Barbel
catches break records
I have believed for many years now that of all our native freshwater fish
the barbel is the hardest-fighting of them all when hooked.
In recent years though barbel in several venues have greatly increased
in size, and the river Trent holds previously undreamed of whoppers, with
a certain section of the river Great Ouse the most amazing barbel venue
ever for whoppers.
A century ago barbel specialists on the Trent told us that the fish averaged
a mere three pounds each, or less, though some bigger fish were taken
occasionally.
On the Yorkshire rivers my pals and I caught mainly barbel up to four
or five pounds weight and we regarded an eight-pounder as something very
special.
Amazingly too in the not very distant past the barbel record was held
by no less than three different fish weighing 14lb 6oz. Rumours of heavier
fish were never substantiated.
Now barbel anglers are getting lots of fish weighing over six pounds each
and up to ten pounds or more, and the old record weights have long since
been overtaken by a big margin.
Week after week we hear of double-figure fish. Well known angler Bob Church,
though he is now 70 years old, recently landed an 18-pounder, and Bob
does not lie.
The current record barbel weighed over 21lbs when it was landed last November.
If you fish the right places in the right way then barbel are not particularly
hard to catch, though they do put a strain on all but the most robust
tackle.
They are fortunately not tackle shy, and though some individual barbel
travel big distances the majority can be reliably fished for in well-known
barbel hot spots which they rarely stray far from.
Several of the keenest barbel anglers are saying that they hate the fact
that barbel have been introduced into stillwater fisheries because their
proper home is the rivers.
These people hate me for saying that I welcome the presence of stillwater
barbel and find that they thrive quite well in suitable lakes and gravel
pits.
There are currently unsubstantiated rumours of a 23lb 10oz barbel supposedly
landed from the Trent.
I make no further comment on that one.