Cabbage tips?

[Steve Lewis]

Gents

Am already formulating a plan for next summer's fishing, and am considering a "Cabbage Campaign". As the title suggests, targeting barbel in one of the few places they're most likely to get caught in the middle of a nice summer's day.

Obviously beefing up the gear goes without saying, but my thoughts go to the business end, and I wonder what the best thing to do is to avoid getting snagged up in/on the cabbages. Scale down the hook size? Cover the hook completely? Buoyant bait?

I don't have the trundling-on-the-bottom knack, so this will be with a heavy enough weight to hold bottom.

 

[Mark Swaby]

Put everything inside a Long Pva bag including the lead and just lower it in.It might pay you to open very small runs/areas if you can get in and its not too deep

 

[Neil Smart]

Why? Barbel like any species need safe havens, to pursue them in this manner will see them gone ...why not select clear an area away from the 'cabbages' and feed them into it? The potential to lose and damage fish might be a factor too.

 

[Jason Bean]

By cabbages do you mean big Lilly pads?... If so the knack is never let the line go slack and pull like mad as soon as you connect. The pads will cut off until the fish gets clear. There's no point in pussy fussing around if your going to fish in them. Marks tactics sound spit on.

 

[John Walker]

this is my kinda barbel fishing, stick your freebies in web net about size of golf ball along with one or two pebbles to add to the weight, stick hook in the web and lob it out, now leave it and wait, they do come back round to investigate the smell/flavour whether upstream or downstream

 

[Mike Hodgkiss]

Barbel are greedy and inquisitive fish . If they are in the ' cabbage patch ' place your bait upstream of said patch ,leave it there and if they are hungry they will follow the scent trail, venture out away from the snag and they are then as good as yours . Saves the trouble of trying to haul them through all that vegetation and the possibility of losing the fish in the process

 

[Andy Bebbington]

remember doing this on a day out with trefor west many years ago and caught a 10lb on corn with a 3" hook link the only thing i would do different is add a pva bag as the guys suggest above.

 

[Dave Brooksbank]

Why? Barbel like any species need safe havens, to pursue them in this manner will see them gone ...why select clear an area away from the 'cabbages' and feed them into it? The potential to lose and damage fish might be a factor too.

Probably the only hope of the man catching one Neil.

 

[Steve Lewis]

Probably the only hope of the man catching one Neil.

Well, to be fair to Neil it's only partly this.

I just fancy a different challenge than the usual haunts.

But thanks for all the tips - all taken on board.

 

[Neil Smart]

Well, to be fair to Neil it's only partly this.

I just fancy a different challenge than the usual haunts.

But thanks for all the tips - all taken on board.

There was a bit on the BA called the cabbages Steve, and was very productive a few years back...it certainly would deter me I think lobbing in to a load of Lilly's God knows what will happen if you manage to hook one It would make for a very interesting watch, don't forget the Go Pro.

 

[Steve Lewis]

There was a bit on the BA called the cabbages don't forget the Go Pro.

It would probably fall in. Half an hour of dirty water footage and the odd minnow - coming soon on Steve's Finest Catches.

 

[Ash Gould]

If you hook a barbel in cabbages they normally shoot straight out of them at a million miles per hour, they are too stupid to realise the damage they could do if they stayed in them!

Seriously though, if you can drop a bait at the back of a cabbage bed then you have very good presentation and you are fishing in an area that the barbel naturally scour looking for food.

Cabbage beds are great barbel feeding zones.

 

[Neil Smart]

It would probably fall in. Half an hour of dirty water footage and the odd minnow - coming soon on Steve's Finest Catches.