Fast water barbel : size

[Terry Simner]

At this time of the year, especially when there's been such little rainfall, many large catches of barbel appear to come from fast/broken water and immediately below rapids..lets say water travelling at over 8mph and being less than 2ft, or thereabouts.
(Its often said that fish congregate there due to low oxygen levels. Hmmmm, not sure that's true outside of a prolonged heat-wave. IMHO, its just that they don't disperse immediately after spawning on the shallows but stay 'shoaled up' and localised)

I've indulged in fishing these areas many times, and have taken many fish, but have found that the average size of these said fish is significantly lower than fish taken from slower/deeper areas. Especially slower/deeper areas maybe 100-200m below rapids.
Yes I'm one for statistics, and this is what I've found. Has anyone else found the same or similar?
And from this...are fish taken by the 'rolling meat' method liable /likely to be smaller than by (say) static bait methods? Yeah I know there'll be exceptions e.g.. "well my p.b. came from rolling...." but I'm talking 'on average'.
Thoughts??

 

[Dave Taylor]

There was a weirpool on my local river that held a shoal of barbel throughout the year, and many anglers would turn around and go home if they couldn't get a swim on it, never bothering to try further downstream.
Often or not I remember having many repeat captures in certain areas downstream over a season which lead me to conclude that unless the fish were really pressurised they would generally stay put until spawning or severe flooding made them move.
The size of the barbel were varied, and come to think of it, I seem to remember a big old girl that lived most of its life in a certain Wensum weirpool.
Unless a 'barbel' swim changes, it will in all probability remain a barbel swim, although becoming less prolific on occasion which is often down to pressure from angling or predators.
Some areas / swims on the rivers I fish always seem to be attractive to different generations of larger fish. These swims differ, but are often over 4 or 5 feet deep with a steady flow under some sort of cover .
Sometimes the barbel can be observed swimming from one hotspot to another that may be several hundred yards away, passing and ignoring some great looking swims on the way. Conclusion from that being,...what looks to me to be a promising swim doesn't always concur with barbel !!

As for different methods catching large or small fish, .. not sure really, I guess that static baits might score highly because that's the method most use when fishing into dark. There is no doubt though that big barbel are receptive to a moving bait , often more so imo.

 

[John Walker]

they like te feeling water running over their backs in fast shallow water, carp and barbel get engrossed by doing so at times especially in weirs