The Beginner’s Comprehensive Guide To
21st Century Tidal River Barbel Fishing

For many years specimen anglers targeting big fish on tidal rivers on the continent have been using extreme tackle to compensate for the strong tides and deep flowing water that there quarry resides in. On the big Dutch canals and French rivers the use of big rods reels and extreme terminal tackle including leads up to 12oz are common practices and have been for many years. Over the past decade this trend has made its way on to certain stretches of our rivers including the Severn and in particular the tidal stretches of the river Trent near Newark by anglers targeting big river carp and barbel. UKMA recently spent 48 hours out on the bank with aquatic consultant and tidal Trent venue expert Simon Grundy to find out about the tackle, tactics, baits and baiting methods currently being use by the anglers who target the big fish that reside in our tidal river systems.

Rods & Reels

To confidently present static baits in deep hard flowing water, you need to use terminal tackle that may seem a little extreme but we can assure you it is totally necessary to increase your chances of landing big fish in these rocked paved extreme environments. To start with you need to use reels that are more than capable of handling some serious punishment. We recommend using a 6000 or 8000 size baitrunner or mini big pit reels as we found these to be ideal for the job. As far as reel lines go we recommend the use of a sinking braid that has a low diameter and a breaking strain of around 15 -20lbs, this gives you enough strength and durability for the job in hand but has a low enough diameter to reduce potential tow from the large volumes of fast moving water passing you. When choosing your rods, they needed to be capable of casting up to 14ozs yet have a playing action suitable for landing fish of all sizes. We found 3 -3.25lbs TC through action rods were perfect for this type of work.

Hooks & Hook Lengths

Your terminal gear is going to take some serious battering so you have to get the balance spot on. You will need to use strong sharp hooks that will keep there point even when being continuously battered against rocks and other debris when in the water. Through trial and error we found the Nash Fang X, Drennan Barbel Specialist and Gardner Talon Tip hooks in size 10 performed perfectly. When choosing a hook length material it has to have three important qualities. It has to be reliably strong, very subtle and most importantly have excellent abrasion resistant qualities. The lines we found to offer these qualities in abundance were the Krystonite monofilament from Kryston, Korda IQ2 Flurocarbon and in clear water conditions when a low diameter line is required the Drennan Double Strength Mono or Gardner Tackle Trickster braid would be our choice. To keep our tackle well balanced we opted to use 15lbs BS hook lengths as this would within reason land anything living in the river.

Rigs

Tidal river fishing can be one of the most demanding elements of modern day coarse angling but the most successful rigs are the most simple. The standard rigs we have been using on the tidal Trent give a natural bait presentation and great reliability at the same time. First off we place a tail rubber on the braided reel line followed by reliable hard plastic lead clip (the Korda and Nash lead clips are ideal). Then tie a size 8 quick change swivel to the end of your reel line, trim of any tags and slide this inside the lead clip. Then attach your chosen lead for the session to the clip and slide the tail rubber over the lead clip. The hook length is a simple hair rig that is around 25mm below the curve of the size 10 hook to allow 2 x 10mm boillies to be fitted. At the connection end of the hook length we add quick change swivel sleeve then tie a connection loop using a figure of eight knot. We normally start with a 4 to 5 feet long hook length but if the fish are really having this will reduce it to as little as 2 feet.

Leads & Feeders

To keep everything pinned down on the deck you need to use a lead or feeder that is both heavy enough to hold bottom on hard flowing rivers in depths of 10 feet or more and it must be strong enough to handle a proper battering. When casting ranges of 10-15 yards in to deep near side runs, we have found leads in the 6-8oz and feeders in the category are normally perfect for these situations. When fishing ¾ of the way across a big river at high tide, this is when the big boys come into play and leads from 8-12oz and feeders of 10oz are normally the only option for perfect presentation. There are numerous companies making a variety leads for these extreme situations. You have the very popular Korda Gripper Leads that are available in 5-10oz sizes, the Atomic Tackle Rainball in 9oz and Dumpy Bottle Leads from 5-8oz and Stealth Tackles Big River Leads in 7.5-11oz.

For full details on the feeders designed for this type of work please CLICK HERE

Rod Support

To eliminate tow on your rig, the rule to live by is “the less reel line you have under the water, the less chance your rig will move”. Taking this on board the best way of elimination water tow on your reel line is to have your rod tips as high as you can possibly get them above the water surface. To achieve this UKMA took the advice of Simon and brought two fully adjustable tripods that he has used for some years and they support the rods perfectly.

The tripod has two standard legs with pointed ends that once pushed into the ground create a solid structure. The third leg is telescopic and fitted with a point at the base and a standard screw thread at the top for your rod rest or alarms to be fitted to. To adjust the height of the tripod simply loosen of the retaining bolts and move the internal threaded pole up or down as required.

Once the required angle has been achieved, ensure that all three legs are pushed well into the ground to prevent the tripod being knocked over during an aggressive take.

Hook Baits

Big river fish have become accustomed to eating anything with a fish meal or oily aroma. In particular Halibut flavoured boillies and pellets have led the way for some time now and have accounted for some of the biggest fish ever caught from our rivers. With this in mind we recommend that you have a good look through the pages of fish meal based boillie flavours currently available from leading manufacturers including Sardine & Anchovy, Halibut and Squid and Octopus from Dynamite Baits, the classic No Name and the Elipse Pellet boillies from Mistral Baits, KG-1 and XLR8 from Richworth, Barbel Chops and Rahja Spice from Quest Baits and the totally superb Lamprey range of hook baits from Teme Severn. Each of these hook bait options all  offer something totally different when looking for hook baits that will produce quality sport when targeting a stretch of tidal river, try experimenting with different flavour combinations you never know what might work for you.

To accompany and draw attention to your baited rigs it is advisable to add a small amount of particles every cast. The simplest way of doing this is to use PVA bags or mesh tubing to create small parcels of particles that can be either attached to your lead or hook. The most commonly used particles for river barbel are hemp seed, this has for many years been the first choice particle for attracting and holding barbel in your swim. Over the last decade many specialist anglers have moved over to halibut, trout pellets and more recently the ellipse pellets that have been specifically designed to hold bottom and stay in one place. This has been achieved by giving the pellet a flat oval profile which prevents them rolling down stream and perfect for moving water situations. There are three main brands of pellet that the UKMA team currently use these are the Marine halibut Pellets in 3mm, 4mm & 6mm from Dynamite Baits and the ellipse Pellets from Mistral baits and Sonubaits elliptical pellets in 4mm & 8mm combined they work perfectly on all big rivers.

TOP TIP - Never use particles as big as or bigger than your selected hook bait as fish will ignore your hook baits and become pre-occupied with the larger freebies. The simple guide is if using two 10mm boillies as your hook bait, your feed pellets should never contain any free offerings bigger than 8mm, work within these boundaries and you should be OK!

Baiting Up

When baiting up your swim it is critical that you get the feed down on the bottom as quickly as possible. There are two commonly used methods that have been used for many years on traditional rivers but the tidal rivers offer a totally different challenge. The most common and widely used method of getting feed on the deck in deep fast water is the cage feeder. This is fine but in 8-10 feet of fast moving water standard cage feeders simply don’t have enough weight and would be moved around by the tow. So to deal with this annoying problem, a small number of custom built feeder companies have appeared on the World Wide Web offering feeders that weigh up to 12ozs and can hold bottom in the very worst of flood or tidal conditions. As we previously mentioned, there is one company that we would recommend for this type of feeder and that is www.cagefeeder.com . This small one man band produces some of if not arguably the best custom built feeders I have personally ever used.

The second of these options is the bait dropper that may work on rivers with a silt or gravel bed when using a pole but start casting one into the Trent a few times and the big rocks that pave the river soon take there toll on the bait droppers and soon put them out of commission as we found out. So after a few in-depth discussions about this problem we came up with a clever but simple solution, The PVA Pellet Sausage. This is a 10’ long PVA mesh full of mixed pellets from 3-8mm in size and allows 6 – 8ozs of these pellets to be fed at any one time. The PVA Pellet Sock is attached to a 6oz gripper lead by using a re-usable heavy duty cable tie. Simply follow the instructions below;

1. Place a re-usable cable tie through the hole in the gripper lead and rest it along one of the leads flat edges.
2. Then place the PVA Pellet Sock onto the lead and fasten the cable tie down until it is securely attached.
3. You may consider adding second re-usable cable tie to ensure the bag stays in place on longer or far bank casts but this is not essential.

CAUTION – Do not over tension the cable ties as this will rip the PVA mesh, simply tighten down until the PVA Pellet Sock wont move or slip.

To cast out this heavy 12-14oz weight you need to use tackle that is suitable for the job, so we decided to use the 5lbs TC Greys Plus 12’ Spod rod with a Shimano Aerlex 7000 Spod reel. To ensure our bait landed  in the same place every time, we cast out to our spot then placed the 25lbs BS braid under one of the three numbered line clips found on the side of the Aerlex 7000 spool.

WARNING –the line or braid trapped under you casting finger is under incredible pressure when casting or spodding these heavy weights, To ensure you don’t slice or cut your finger, a good quality leather or mock leather padded Finger Stall designed for casting SHOULD and MUST be worn at all times, if you don’t wear one you risk very serious injury to the finger used for retaining the line.
DON’T TAKE ANY CHANCES WHEN CASTING WITH BRAIDED REEL LINES

Please CLICK HERE to view the UKMA interview on the Go fishing website

Playing A Big Barbel

When using powerful equipment it is still possible to play a fish and enjoy every moment of it without having to pull the fishes head off. As I use front drag reels for all my specialist and specimen work, I’m able to set the spool so that it will work as a free spool allowing line to be taken as the fish takes your hook bait and runs. Then as I turn the clutch and set the hook by smoothly leaning into the fish, I have learned over many years that there is no need to strike hard into a running fish as it is already hooked (I never strike hard into a running barbel when using heavy tackle as this could pull the hook and do unnecessary damage to the fish’s mouth). Once I have the fish under control and start to retrieve line, I simply adjust the front drag so if the fish wants to take line it can as it tires itself out in the fast water under the rod tip. Don’t try bullying the fish, simply let it wear itself out and come to the surface in its own time, enjoy the battle these stunning river creatures give you and let the barbel do what they do best, pull your arm off! Let’s face it, that’s why so many of us try to catch these powerful river creatures.

Barbel Care & Welfare

Before you cast a line in the water you should always be prepared to handle a fish on the bank. By this I mean you should have your landing net, unhooking mat and a large bucket or bottle of river water at hand for refreshing the fish or for wetting the unhooking mat before putting the fish on it. When choosing your fish care equipment suitable for barbel make sure it is big enough for the fish you are targeting and ensure that is fit for purpose, by this I mean up for the job. The landing net should have at least 30’’pan with a strong, large messed net that allows the water to flow through easily. Attached to this you should have a handle long enough to allow you to land the fish without over reaching, UKMA recommend a handle of no less than 1.6m but 2.7m or longer is our personal choice.

The best net and handle combo UKMA have used to date is the Gardner Tackle barbel/specialist pan net & specialist extending landing net handle, for more info on these please CLICK HERE to view our on the bank review.

When looking for an unhooking mat suitable for barbel you don’t need a 60 inch monster cradle as these are simply way too big and unpractical for the targeted species. What you are looking for is a mat that is well padded offering good all round protection to the fish from bank side debris and suitable to carry the fish in when it is being returned to the water. There are several options available on the market that are ideal but the two UKMA can recommend are the Specimen Sling Mat from Gardner tackle. This has been approved by CEMEX angling as the recommend sling mat on all their waters that hold barbel. Not only does it offer good all round protection for the fish when it s out of the water, you can also weigh and return the fish with out having to handle it several times, making it our number one choice. Our second option is the Cotswold Aquarius MK2 unhooking mat, this light weight polly-ball filled mat offers exceptional fish protection, when the fish is ready to be returned you have Velcro fastened panels that hold the fish in place and two large carrying handles that make transportation a very safe event.

TOP TIP - Make sure you always have a bucket or large bottle of river water and all your unhooking equipment at hand including forceps and fish care products at all times.

It’s alright having all the kit to catch these glorious river fish but unless you know how to look after them correctly once you have them in the net, the chances are that after they have given you there all trying to escape your capture you could put at risk the well being of the fish by not handling it correctly once on the bank. When you have landed a barbel, always ensure that it is placed on a wet unhooking mat that is sitting on flat, level ground. As quickly and safely as possible remove your hook and treat any wounds or abrasions that have occurred whilst playing the fish. There are numerous good quality treatments for fish on the market from Kryston, Nash Tackle and  Korda to name but a few but what ever your brand always have some with you. Once weighed and photographed, place and hold the fish by the tail in slack water and let it fully recover, the fish will let you when it’s ready to go back into the river, you will feel the strength return to the fish, only when you feel the fish kick should you let it go back into the main flow of the river, never force the issue.

FOOT NOTE

Some of you especially the purists amongst you may think that the tackle, baits and feeding methods we are using are a bit on the extreme side but in the right hands this style of big river angling is as safe as any of the traditional styles. By following the basic tactics and safety rules we have written in the feature above, you can have some exceptional sport from some of the most extreme fresh water environments that only a big tidal river can offer. Take care when casting big weights and wear the correct protection on your hands to reduce the chance of injury, respect the fish and most importantly please respect these stunning natural environments that we are privileged enough to visit in search of our dream fish. By respecting the welfare of all fish caught and returning those in the condition that you caught them in will ensure that our beautiful rivers will continue to offer a quality of natural sport that simply can’t be found on a commercial day ticket fishery.

Ray Best