo many Barbel in this particular section of river is NOT because of angers bait, but rather because we, that manage the fishery, have a very good handle on habitat development and management, we put in place exactly the right conditions for habitat development.
We narrowed the river with flow diverters, this increased the flow and produced clean gravel, behind the diverters silt deposited, we utilised this silt by planting Yellow flag on the angling bank and Reeds on the opposite bank and we removed the overhanging trees to ensure maximum use of light.
With more flow came more oxygenation, the planting exploded and crossed the river creating large overhangs of reed and flag, producing large areas of sanctuary, the more light produced water weed growth, which promoted an explosion of invertebrates.
These conditions were taken into account by the fish and their populations increased exponentially, today we have a fishery that has large populations of every river species, in fact, although it is famous for its Barbel and Chub in actuality the other species like Roach and Dace, Gudgeon and Perch grow to sizes that are much bigger as a percentage of the record, than the Barbel and Chub.
This fishery produces many Barbel, despite the enormous pressure put upon them and these Barbel grow to a fair size, yet the bigger fish are extremely difficult to catch AND are extremely difficult to get to take ANY anglers bait.
The venue record is around 12lb, yet my friend Dave and I spent an afternoon (laying on our chests, peering over the edge of a swim), watching some of the larger Barbel taking small amounts of Hemp that we were introducing, slowly, very slowly, several other bigger fish moved out from the other bank cover to move in on the Hemp, these fish were as spooky as hell, but with perseverance we got them to come and feed every now and then, we estimated these fish to be about 12lb.
After an hour or so two other fish of 14 to 15lb, crept out took a sample of the Hemp and moved back into cover, they did this several times and Dave and I were discussing in very hushed tones how we could possibly target such spooky fish.
Even after these fish had established that the feed was potentially safe they would take about 15 mins to come back out to take a little feed, when it had been introduced (by laying on our backs throwing it over our heads from behind cover), eventually an other angler walked across the field behind us and the fish melted away, never to come back.
My suspicion is that these large fish do not rely on anglers baits at all, yet they are obviously eating something!
To conclude, it is for these reasons that I do not give this latest study much credence, I concede my argument for this post only mentions one very un-usual fishery, I could site more, but time is against me and my dog is sitting with his legs crossed, also it is not a fishery I spend much time Barbel fishing on, as, to be honest, the size of the fish is not big enough to interest me much, but that said I honestly believe this water, although remarkable is not a-typical of other less highly populated fisheries.
I do not know just how long this study took, but I suspect, I have studied this subject for longer and I try and do this with an open mind, I have few fixed theories and these I will change in a heartbeat when I see evidential proof!!
Howard, we were going to have a day out on the Kennet, it would be great to do this and have a catch up!
Tight lines mate.