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BIGRIVER
FEEDING
FISHING
In
the
first
of a new
series
about
days
and
ways,
BOBROBERTS
takes
readers
to a
weirpool
and
describes
how he
overcame
problems
to put
somesuper
fish
on
the
bank with feeder
tactics.
XDOESN'T
NECESSARILY
MARK
THE
SP01
f
we are to believe the fanciful diagrams in books andother publications, fish in
•weir
pools
are always to be
I
found beneath
the
'X's. Under this
one you
•will
findchub, under that barbel, over here bream and so on. It
makes for
pretty pictures
but I
often wonder
if the
writerswho
brief
the artists have
.any
practical experienceoffishing in
•weir
pools
because their drawings arepatently misleading. Either
that
or theweir
pool
fishhave never learned to readbecauseinreal life theyinevitablyfindthemselvesin the
•wrong
places.
What's
more
the
diagrams
never
take
into account changing
seasons
and the
nomadic
nature
of fish. I'll give you
an
example
/
Putting
these
\
fish
on the
hank
proved a
real
challenge
to
which the
solution
was to
say
a
little
unorthodox.
H
*"
Tackle
had to be man
enough
to
stop
a train,
otherwise
it wasgoodnight
Vienna!
6
COARSE
FISHING
BIG
RIVER
FEEDINGFISHING
The
sun
sets
but
still
Bob's rod
bends
as
another
weirpool
fish
makes
one last bid for
freedom.
The
staple diet of any
self-respecting
barbel
- hempseed and
casters.
NOMADS
OF THE
STREAM
During the summer I was invited
to
make
an
instructional video
on
bigriver feederfishingtechniques
but
bearing
in
mind
the
on-goingdrought
and
knowing
how
importantit was tobackupeachtechnique with a few fish I gainedpermission to fish as a guest on aprivate
peg
beneath
a
weir, knowing
full
well
that
there would be plenty
of fish to go at.
What
I
didn'tanticipate
was the way the
placewould change
from day to
day.
A
quick practice
session
after
workearly
on in the
season
saw me
rattleout over 20 pounds of chub in acouple of hours. That'll do nicely, Ithought.Yetcomethe day of
filming,
chub were mega scarce.Instead I caught loads of tiny barbelplus dace, perch, roach and an oddskimmer. This
was
casting
to
exactly
the
same spot with exactly
the
same
bait
andtackleasbefore. Returninga
few
weeks later it was all changeagainbecause proper barbel were
now in
residence. However puttingthese
fish on the
bank proved
a
real
challenge
to
which
the
solution
was
to
say a
little
unorthodox.
COARSE
FISHING
BIG
RIVER
FEEDING FISHING
CONTINUED
PARTY
TIME!
Barbel
show little respect
for
tackle
and
seem
hell
benton destroying
it
when
hooked.
Fortunately
they
are
seldom line
shy and are
not deterred by properhooks.
With
this
in
mind
I
chose
my Amorphous
Whisker
11/13 feeder
rodand
matched
it
with
a
ID
1650DF
reelloaded with
61b
Berkley Big
Game.
The
hooklength
was
5.11b
Concept to a size 14
Drennan
Superspade.
Now I
would normally
back
thatcombination against
anything
that swims.
Wrong,
I
was
soon
to discover that it
wasn't man
enough.
The
double
loop
feeder
rig
hasbecome most anglers'
preferred
choice
but I do not
use it
when
expecting
barbeL
If the
line breaks
above the
feeder
loop
it
leaves the fish towing a
feeder
around which might
to
thread
the
IL
the
feeder
to
avoid
snags
and
crack-offs
-it
worked
a
treat.
ultimately
lead
to its
death.
A
far
safer
way is to
thread
thefeeder
onto the line with a
swivel and
stop
it
either
side, or use a
water knottedpaternoster which inevitably
breaks
the
knot
/
could
still
feel
the fish but as we
see-sawed
I
could
feela
horriblegrating comingup
the
line
through the rod.
I
beganon the
latter,
first
•with
a big
feeder
to
depositten heaps of hemp and
caster
into
the
swim before
switching
to a medium sizedone.
Two
casters wereplaced on the hook, the first
threaded up the shank, the
second
masking the point.
After
casting
a
bow was fed
to the
feeder
so
that biteswould register
as
drop
backs.
Fail
to do
this
and I
guarantee it
•won't
be
long
beforeyou
suffer
one of
those
heartstopping, gutwrenching
crack-offs
on thebite
when
the rod is
all
butdraggedoff the
rest
I
had
a
chub
first cast,
then a dace, then a quiet
spelL
Suddenly
the tip
sprang back
and I
lifted
into
a
lump of muscle.
Fortunately
the clutch was
set
lightly
and
I
avoideddisaster
as a
barbelscreamed
off
downstream.
I
hadit
under control quite
quickly, or so I
thought,because
half way
in
everything
lockedupsolid
in a
snag.
I
could still feel
the
fish but as we
see-sawed
I
Fishing
friend
Trev
Empson
Aka
'The
Jonah'
with a
fin-perfect specimen.
could
feel
a
horrible gratingcoming up the line throughthe rod.
The
result
was a
foregoneconclusion
and I was
soon
re-tackling.
This time
I
placedthefeederon ashorter paternoster hoping
to
keep
the
feeder higher
inthe
water during
the fight
Barbel
number
two was
mine
as was the
numberthree
but
number
four
powered
away from
me andfound
haven
in a
mid-river
snag.Determined to stop thathappening again
I
reasonedthe answer was to clampdown on the next one and
refuse
to
give
an
inch
of
line.
A
fine
theory
but it
didn't
work, the
next barbel mademincemeat of thehooklength.
I
dispensedwith
the
hooklength
after
that
and tied a
hook direct
tothe end of the
61b
reel line.
Even
this
was
sneered
at
withfitrther barbel finding
sanctuaryin new and
unchartered snags.
The final
score
was Bob 4,
barbel
6,and I
went home with
plenty to
think about
COARSE
FISHING
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